Mawwidge

Ok, before we go in to the details here let me start by saying that this was essentially the paperwork part of the process. The “real” wedding will happen on the beach in Hawaii next year and then some time after that we will have a big party/reception here in Seattle (spreading the events out makes the cost a little more bearable). So to all our friends and family that weren’t in Sacramento with us: we appreciate your love and support and there will be more opportunities to celebrate with us. Now on with the story.

Last week Jake, my mom and dad, and I drove down to Reno where we spent a few days (visiting friends – hi Yvonne! – and gambling) before driving to Sacramento to get married. Sacramento is mostly a total ghetto dive but it was very welcoming to us and we had a fantastic time for the one night we were there.

After checking in at our hotel we went emergency clothes shopping (so much for getting married in shorts) and then we sucked down a couple of drinks at the hotel bar before getting dressed and heading over to the county clerk’s office for our appointment with fate.

We arrived at the county clerk’s office a little early and we had to wait for a few minutes before being seen. While we waited a lesbian couple was just finishing up and everyone in the lobby applauded for them — it was beautiful.

As a side note: if you look closely at the sign in sheet below you will see that I tried to sign in as “Party A” but, as you can also see, Jake snatched the pen out of my hand and signed in the Party A column instead. I think he said something like, “No baby, I’m party A.” There’s really no arguing that.

Later, on the drive back, we had the idea that it would be funny to throw two parties: one for all the Party A’s recently married in Cali and one for all the Party B’s.

Also I’m sure it will get old at some point but right now I think it’s hysterically funny to call Jake the Party of the First Part.

After a few minutes of waiting we got admitted to the administrators desk to do the paperwork which was really nothing more than signing a couple of documents and swearing the information presented was correct. We didn’t have to slog through mounds of paperwork because my wonderful Party A filled out most of the paperwork online a couple of weeks ahead of time.

You can’t really see the desk clearly but there is all this information there about pregnancy, genetic disease screening and the like. Jake said something like, “you know, we’ve been trying to get pregnant for ages and it’s just not working,” when the admin pointed out the information and said she was required to provide it.

After the t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted we had to wait a little longer for the clerk to take us to the chapel, perform the ceremony and solemnize the marriage.

Karen Lomack was our clerk and she was COMPLETELY AWESOME! She did a beautiful job with the ceremony and she was amazingly kind and gracious. The ceremony was sweet, to the point, and not too intense. That didn’t diminish the fact though that there was a subtle, but definite, feeling of history-making in the room. I’m sure the Sacramento County Clerk has probably wed thousands of same-sex couples since the California Supreme Court ruling but it still felt historic in that room.

And then, of course, the witnesses had to sign.

Then we had the dorky, but kinda cute, idea to twitter our I do’s.

After the ceremony we had to go back to the lobby to wait for the rest of the printed material which included an extremely hysterical pamphlet entitled Your Future Together which had all kinds of illustrations from the 80’s (judging by the hair on the figures) that looked like they have been photocopied about ten thousand times.

Back in the lobby the next couple to get married after us were doing the paperwork part. They were in the lobby with us earlier joking and laughing. They applauded for us after the ceremony.

Finally we finished at the clerk’s office and headed out to Tres Hermanas a wonderful Mexican restaurant for food and drinks. Mom found the restaurant online and it was fantastic with hella strong drinks. We got so lit that later, back at the hotel, we jumped the fence to the pool (which they closed and locked even though they told us they wouldn’t) and swam for a few minutes before the hotel manager kicked us out.

In general it was wonderful and we had a great time. There were no protestors, no crazy conservatives screaming at us, no drama. The sky didn’t fall in, there were no earthquakes, the rivers didn’t run with blood. We, as a loving and committed couple, were given the same rights and privileges as any other couple in California and that was that. Now if we can just get our marriage recognized in the great state of Washington.

Soon.

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