one thing done!

The first concrete idea that I had about this wedding is going to happen! Even we were just talking about getting married in the abstract, I thought of asking our friend Julia to do our ceremony.

Mr. UB & I were lucky enough to go to Julia's wedding to Adam this past January down in Mexico. (It was beautiful, and the reason I started to consider doing at least the ceremony away from L.A.) The three of them have been close friends since college, and I knew that Adam was going to be one of our groomsmen. Then I found out that Julia is getting her Master's in Divinity at Harvard. A) wow! and B) perfect!

Neither Mr. UB nor I are religious-type people. His dad is Jewish, but they celebrate Christmas, too. And I'm a lapsed Methodist -- which is a pretty laissez-faire religion to begin with. So no church or preacher for us. The idea of having a close friend bless our vows, though = exactly right.

Not only is Julia able & willing to marry us, but I think that her personality will gel really well with ours when it comes to planning the ceremony. To wit: at her wedding, her college roommate gave a toast. She said that she knew Adam & Julia were perfect for each other because when Adam used to come over to their apartment, the two of them would sit on either side of her on the couch, then fart and laugh. Her story was met by loud laughter & huge, proud smiles from A. & J.

I'm not saying that I want our vows to make mention of Mr. UB's occassional gastro-intestinal gymnastics ... but that's my kind of clergy.