Lake-avik

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Dan and Tracie's Madcap Reykjavik Adventure, Part 1

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In other news...
What is this site? Where am I?
Or start at the beginning.

Keeping Icelandic Candy Handy

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Neykjavik

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We’ve been getting a bit of good-natured flack from some friends for a bit of wording on our invitations. We called a visit to one of Iceland’s geothermal pools “the most quintessential of Icelandic activities,” an admitted bit of lingual flourish in an invitation which otherwise just includes information like, "The cocktail hour starts at 5pm." But, having now visited those pools and seen them with my own eyes, I have to say I stand by that wording. They don't have outdoor geothermal volcanic hot tubs on Long Island.

Having arrived on two separate red eyes first thing on Friday morning, Tracie and I experienced the customary nine-or-so minutes of sleep one manages to cobble together when trying to curl up for the night on an airplane. Icelandair is a great airline, but there was a strange feeling of party-like raucousness I haven’t experienced on any red eye I’ve taken between New York and LA. There were numerous beverage offers, snack services, and I swear I remember waking up in the middle of the night and seeing a cart of gaudy Skymall-type merchandise on a cart rolling down the aisle, replete with a huge blond wig on a mannequin head. For Tracie’s part, she swears she woke up in the night on her flight with a tray of cookies under her nose and a flight attendant demanding in a thick Icelandic accent, “YOU WANT SOME COOKIES.” She did not. And I didn't want all of these seat back TVs on all night, either. I didn’t fly into the Arctic Circle so I could watch everyone around me watching ten year old episodes of “Family Guy.”

Anyway, all that this “blah blah blah airplane peanuts” rant boils down to is that we were DAMN tired when we landed in Reykjavik at around 7am. (Though, interesting side note: within seconds of meeting one another in a foreign country we’d never been in before, the very first thing Tracie and I did was start talking about Burlesque.) We spent the day meeting with Anna, seeing the hotel, meeting with the lady priestess who will perform our ceremony, eating twee Icelandic lunches and drinking strong Icelandic coffee. But it was just after dark (y'know, at 3:30) that we decided to embark upon the most mysterious errand on our itinerary, where we hoped we could relax away the flight we'd still yet to wash off us: the geothermal pools.

Because, seriously, what the hell? I mean, lots of towns have community pools, but these places are all over the city and they are a daily part of life for many people in the country. On Friday night, people of all ages were there -- families, couples, groups of all ages -- hanging out in heated pools while the outside temperature hovered around twenty degrees. It’s crazy. There are pools for lap swimming. There are four hot tubs. There’s a water slide in the summer. And because Iceland is not a warm country (duh forever), people do not just walk around all Frenchie and topless or anything like that. It’s a family place!

Except for the time you have to be totally naked for a minute.

Because the water from these pools comes directly up from the center of the earth, they do not add chlorine, as it would dampen the deeply soul-restoring properties the water is supposed to contain. It’s filtered and circulated, sure, so that you’re not just sitting in a still petri pool of Icelandic germs, but the water lacks the harsh chemicals of your typical American pool. You pee in the geothermal pool? It’s part of their ecosystem now.

For this reason, right after one pays to enter the facility and right before one enters the pool area, one is expected to clean oneself thoroughly in the showers. The locker rooms are not coed, and there are individual changing rooms, so there is a certain modicum of privacy afforded...except in the actual showers. There are stalls -- kind of -- but the walls do not extend out far enough to block every part of you from the person next to you, which means vice versa. But then, after like nine seconds, you finish showering, you put your bathing suit back on, you leave the locker room, you race through the dark, icy night (if you're there in December), and you sit comfortably for hours enjoying a weather/water paradox that will make you reflexively refer to Skandinavian types as “hearty” for the rest of your life.

If you can be naked in front of your friends for about thirty seconds.

Iceland in the Stream

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Your attention please: please listen to this forever. Thank you.

I mean, you have GOT to be kidding me. First dance, anyone?

FISH AND CHIPS ARE SO GOOD 2: THE FISHENING

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Eric and I had a vision, and Tracie and I ate that vision until we were bleeding Omega-3 from our eyes.

Norse Code

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And now, I have been to Iceland.

There will be a sheer ton of photos, videos, and other spun yarns about my time in the frozen north (one whole degree colder than New York!), where the sun goes down so very early (three whole minutes earlier than Providence!). But suffice it to say for now that Tracie and I took the city by madcap storm, learning all there was to know about Reykjavik in the nine or so minutes we spent there. They eat hot dogs for breakfast. I mean, really. See you at the immigration counter.

But for now, please enjoy this treasury of unreadable street signs that will make you feel there are new letters for your brain to try and understand. Please do not try and sound them out...you have to go to work tomorrow.

Other ridiculously scenic scenery to come.

Anna-Gram!!!!!

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Good morning my groom to be,

Here in Iceland, it is getting to be very much like Christmas. It is snowy and cozy with all the Christmas lights.

On Friday, you will arrive in the morning. I will have your room ready. Are you sure you don’t want to have few hours rest before meeting? We can meet around 11.00 in the main Lobby.

  

I will make sure that the room has twin beds. I do look forward to meeting you!

My big regards

Anna

Oh, Right...Friday

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It is very, amazingly, terrifyingly difficult to believe that I will arrive in Iceland this Friday morning. But alas, that is exactly what is about to happen.

Back when we first decided to undertake this insane plan in the first place, Eric and I decided I would take a weekend and fly to Reykjavik for a long weekend to meet with Anna. We knew my current job would be finished by then (which turned out not to be true), and wherever I worked next would just have to deal with me missing one day to jet off to the Arctic Circle, an excuse I’m sure employers are just plain tired of hearing at this point. Eric knew he would be working those days, and so it was decided I would go flying off to a strange land in permanent wintry darkness all by myself. Until Tracie.

Tracie and I went to college together, sang elitist northeastern college a cappella together, wrote a smash hit musical together, and have experienced madcap antics in cities ranging from New York to LA to Providence to Montreal to Poughkeepsie. That’s right. Poughkeepsie!

On our saddest day, we even spent an unspeakable night in 2004 at the worst hotel in America. We lived to tell the tale, but are still secretly convinced a gestating dirt alien will burst through our hearts unexpectedly in twenty years, killing us instantly and deservedly so. Seriously, people. Do not ever go to that hotel. You'll emerge looking like this:

And now, this weekend, we will bring you a madcap photo tour through Reykjavik. We’ll bring a good flash for our cameras, because the sun will not be up at all.

In other news...
What is this site? Where am I?
Or start at the beginning.

Honeymoon with Everyone

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Bumping up the Honeymoon in Everyplace entry as a reminder of our honeymoon. Why? Because we want you to come with us! Eric's family has already booked their car.

Take a look here and here. We will leave on our road trip on Monday, August 23rd and it lasts 10 days (9 nights). Early bird prices now available!

In other news...
What is this site? Where am I?
Or start at the beginning.

The Postal System Works and I Can Prove It

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CONFIRMED GUESTS: 13

Christine gazes upon her invitation and contemplates the land of Ice.

 

 

A Poem From Mom and Herb

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CONFIRMED GUESTS: 13

"A Poem from Mom and Herb"

OMG these invites rule
So off to Iceland where it's cool
We'll go and watch you tie the knot
And not come back here 'cause it's hot
We're waiting for the very day
When this is legal in the USA!

 Thanks, guys.

---------------------


What is this site? Where am I?
Or start at the beginning.

Welcome!

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Oh, hi.

Did you get anything in the mail today? Anything blue, ornate, and weighing sixty-one cents? According to my grandmother, that is WAY too much money to spend on a letter (or a movie. Or a pickle. Or a hip replacement), but it seemed worth it to have those invitations make it to their destination. Which apparently they have. Which is how you ended up here.

Eric and I started this blog with one year to go until our wedding in Iceland. We hope it will serve as a source of information as we (and hopefully you!) prepare to undertake this journey. We hope you'll ask lots of strange and complicated questions that we can post here in order to answer them for everyone else. We hope you'll learn where Iceland is. Or what to do (and not to do) and what to eat (and not to eat) when you get there. Or why getting married is like moving to New York. Or running a marathon. And you might want to know why we're not getting married in America. Or why we're not getting married in America. Or why we're not getting married in America. And since we love you very much, we hope you'll come to our wedding in Iceland.

But first, if you prefer, you can start at the very beginning.

And, As Soon As The Lord's Day Is Over...

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These are going in the mail.

And Now They Exist

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The Family That Gays Together

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In honor of this upcoming weekend -- a weekend that will include receiving, holding, weighing, snuggling, stuffing, and eventually mailing our wedding invitations -- I present you with the following: a photo of my grandmother deeply engrossed in The Advocate.

Tomorrow is grandma's ninety-first birthday, which she will celebrate by spending time with her family and planning on getting a new passport.

 Sorry about the blog  post title, Grandma. Thank you for not having a computer. Oh, and happy birthday.

One More Message From Mom

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From: Mom
To: Dan
Subject: yech

Just googled Steve King.  The man is an ignorant pig.

Message From Mom

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From: Mom
To: Dan

Okay, who the hell is Steve King (and don't worry, we already hate him). No possible relation to our favorite author, Stephen King, I assume. As much as I really didn't quite get the logic when you first decided on Iceland, with each posting it's becoming more and more sensible. We're really on board honey.

Why-celand

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And again, for anyone asking the wholly legitimate "Why do you need to go all the way THERE?" question, which dovetails nicely with the "You don't want to further the cause here?" debate and the "Haven't you ever heard of Massachusetts?" argument. (Incidentally, for those asking, we have indeed heard of Massachusetts.)

And again I will  repeat my contention that people should get married wherever they want, and I fully support a same-sex couple's right to get married in a state where it is legal. But we don't live in one of those states. And with the political volatility surrounding this issue, I don't even believe that a state where it is legal right now will continue to be legal. Why should I? We used to live in California, home of marriage's legal limbo. I don't want that to happen to my marriage. I would rather give our hard-earned Ameribucks to a country that fully supports our right to marriage equality, and not muck around in a state where I can get married on one day and hear state-sponsored hate speech the next. So congratulations, Steve King of Iowa! You just cost the wedding industry in your state thousands of dollars. We're out of here, and we're taking our gay agenda with us. And I'm telling everyone else not to get married there either, which shouldn't be a problem because WE ALL KNOW EACH OTHER. Think about that while you revel in the real-world financial ramifications of the dumb-ass things you say.

See you in a few years at your gay sex scandal, Mr. King! We'll all try to pretend that we're surprised.

Bryndís-Gram

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FROM: Bryndis

TO: Dan

Good afternoon from a sunny day in Iceland:-)

I am honored to be asked to perform the wedding ceremony next August for Eric and Daniel. I will probably be attending a semenary on the 3rd of December but after 16.00 I am free. Looking forward meeting you!

Best wishes.
Bryndís

Anna-Gram!!!!

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When I started this blog, I had initially anticipated that I would post something every day. I thought that, with 365 days to go until a wedding on the other side of international waters, there would be no lack of things to talk about. But when you start planning a single day 365 days in advance, there are going to be times when you kick back, rearrange your closets, kill a spider, and otherwise just live your boring life for a minute. And honestly, we had spent the greater part of 2010 in a state of perma-move, so it was kind of nice to have a little break recently where I could leave work, go running, watch “Modern Family,” wonder how they wrote those scripts based on stories ripped directly from my life, and go to bed.

And then, sometimes, in order to sound smart around the Icelandic lady priest who is going to perform your wedding ceremony, you have to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius in a flash so that you don’t come across as culturally insensitive.

Welcome back to the strange mechanics of the gay Icelandic destination wedding from crazy town...

FROM: Anna

TO: Dan

Good afternoon, from a very cozy winter afternoon, here in Iceland.

How are you my grooms to be? Not long now until you will be in Iceland.

It is my honor to introduce you to your priest Bryndís.

Me and Bryndís spoke about your wedding earlier today, and I explained all about your plans and what your needs are regarding the wedding.

She is lovely person, and when you come over in December she has agreed to meet up with us.

All my best.
Anna

-------------------------------------------------------------------

FROM: Anna

TO: Dan

Dear Anna and Bryndis: 

I am so envious of your cozy Reykjavik weather. Here in New York, it was a balmy 24 degrees today. We are still waiting for winter to start!

Thank you so much for the introduction. I really look forward to all of us meeting when I am in Iceland. I arrive early in the morning on Friday 3 December, and I hope we might all meet that day.

Bryndis, thank you again for agreeing to perform our ceremony, and I can't wait to see you both!

Best
Dan

Special Guest Contributor

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I'm going to let Eric handle today's entry. Link is here. Reprinting below. He smart boy.

Your opinion is stupid

One of the most important lessons I have ever learned in my adult life is knowing when my opinion doesn't matter. Everyone is entitled to an opinion about anything in the world, but that doesn't mean it's important or useful to anyone else. A lot of the time, opinions are interesting and useful and entertaining, but sometimes it's a small but crucial decision to keep your mouth shut and remember that you're playing a supporting role in everyone's life except your own.

By the same token, it's also nice to realize when someone is being mean to you that their opinion doesn't really matter. Like the time I was walking down 28th Street and someone rolled down their car window just to scream at me, "GET A BETTER SHIRT!!" That actually happened, and the shirt I was wearing was brand new and didn't even have a design on it. This person must have been disappointed that I wasn't expressing myself enough. You know what? Their problem, not mine.

As it turns out, my feelings are not easily hurt. When we were kids, we used to rip into my dad about his corny jokes, his dorky music, and his weird habits, but he would always shrug and say, "Nobody's perfect!" or "Who cares?" (We were SUCH assholes. And now I make the same jokes, listen to the same music, have the same habits, and think my dad is the coolest guy on earth.) Now I do the same thing when someone has a problem with me for a stupid reason. Who cares? What's your problem?

And the stupidest reason of all for someone to have a problem with me -- the fact that I'm gay, which is such an insignificant fact all by itself that I feel dumb even writing it out -- somehow remains a topic of national debate. This is not something I think about when I leave the apartment I share with my boyfriend, and participate in the world consisting of my work life, my social life, my family life, and everything in between. But there is an edge of anxiety, even in a major city, because we are raised to expect something bad to happen if people know that you are gay.

Nothing like that has ever happened to me, but it does happen every single day and the consequences include five dead teenagers in the last month. Four men beaten and tortured in the Bronx last week. It is not easy to hurt my feelings but it's impossible not to be devastated by the reality that I live in a society where this is the daily news side by side with Carl Paladino stating that gay citizens are not "equally valid" or John McCain supporting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because it's totally cool for soldiers to put their lives on the line to protect American freedom as long as they stay in the fucking closet.

You don't think I should be legally allowed to marry my partner? When we've built a home together and spend holidays with our families and pay our taxes and plan to have children of our own one day? We're a hell of a lot more traditional than millions of households across America, but that's not even the point -- this is not a political issue. These are mean, judgmental opinions that grown adults should know to keep to themselves. The law banning same-sex marriage does not help or protect ANYONE. Some people might sleep better at night because it will help them imagine that they live in a world without homos, but does anyone really think that's going to happen?

Seriously, we're here, we're queer, get used to it. Your opinion on my relationship does not affect its validity. And if you don't agree, guess what? YOUR OPINION IS FUCKING STUPID. You're completely entitled to it, because I can't tell you what to think, but trust and believe, your opinion is so fucking stupid. I'm sure you think my family is terrible, but I know that it is not. Isn't it okay for us to disagree about that without making laws taking away each other's rights?

Message From Mom

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From: Mom
To: Dan and Eric

So listen, thank you Eric! You taught me how to save something on the desktop that I otherwise would have been unable to open and guess what?? I saved all 6 pages and was able to open the whole thing. It really, really looks gorgeous and the stamps are fabulous. Wow, it's really happening! Guess we do have to get passports after all.

Congratulations you 2. You both do great work. Love you both.

And, Just Like That

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THE INVITATIONS ARE DONE.

Single Tear

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Look.

I want to celebrate the miracle of life and the sanctity of marriage. I want to remember the strides we've made -- if not in this country, then at least in other parts of the world -- when it comes to federalized marriage equality. I want to continue to thrill to the fact that our family and friends are going to fly across an ocean to see two boys get married, because that's how fine it is that we're getting married. My my thinks so. My grandmother thinks so. Hell, the PRIEST thinks so.

I want to keep this blog upbeat despite the Rutgers suicide, the Bronx hate crime, the continued dual messes of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and Prop 8, the fact that Tony Perkins was allowed to write an Op-Ed for the real, actual Washington Post in which he wrote, "Since homosexual conduct is associated with higher rates of sexual promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence, it qualifies as a behavior that is harmful to the people who engage in it and to society at large."

Lovely.

So what CAN we celebrate from a gender/sexuality/equal rights perspective in this bigoted, broken world of Perkins and Palladino? You already know the answer, so sing it with me if you love Bjork...Iceland! Today, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report released its list of greatest gender equality by nation. And guess whop came in at a pretty decent #1?

It's true!

(Since you asked, America is #19. Which is actually UP from last year.)

Okay, Fine, Just the Front

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Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

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To: Tracey
From: Daniel

Hi, guys!

We absolutely love the invitations. We are so excited to see them finished! We have a few changes, but you can consider the invitations APPROVED WITH CHANGES. We do not need to see another proof.

Here is what we would like to change:

*Instead of using a block print for our names on the actual invitation on either side of the graphic, we would like to lose our names on either side of the graphic entirely. We like the graphic to stand on its own. IN ADDITION, we would like to lose our names on either side of the graphic on the RSVP CARD and on the ACCOMMODATION CARD as well. That would mean our names would only remain on either side of the graphic on the outside pocket.
*On the ITINERARY CARD, we would like to lose the websites for Icelandiair and Iceland Express. The sentence can remain the same, just lose the websites and the parentheses.
*The first sentence of the ITINERARY CARD (ARRIVE ICELAND VIA ICELANDAIR OR ICELAND EXPRESS) needs a period at the end.
*Typo on "PLEASE NOT," which should read "PLEASE NOTE."
*Since we're going all formal and British-y, can we change the spelling of "CENTER" to "CENTRE"
*Typo on "POOLSIS," which should be "POOLS IS"
*Can we lose the entire sentence, "THE FACILITY IS A FEW MINUTES WALK FROM THE HOTEL AND ALSO FEATURES A GYM, SPA, MASSAGE SALON, RESTAURANT, HAIRDRESSING SALON, AND SPORTS SHOP ON THE PREMISES."

That's it! Thanks again and please let me know when we can expect the final invitations.

Best as always,
Dan and Eric

I'm Not Joking...And Don't Call me Fairy

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And It's Spelled "Tracey," By the Way

[TO COME: PICTURE OF US LOOKING AT INVITATION PROOF AND SCREAMING]

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I'll post them tomorrow, after I've finished staring at them until my eyes bleed.

---------------------------------------------------

Hey Daniel and Eric!

Attached please find a proof of your current invitation order. Please read it over carefully, making sure that all of the information, spelling, punctuation, layout and other key aspects are correct.

If changes are necessary, please send them to us. Indicate whether the copy is “approved with changes” or “need revised proof”. Please note if a new proof is requested, a proof fee will apply.

If the order is “approved as is”, please confirm that the following items have been checked and rechecked, names, date, day of the week, location, time, address, phone number, e-mail address, and quantity. Once these items have been verified, and the proof has been approved, Fairy Tale Affairs is not responsible for any errors upon arrival.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us.

As per our conversation, we recommend using a block print for your names on the actual invitation on either side of the graphic. What do you think??

Tracey

---------------------------------------------------

In Which I Further Harass Local Businesses Like the Bridezilla I Am

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Hi, guys!

Please find attached our address list for the calligraphy on the invitations. JUST TO CONFIRM, I wanted to make sure you had all of the following:

*Accommodation Card
*Itinerary Card
*Graphic
*Address list

Tracy said once she had all of those we might get an estimate as to when we could expect the proofs.

Thanks and let me know!

Best,
Daniel and Eric

The News is Spreading!

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Tapping into the zeitgeist, F-train style.

 

Why Buying Paper Towels is a Wedding-Related Activity

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And now, the glamorous life of the Iceland wedding.

At 7:30 this morning, I awoke to a large quantity of cat vomit in front of our bedroom door. Ransacking the apartment, I came to realize that our usual twenty or so rolls of paper towels had somehow ticked down to zero. But I had to leave for work. And I had to clean up cat vomit. And so I did, with a spare envelope from Fairytale Affairs.

No, I know. Fabulous gays with their promiscuous lifestyles.

Neologism of the Day

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"He's not your fiance. He's your fian-SIR." -- Chris of the BookHampton Book Store in East Hampton.

Meanwhile, Back in East Hampton

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Today, I finished the East Hamptons Half Marathon in 1:54:14. I give credit to my new best friend, the most gorgeous autumn weather possible. Aunt Carol and Uncle Lloyd were nice enough to do...everything.

Why is this significant in the context of our wedding in Iceland? Because not only is my sub-two-hour finish almost as much of a personal accomplishment as the Los Angeles Marathon, but it also led me to one of the most interesting discoveries regarding our trip to Iceland: this year's Reykjavik Marathon takes place on Saturday, August 20. The day after the wedding. Eric is already trying to get me to do it.

Going Postal

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The stamps are here! With the graphic on them! We are going to put them on the response card envelopes so that, I guess, we can get them back and end up with a 100% return on our investment.

I'm sure this news will make postal rates go up 1000% tomorrow.

DONE

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DONE:

*December trip to Reykjavik

*Book venue

*Finalize invite list

*Decide invite send date (send November, response by February 1)

*WHERE IS THE CEREMONY GOING TO BE?

*Group rate from airline?
*Personalized stamps?

*Get all mailing addresses

It's Electric!

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So you say you want to go to a wedding in Iceland? Well, surely that means you're going to need to know which electrical outlet to use when you get there!

I didn't promise it would be thrilling. But, then again, plugging in your electric toothbrush rarely is.

Tracey-Tracie-Tracy-Gram

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Hey, guys!

Please find below the text for our itinerary card. Please let me know if you have any suggestions! This means you now have our accommodation card and itinerary from me, and Eric is sending (or has sent) the graphic and the first list of addresses for calligraphy. A few stragglers will follow.

As always, please let me know what else you need, and thanks!

Best,
Daniel Rogge

------------------------------------------------

WEDDING WEEKEND ITINERARY

THURSDAY, August 18
*Arrive Iceland via Icelandair (www.icelandair.com) or Iceland Express
(www.icelandexpress.com). Please note that Iceland’s
international airport is in Keflavik, about 30 miles from the center
of Reykjavik. Taxis from the airport are very expensive, so we will
furnish you with other travel options as the date approaches.

*Check into the Grand Hotel Reykjavik, located at:
Sigtúni 38
105 Reykjavík
Iceland


FRIDAY, August 19
*11am – Wedding Ceremony at the Grand Hotel
*5pm – Cocktail hour at the Grand Hotel
*6pm – Reception at the Grand Hotel


SATURDAY, August 20
*Join us as our guests at the most quintessential of Icelandic
activities, the Laugardalslaug Thermal Pool. The water at these
geothermal pools is heated by volcanic energy, providing naturally
hot, unchlorinated water for outdoor leisure all seasons of the year.
The facility is a few minutes walk from the hotel, and also features a
gym, spa, massage salon, restaurant, hairdressing salon and sports
shop on the premises. We will provide you with exact details as the
date approaches.


SUNDAY, August 21
*Free day in Reykjavik. We will still be in town, so please feel free
to stick around, take a day trip, and see some of the many sights the
city has to offer.

------------------------------------------------

Bad News Good News Good News Good News

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From: Daniel
To: Eric

Hey, so. You are going to LOVE this:

BAD NEWS - Due to budget cuts (which I think is Icelandic for "collapsed economy"), the District Commissioner no longer makes house calls. Or, in our case, hotel calls. If we had the civil ceremony performed by the commissioner on the planned Friday, it would have to be at 17:00 or 17:30, and the courthouse is not big enough to accommodate guests. And with the reception starting at 5 (er, sorry...17!), this would not work for several reasons.

GOOD NEWS - Don't despair! Anna, despondent that our guests would fly across the ocean and be deprived of a ceremony (which, I have to say, is how I feel), made the following incredible offer. Okay, stick with me here. Anna got married earlier this year, and she and her husband had the ceremony performed by...a priest. Anna is religious but her husband is not at all (I told you I'm finding out a ridiculous amount about her...she's already emailed me pictures of her wedding), so they were married by a nondenominational priest. He does church-y services (in keeping with his "priest" training, one would assume), but performs all sorts of ceremonies for all sorts of people. By the time she called me, Anna had already taken the liberty of calling him herself, and he said he would "absolutely" perform the ceremony if we wanted, meet with us beforehand, and leave out any and all godly references, as we see fit. Just someone to administer the vows. And he would wear a suit. And marry us. In Iceland. By a priest. Who doesn't seem fazed by our nuptials in the slightest. It's Iceland. Marry a glacier for all they care!

GOOD NEWS - If he performs the ceremony, he would also take care of the paperwork, so we wouldn't have to go to the courthouse on the day of the wedding at all.

GOOD NEWS - While I had Anna on the phone, I asked her about the pools and whether we had to book some sort of group event for the day, or if we could just show up en masse. She said that the facility is huge and not to worry at all about booking in advance. We'll go look at the place when I'm there in December and you and I can decide how we want to coordinate it. For now, I'm leaving the wording vague enough on the itinerary that we can TBD some of the details via email downstream.

If you agree with the above, we are good to go with the itinerary text, which I would like to send to Tracy Tracey Tracie ASAP. I'm forwarding it to you right now. Let me know what changes you have and
we'll have the invitations finished, like, today.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Dan

I Now Pronounce You Man and Man

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To The Reykjavík District Commissioner:

I was referred to you by Anna from the Grand Hotel Reykjavik regarding a wedding ceremony we are planning on Friday, 19 August 2011. My partner and I are coming from the U.S. to the Grand Hotel for our wedding, and hope we might have the ceremony at the hotel in the earlier part of the day on 19 August, perhaps at 11 in the morning. I believe this is the right place to get started to see if this would be a possibility.

We will obviously file all necessary paperwork in advance of this date. I will also be in Reykjavik on 3 December of this year staying at the Grand Hotel, and would be happy to meet with you in person
during this time to discuss details further. The main thing I am interested in finding out now is if you would be available to come to the hotel that morning, and exactly what time we could tell our guests.

I can be reached via email or phone at a time of your convenience.

Thank you very much and I look forward to being in touch.

Best,
Daniel Rogge

My Fairytale Affair

DAYS REMAINING: 328

On a ninety degree late September day on Long Island (low fifties and light rain in Reykjavik), Eric, my mom, and I went to get our wedding invitations printed. We said it would happen. We knew it was going to happen.

Well, it happened. And here's what it looked like:

Me, posing madly in front of the store, trying to smize my way through how much I didn't shower.

 

Eric appreciates the fine Massapequa sidewalks, while mom sings her way through the front door.

Mom poses with "The Book Of Extremely Expensive Choices"

Eric holds up not our invitations. (We don't even get the proofs for a couple of weeks, but I'm sure the people whose invitation he IS holding are now happily married and will be very much in love forever and ever hooray.)

Mom tries to take a picture that isn't out of focus, even though such a thing should be impossible with a digital camera with the flash on. Let's give her a Take Two!

Take Two, now with extra migraine-inducing blurriness.

Mom privately ruminates on all of the many skills she DOES have.

This is Tracy, one of the owners. She is amazing beyond words. She politely corrected us regarding the size of the invitations, the font, the colors, the dates, the design, and my haircut. And she was right about ALL OF THEM.