Our Story (part 3)

The wedding took place on Tuesday, June 27, 2000 at 1:00pm. Other than the bride, groom, and minister, the only others in attendence were a couple of friends (acting as photographers and bridesmaids) and Kylan's father, as his best man. Why so small, private, and secretive? Well, for one, Dawn was in the midst of studying for the Ohio bar exam and couldn't spare the time to worry about invitations, guests, etc. (Especially since all friends and family, except for a few locals, would have been coming in from out of town.) Secondly, the entire thing was kind of spur of the moment. It was planned only two weeks in advance because they had to work around Kylan's work schedule. It was really a "let's do it now" kind of thing. And third, it was just kind of fun to keep it a secret and surprise everyone after the fact. And the wedding was absolutely perfect. It was in a small white chapel with gorgeous stained glass windows. The ceremony lasted around 30 minutes but it was very romantic, with music, candlelight, and flowers. And afterwards, the minister even rang the church bells to let everyone know there had been a wedding. (You can check out photos from the day on the wedding page .)

Obviously, friends around town knew about our marriage right away. It was also something we couldn't keep from Kylan's side of the family, considering his dad had been there and we didn't expect him to keep it from Kylan's mom and sister. So really, the only ones left in the dark were Dawn's family and friends in Canada. Dawn wanted to wait until after the bar exam, when they planned to travel to Toronto, so she could tell her mother in person. A few days before leaving for Toronto we sent wedding announcements to everybody. Dawn made them herself, embossing the Chinese characters for "harmony" on the front and detailing the surprise inside. The announcement was also included in small photo albums we put together for each of our mothers.

Dawn and Kylan were excited to be going up to Toronto at the end of July. Both were rather nervous about telling Dawn's mom about the wedding. Kylan was sure that she would suddenly start to hate him for stealing her little girl and keeping her in America! When they got to the house, they both kept their left hands out of site so their rings would not be seen right away. The three of them went out to the backyard and once they sat down, Dawn gave her mom the photo album. Her mom just looked at the table for a second and then said, "You little monkey! You got married, didn't you?!" And that was it...complete acceptance of it. She was a bit dissappointed that she hadn't been there but understood, given the circumstances. And she seemed to like the fact that Kylan wanted to call her Mom right from the start.

Our Story (part 4)