$5000 Photo Shoot

I finally went through all my wedding stuff last night. I threw out the champagne glasses we used for our first toast as husband and wife, a commemorative mug that had a wedding picture and the date printed on it, a pewter sculpture of a man and woman embracing, a "2006" ornament, a mini-license plate from the Vegas M&M store depicting two M&Ms getting married, a mini white limo toy which represented the limo we took to the ceremony, the rose that was his boutonniere and the roses from my bouquet which had been perfectly preserved in a shadow box.

I got to all the photos and was about to start tearing them to pieces when I decided I had spent way too much money on those pictures to just rip them up. In total, the wedding cost me about $5,000. Please note, I did say it cost ME, and not us, because I was the breadwinner in that marriage and had shelled out the cash (and plastic) for the whole shebang. (Man, my ex had a really sweet deal - a wife who never pressured him to hold a steady job, and never made him feel bad about it either. But I digress.)

And aside from the expense, I looked pretty damn hot in the photos. I loved my hair and my dress and I looked like I was glowing. As much as my marriage sucked and made me miserable, the one shining moment was the actual wedding day. I truly was having the happiest day of my life.

I decided to keep some of the pictures. I carefully tore him out of each one and kept my half. I also decided to keep the DVD of the ceremony, only because the Elvis who married us was really awesome and I got to sing with him at the end.

Here is the art piece I created in the shadow box that once held my bouquet.

I really like how it turned out! It has been placed inside my hutch, out of sight to the general public. Maybe one day when I'm famous, I will auction it off for charity. The opening bid will be set at $5,000. :)

The best part of all this happened just a few minutes ago when I took the garbage bag down to the dumpster.

I heaved it up and into the bin. There was an amazingly loud pop as the bag hit the bottom of the dumpster. I heard the champagne glasses and the mug shatter into what I can only imagine was a million pieces.

A fitting and final conclusion to Jan. 8, 2006. WHOO!