The "Wedding" day, November 1st

The day we got married, November 1st, 2005 Clark County, Las Vegas Nevada

After we got back to the room from the show and relaxed a little, i discovered how tired i was from all of the travel and exciting Ween show that we had just been too, not to mention all of the walking on the strip that we had done. I was well on my way to dream land, and Jason needed to satisfy his gambling hunger, so i took my medicines and promptly fell asleep as Jason went back to the Hard Rock to play paigow poker for a few hours. J tells me this is a kind of poker that you can ante in for not a whole lot and play for a long time, you also push a lot, which actually means.... okay, i'm not even going to claim to know what kind of poker this is because i have no clue and have never seen it played, but he likes it and played for quite some time and had the drinks keep coming for free for those few hours that he was back at the Hard Rock Casino. I fell asleep until about 3 or 3:30 and decided that some crosswords needed to be solved and I also had to catch up on the news so i flipped on ESPN and was content. Knowing that Jason was having his last night of "freedom" I wasn't concerned that he wasn't back yet. It really wasn't long before he came back in all happy with his piagow stories from across the street. He was wondering what i was doing awake though, since i was so sleepy when he left and now i was awake and doing crosswords and puzzles. Since i take so many naps it seems that i just sleep in shifts and need only a few hours every 8-10 hours to survive and strive. So he came to bed and told me his stories of the game tables and softly difted off to dream land. I did a few puzzles and then followed him happily. I set the alarm for 9:30 so that i could pack all our junk and get some breakfast down stairs.
I woke up before the alarm and got dressed and put on my make up. I had trouble sleeping, it felt like i didn't get good sleep at all. Ya know those nights when you wake up every hour or so, by the time it's "acceptable" to wake up it's almost worse than when you went to sleep. That is the kind of time i had sleeping. Jason was out like a light though, he was a TIRED man.
I thought that the breakfast at the hotel was served until 10 am, so i went down at a little before 9:30 thinking i had plenty of time to spare only to find the staff clearing all of the food when i got there. I found the yogurt and a serving of waffle mix left, so i hurried to get the waffle started.... then i couldn't find the plates, so i asked the lady that was clearing some of the dirty dishes where the plates were and she informed me that they had "closed" at 9:30... But she took pity on me and got me a plate. I also got a glass of milk not seeing that there was coffee available at the other end of the dining room. I waited the 2 minutes 45 seconds it took for my waffle to cook on the waffle irons they provided and seasoned it with the syrup they had in a pump type dispenser. I got another glass of milk and settled down to read the sports section in the sunniest part of the dining room i could find. How often is it that i will be in 75 degree weather in November again? Then i saw the coffee service they provided and helped myself to a cup of that as well. I had a funny feeling that the lady that had given me the plate a few minutes earlier hadn't really wanted me to sit down and have breakfast in the dining room since it was impending her from doing her work, but what was i to do now? So i ate as fast as i thought was healthy and got out of her way. It was nearly 10 am anyways and check out was 11.
I got back upstairs to our room and Jason was still sawing logs as i expected. I did my best to arise him, but he was just too sleepy. I got him to agree to get out of bed and get into the shower if i went to Starbucks and get him a quad carmel latte.
I had a feeling that he would still be in the same exact position as when i left him, when i returned with the coffee... I was correct... Now it being after 10:30 and Jason not wanting any part of the getting out of bed and getting out to show his sweetheart Las Vegas, i was in a precicament in what to do since we had less than a half hour to check out of the hotel. I could hear the maids working their way to our room as the moments ticked by. I tried to bribe him with keeping the coffee across the room to get him out of bed, but that didn't work... So i gave him a little to try to get the caffeine in his blood, and that got him to at least be a little more concious. Then I tried to threaten him by telling him he didn't have time to take a shower if he didn't get out of bed. He didn't like that at all, and there was no way that i was going to keep him from showering on our wedding day. I was even jumping on the bed and turned the air way up to try to force him out of bed. It ended up that he convienced me to call the front desk and ask for a late check out. I called down with a sleepy voice and acted as though we both had just woken up with ten minutes to check out and just had to get our stuff together and then we would be out... They were kind enough to give us until noon to checkout without charging us, i was thankful, but i think Jason was even more thankful so that he could actually have a little nap (without me BUGGING him to death) so get his mind together. At about 11:30 he finally put his feet on the ground and got in the shower. After that we moved at a good pace on getting out of the hotel. We checked out and started walking around outside not really knowing where we wanted to go. Jason was hungry and then we decided that we could go to FatBurger on the strip, and the hotel we stayed at offered a shuttle ever hour at the top of the hour to the Aladdin, so we jetted back to the hotel and caught the shuttle. We got dropped off and started walking, and walking... It turns out we went the wrong direction and so J bagged the Fatburger idea. We sorta wandered around and stopped in a few of the Casinos that I hadn't been to yet and wanted to see. We went into the Billagio and it was pretty inside, but we entered at the shopping part and it was so gaudy that we turned around and left about three minutes after we came in. Shops like Armani, Gucci, Tiffany's, Chanel, etc. were just too much for my blood. It was a very beautiful hotel/casino though, i would like to go back next time and see more than just the shops. We also visited Cesars Palace. Amazing sports book, beautiful shopping center. The mall section has very high ceilings that are painted like the sky on a beautiful summers day with fluffy clouds. The shops they have in there are "whatever" I didn't really find the need to go into any of them, but the entire atmosphere of Ceasers was so cool. My favorite part was at the end of the shopping center where there is a HUGE fish tank. I have no idea how many gallons it is, but it wraps around with benches along the entire thing so you can sit and watch all of the different salt water creatures. There were a few sting rays, sharks, box fish, triggers, clown fish, puffers, fox fish and so many other varities it was just so beautiful and amazing. There was also a video system that transmitted the fish to TV's surrounding the base of the ceiling of the fishes swimming around on a live feed. I was so taken with that fish display, i can't do it justice by the words i type, i will have to see if any of the pictures i took are ok and post those. After we walked around Cesars Palace and saw the sites of that casino we went and finally found some food for Jason in one of the little food courts beyond the gaming tables. He had a bacon burger and i got a beer to try to curb my nerves a little. I had gone to the bathroom when he was ordering and i had asked him to get me a beer, when i got back he thought it was funny that he had to pay for his sparkling water but my beer was free. Las Vegas can be so backwards sometimes. After we finished our lunch we decided that it was time to go get things done, so we headed out of the casino and were going to start our trek to downtown Las Vegas. As we were walking and talking about the fish tank in Ceasers, Jason mentioned that The Mirage also had a big salt water tank and it was very cool with sharks and the whole 9 yards as well. I wanted to see that one so we stopped by that casino as well. We saw the white tigers that nearly killed Sigfreed and Roy act a while back... well we saw a couple of exotic kitties, don't know if they are the same ones that were in the preformance or not. Anyways the mirage also has a large display of orchids as well, which i took a little stroll through. A few of the ones they had on display were pretty impressive, but not any that i hadn't seen in books. The fish tank behind the service counter was large, about 20,000 gallons i think they claim, but it wasn't nearly as impressive as the one at C.P. Jason had thought that it was much larger in the past and now it just didn't seem as big, funny how memories change through the years! We left after staying and identifing a few fishes and orchids along our walk.
It was getting pretty warm outside in the desert sun, i think that it was near 80 degrees on the first day of November and we were doing a LOT of walking. Good thing i had drank all of those liquids in the morning to stay hydrated! We kept on walking and Jason kept mentioning that we better go just get the whole married thing over with so that i would stop acting funny, but i think he was the one acting funny. Or maybe it was both of us being slightly nervous about the entire thing. I thought that i was pretty excited at the time, but looking back i suppose that i was a little nervous of what the reaction would be of both of our families. But over everything else i knew that i wanted more than anything to be married to my sweetheart Jason. I wanted him to be as sure, so there was a few times throughout the day that i stopped him and asked him to answer me honestly if it was what he wanted to do. I didn't want him to feel rushed, pressured or anything of a negitive way about marrying me. He said he wanted to marry me still and so we walked on in search of a taxi to take us to the court house. I guess it can be looked on as acting funny if i keep asking if he is sure that he wants to go through with it all of the time... Funny how you can see a day so differently when you step back two steps and see it from anothers eyes.... I thought that i was doing it that day, but i guess i was a little caught up in myself.... Stupid Bride! We walked a little further until we got tired of all the cabs passing us by, so we decided to go to the taxi stand at the Wynn Hotel/Casino. Good choice! We got a cab there within minutes and were finally on our way downtown.
Downtown LV was a lot further than i thought it was. And the feel of it is so different than the strip too! The groups of people that hang on the strip are so much younger than in old vegas. I saw so many seniors and families in downtown than compared to the partying people of the strip. Not saying that there weren't any families or seniors on the strip in the casinos, but the amount of younger people in downtown was far less than on the strip.
As we got closer to the court house we kept seeing more and more chapels, a couple drive-thru ones, just like on TV. A few of the classics like the little white chapel that it seems the celebrities do their elopments at, but that place can be a little more pricey than the other smaller places. It was just like going downtown in anyother city when you get close to the court house you usually see bail bond places in abundance, but in Vegas you see wedding chapels. Just something funny that we noticed.
We got dropped off at 3rd and Main and found our way to the court house of clark county. I think we went in the wrong enterance because we had to go through the heavy security where you had to take off your belt if you were wearing one, the two guys behind me, but in front of Jason, were wearing belts and their pants were so baggy that they literally had to scruntch their pants as they walked so they wouldn't fall around their ankles! I thought that it was funny. Jason always has lots of stuff in his pockets and wears a belt so it took him longer to go through the metal detector than it did for me. In my waiting time i asked one of the people at the help desk where we go for the marriage licenses since i didn't see it as one of the options in the direct area we were in. The way she answered was so funny, she said to me "If that is sure what you want and you still want to get a marriage license go to the end of this building, go out the door and take the first door to the left" She said like she had seen so many other couples come through the same door and ask the same question. Being in her position i would probably do the same thing. So many people get married in Las Vegas and have to do the same thing that we did i think that i may throw that little extra flag out there as well. Once Jason got his belt back on and all of his stuff back in his pockets we headed down the hall to that first door on the left.
We went in and found that we both needed to fill out a form about ourselves and our parents. Each bride and groom needed to fill out the form and had to have the information of where we were born, where and when our parents were born and where we lived currently. You would think that this kind of form would be filled out in ink.... not so, they provided pencils, but not just any pencils, GOLF PENCILS! I thought that was weird, no erasers on these small pencils. Oh well, just another detail i remember that doesn't make any difference... We filled out our forms and waited to be called upon from the next available clerk. The room remided me of a steiral bank office or building. There was plexi glass in front of the clerks and they spoke into these little mircophones that cut out twice during each word. The lady that helped us was very sweet and happy. She would have been a great kindergarden or first grade teacher i think, just had that demenor that seemed to me that she would read stories so soothing that it would make me sleepy and happy. Our "transaction" with her was very pleasent and quick. There wern't many people in the place applying marriage licenses which they said was rare, which was a good thing for us. We got our license and i asked her where we could get married, if there was a place in the court house and she directed us to the Marriage Commisioners Office across the street and told us that it was $50 exact change or to go to any of the chapels and present them with the three peices of paper she gave us (can't tell ya what they were cause i was just caught up with everything at the moment). We didn't need a big production, hell we were already eloping! So the Marriage Commisioner was the place for us! After a little work we found it but then discovered that we didn't have the exact change.... So then we went in search of a place to break a $100 bill. We stopped into a little deli and grabbed a soda, but they couldn't break the large bill.... so off we went to find another place. At this point i must have been much more nervous than i led on to believe because i sorta broke down and freaked out a little.... I cried thinking maybe it was a sign or something that there were hurdles that we had to go through, or something was trying to keep us from getting married today... But Jason made me feel better and we went to a casino to break the 100. Then off we went again. We arrived to the place to find out that.... well.... you must have a WITNESS.... oppsie, we didn't bring one of those with us..... So we asked what were we to do and the M.C. told us that we had three options. number 1 was to wait until the security guard came back from his break. Number 2 was to find a witness of our own, or number 3 was to wait until 5 pm until they provide a witness daily. We took option one and took a seat in the lobby waiting for the security guard to get back. As we sat there and watched the people walk by on the street all i could think is that there were so many witnesses walking us by! Why couldn't they just stop by and ask if they could help us out? After MAYBE 5 minutes the security guard walked in the door and checked in with his office and soon came and got us and informed us that he was infact our witness if we still wanted to get married.
We both got up and proceeded to the little office that was two rooms basically. In the front office was the desk with the computer that types out the official marriage licences, and there were other classic office type things in there, lots of filing cabinets and such. The second room was more of a private office looking room. There was a desk that the Commisioner stood behind as she led us through our vows. Also in the room was a few decorations to make it seem a little "festive" I suppose. There were these little white pillars with fake ivy in two of the corners, and on the desk was a little ring bering pillow (for those people that thought ahead and actually had rings when they exchanged vows.) I think that there were some sort of official papers hung on the wall too, but i can't remember too clearly. After we handed her our papers that we got from the court house across the street she told us to wait in the "Ceremony Room" So we sat down in a row of chairs along one of the walls and waited. It was a little strange knowing that i would be getting married in a little room with a security guard as our witness, but it didn't really matter to me, i just wanted to marry Jason. When she came in to marry us, she asked us to stand before her and state our names, then asked us if we were going to be exchanging rings, but we wern't. So she then asked us to turn and face one another and take eachothers hand. I was a little more nervous now, and i knew i was gonna cry and i just didn't want to do that.... but i couldn't help it. She started with Jason first asking if he takes me as his lawfully wedded wife, he said yes, she then asked all of the classical vows about rich and poor, sickness and health, blah blah. When Jason was repeating it to me and looking in my eyes is when i broke down and tears started flowing. I didn't let it get out of hand but there was a stream of tears coming down, it was very emotional for me to have him vow all of these things to me. And FOR REAL, i think he actually likes me! Once he was done with his vows it was my turn. She asked me if i took Jason to be my lawfully wedded husband and i said "absolutly" Jason let out a little laugh, i think cause i said it so confidently, but i know what i want and i wanted to marry this man. Then off she went with my vows to Jason. After i got through repeating all of them she pronounced us Husband and Wife and asked Jason to kiss his bride. She handed us the official Marriage License and asked us to make sure it was all correct and wished us the best of luck and many happy years together. She was nice, she had a comforting look to her as well. To me she looked so much like the pastor that Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman saw and was at their services. I don't remember what her name was, but i could have sworn that they were related at least if not the same person. I'll have to look on our Marriage License to see what her name was. Anyway, after we were married, we put the papers in the backpack and headed back out to the Las Vegas evening to spend our last few hours of the wonderful ween/wedding weekend having fun. I think we both felt a little dazed about what happened, cause we were both quiet for a few minutes, tried to have a normal conversation, then went into talking about when we were going to tell people and why and all the little details. I knew that i wouldn't be able to talk too much or too long with my family or i would let it slip somehow, i just can't keep a secret. We decided that we wern't to tell anyone that we had just gotten married until February 2006 when we were back down in Vegas for Superbowl weekend. The Jones side of the family would be there and we could say that we were going to get married then and then suprise them that way. That is what we agreed on. Oh and i would have told my family that we were going to get married down there and invite them if they wanted to be there as well. We walked and talked about how hard it was going to be for my blabber mouth to keep this one a secret, but i thought it was going to be fun to have my own huge secret. He agreed to let me tell Nickki though, i had to be able to tell my bestest friend.
We wound up on Fremont Street, which is old Las Vegas. They closed down the street and have nightly laser shows i think, and nighttime displays of different things. Anyway, we wanted a place that had video poker at a bar so that i could do my little bit of gambling and Jason could keep an eye on ESPN and have a beer or two and maybe play a little video poker too. I really enjoy playing video poker, i don't think that i have ever come away with any money, but it certinly is entertaining, plus they give you drinks as you play. I knocked back 4 strawberry daquris while i lost my 35 dollars. Jason played along side me and every few minutes he would say "we just got married" " how weird is that" I would agree and then say "we just got married, in Las Vegas". Jason even told the bartender in the same astonished voice that we had just tied the knot. I was thinking later that he probably gets that a lot with the court house so near by. It was getting near the time to get to the airport and i wanted a little something to commemorate our little getaway so i told Jason that i was going to go roam around the gift shop a few doors down for some goodies. I found a little shop and got a new magnet for the collection at work (a 100 dollar black vegas chip) i got a pretty little bracelet for me as well as a 4 leaf clover key chain, and i got Jason a cool lighter, it's in the shape of two $25 chips, and you twist one of the chips to lite it, it is pretty cool. Now i was officially ready to go home, now a married woman with little souvineers (plus a HUSBAND). We crossed the street and caught a cab to the airport, the cabby complained that we were going to the airport at the middle of rush hour, i think it was about 5:30 but he decided to take our fare anyway. Jason fell asleep fairly quickly in the ride and left me to try to make conversation with this man who was telling me about how he was counting his day until he left Las Vegas because it was so corrupt with mobsters and the entire city is run by the mob. I didn't know how to respond to a lot of it, but we finally got to the airport around 6. We paid the cab driver and gave him a nice tip for baring rush hour for us. We checked in at the SW Airlines kiosk for ticketless and checkless passengers. It took about a minute and a half before we were off to our gate and looking for a place to get a little food and kill time before boarding. We ate at a little mexican place inside the concorse. The food came out so fast it was almost unbelieveable. We got simple foods, but it was litterally about 4 minutes from the time we ordered to the time it was on our table. I got chicken nachos and Jason got a wrap of somesort that was delisious. We started talking about all of the advatages and disadvantages of being married were throughout our dinner. Jason appoligized to me for getting the short end of the stick, but i disagree, he got a broken bride, i got a wonderfully talented man who loves me and is so sweetly nice! He got the short end in my opinion. We ate and ate and talked and half way watched the first NBA game of the season that was broadcast on the TV in the little restaurant. We then moseied on down to our gate and waited to board the plane. The only picture i got of us together the entire weekend was a BEGGED camera phone shot of the two of us at the airport leaving Las Vegas. The batteries on my camera were dying quickly at Ceasers Palace. anyways the flight home was very fast, we arrived in Seattle 20 minutes early, we both slept a majority of the flight. We went and picked up our car from AJAX and drove home to a house with sleeping roommates. It was a few days before they found out that we had gotten married... The sunday after we got married Jason had me call his mom and tell her and we had dinner with my mom and dad, plus thomas and colin on monday evening to tell them the news. Turns out that we both couldn't wait to tell people. Now just about everyone knows and it's only the 19th of November. I have a beautiful band that we went and picked out on the 8th or 9th of Nov. Jason is wearing a silver ring that we bought at the mall to see if he can actually stand to wear a wedding band before we spend some actual cash on a more precious metal for him. He's also thinking of getting a ring tattooed on his finger instead of actually having a ring ring. I also went to the bank and got my accounts changed to my new name and along with the DOL. It's official, I'm now Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Jones