you see, where I come from, it is very wet. All the time.

At first, the idea of running away to get married, to somewhere not only far away, but far away enough to be warm and DRY, was very appealing.

Mr. Shortcake and I met at and both went to the University of British Columbia, where the average October - April day is spent sloshing through the rain, shivering in your wet, seasonally-inappropriate clothes during class until you can't stand it any longer, then sloshing back to your room, changing, and repeating the cycle ad infinitum.

However, as cute as my cheetah boots were,

( see, very cute )

I couldn't stand the thought of mucking through puddles while wearing them and a latex-coated, gortex-lined rubber wedding dress -and so we started thinking of getting married in Hawaii.

{ image by Jessica Claire, from here}

Hawaii was warm, dry(er - it does sprinkle every day), and beautiful. Mr. Shortcake was really into the idea of dressing informally, and I had visions of waterfalls, bridal leis of orchids, and a twilight luau with all our family and friends drinking pineapple punch and eating sandy ham.

 Unfortunately, due to shaky health and old age, Mr. Shortcake's grandparents wouldn't be insured to fly to such a fete - and can't get married without them.  And that's why I will probably end up wearing something like these:

{ image source here }

....because we're getting married back home in Vancouver!