When We Met Planning the Wedding & Getting Married Honeymoon in Las Vegas
Maharet & Rigid Raider Married Nov. 26th 2005
Rigid Raider & Maharet have been video gamers most of their lives. This is the story of two Xbox Live video gamers from two very different countries and how it came to be that they were married.
About Maha & Rigid
Before They Were Married
Maharet: I was born in Oceanside, CA. I was raised in San Diego until the age of 6 after which my mother, sister and I migrated North to Los Angeles in search of a better existence (that is in fact a joke). I have lived here ever since and never plan on leaving. I have many different interests such as painting, photography, cake decoration, video gaming and blogging. I'm probably one of the most stubborn people I know, other than Rigid, and even I sometimes have trouble getting along with myself. But to be serious this has been quite and experience for me. I can't wait to see what happens next in my life.
RigidRaider: Rigid was born in Blackpool, Lancashire-England. He served in the military for 4 years and traveled to many places including Afghanistan and Iraq. He had a beautiful little dog that he left behind in search of a better life across the seas...I hope it's not doing too badly without him. Nathan's interest lie mostly in video gaming, body guarding and...me. Which makes me quite the Happy Bunny.
How They Met
March 3rd, 2004
We met while playing video games on Xbox Live. I was probably shouting something like "TUNA MOTHERF'RS" while proceeding to beat the hell out of my future husband. I think there may have been something a little masochistic about that because he just kept coming back for more. He mentioned one day that he'd always wanted to come to California and visit Hollywood. I told him he definitely should and that I'd be happy to show him around. Little did I know that on March 3rd, 2004 he had everything but Hollywood on his mind. Don't tell anyone, but so did I although I didn't really know it at the time. Along the way we've made lots of friends. We've had the chance to grow even closer to friends and family and are grateful for everyone in our lives.
When They Got Engaged
July 13, 2004
How It Happened
I told Rigid many times how I wanted to be proposed to. He tried it over Xbox Live once...or twice and I said I wouldn't be proposed to over some Internet connection. He proposed to me over the phone and I told him I refused to be proposed to over the phone. He asked me many times what I would be happy with and I said...anything....anything but over the Xbox, phone or in an airport. So on July 13, 2004 when he landed he got down on one knee, the curls on his head nearly spilling over his forehead, and pulled out a ring that he happened to buy out in Afghanistan during his tour. I of course gave in at that moment especially after he said, "Come on, what's your answer? Don't leave us on the floor like a cunt!" in typical English fashion. The ring also just happened to fit me and just happened to be exactly the type of ring I'd love to wear. So really despite all my complaints about my proposal it all turned out rather nicely.
About The Wedding Day
I was sill gluing a piece of my veil that had fallen off the comb. My friend was late to do my hair, but I was able to gather all of the pieces we needed to have at the reception. The photographer was also late, but we had the opportunity to take some quick pictures. Unfourtunately I was running late and didn't have time to pose for long before I had to quickly jump into my wedding dress. I was so late in fact that I threw the dress on over my pj bottoms. I rode all the way to the church in them. The Church at 10 am What a wonderful memory. My hairdresser, Maid of Honor and I rode the limousine like mad giggling children. We piled out of the limousine onto wet concrete in front of the church steps. Who would wet the concrete before a wedding? Typical Mexican theme I tell you. I didn't have time to put my veil on in the car and when I heard the priest start the ceremony without me I shit my pj bottoms. Yeah, I never took them off. My hairdresser friend quickly jammed the veil comb into my skull as I squatted in front of the church doors and my heart pounded in my throat. I half dragged half walked my best uncle down the aisle and nearly puked when I didn't see my betrothed at the end of the line but he poked his head out from behind his best man and everything was okay. As we sat there before the Priest nervous and giggling I told him why I was late and showed him my pj's. After he got done calling me a muppet he proceeded to tell me, "I can't believe your getting married in your pajamas. Well, at least you'll have something to tell the grand kids." After the Wedding & Before the Reception 11 am We hugged and kissed everyone that went to the wedding. People waved my wedding wands around and kids swarmed all around us. My grandmother had beautiful things to say and made me cry on the spot. I really needed her tenderness and she gave it so very willingly that I had no words to express myself. The ride to the park was fun for us, Rigid and I rode alone and shared some champagne, hugged and kissed and told each other everything that happened the night we were apart. The photography was a lot of fun though exhausting, but everyone got to take a picture. After that we left everyone to take a ride on our own, but we had no idea where to go as we had a lot of time in between the wedding and the reception to kill. We decided on The Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro. We hadn't realized how windy it was until we go there. I thought my hair would come off with my veil, but it made for some very interesting pictures. That was such a romantic and spontaneous thing to do on your wedding day. We should have taken some champagne out, but I'm sure the guard would have had something to say about that! There was still so much time to use up so after the Friendship Bell we made our way down to the KFC. Rigid was hungry and we did see several limo's lined up at various fast food restaurants. I would never have envisioned this happening on my wedding day but it did and I embraced it. It was hilarious trying to eat a chicken wing in a wedding dress. Eventually we made it to Heritage Park in Santa Fe Springs where we continued our picture taking escapades. I think Rigid eventually got sick of taking so many pictures and he completely ran out of poses. Also getting in and out of that limousine was cumbersome and embarrassing. I STILL hadn't taken off my pj bottoms! The Reception 4pm It was still early and I don't think the DJ was there, but we decided to join our friends and family anyway. The centerpieces my cousin brought from Mexico were beautiful. I was so lucky that she took it upon herself to give me such a gift. I don't know how the roses didn't fall apart! My mementos really complemented the centerpieces as well and they were a big hit at the party. The cake was something to behold, oh no not something great, it was a horrible mess. It wasn't at all what I had expected and my husband tried to keep the worst of it from me before I got there. The green vines were disgusting and they practically covered the cake in them. At least green is my favorite color, I hadn't actually though of that until now. All the little details I put into it really added to the atmosphere. The food was unbelievable and so was the service. The DJ was interesting to say the least, but we did have fun. We did all the usual things like the garter toss, the bouquet toss. I also danced with my uncle while Rigid danced with my mother, we did the dollar dance and I even danced with my ex-husband. Luckily I don't think anyone saw us BOTH cry. That would be what you could call a bittersweet moment and it was lovely. The day eventually ended, rather early in fact, and everyone started piling out. By the time everyone left and we had everything packed away it was nearly 10:30 pm. When I got home my husbands best man and my maid of honor helped me unpack and unwrap my presents. We counted the money from the dollar dance and stashed it away for the honeymoon. We felt so blessed that our family was so generous and so giving because trust us, we were going to need it! About the Rest of Their Lives I had so many plans for the day after the wedding. I wanted to serve my family with brunch, those few that had to stay the night, but we were all so pooped and they had such a long way to go that we pretty much just called it a day. I had also been sick the entire week prior to the wedding. The day of the wedding I seemed to be doing just fine and I didn't feel a thing, but I think it may have just been the excitement of the day that kept me going because the next day it came back in full force. I was sick as a dog the day after my wedding. We wrapped up a few of the last minute things like the cake stand and the tuxedo rentals and added the deposits we got back to the pile. We weren't supposed to head out to our hotel in Las Vegas until Monday, but Rigid was anxious to be on our way. Unfortunately he became anxious to leave at 10pm that night. I was nervous about driving to Las Vegas all that way at night, I decided to brave it and realized that I'd simply sleep all the way up there. Rigid waited patiently for me while I packed all the necessary items and while his back was turned I snuck out of the house and drew all over the car with a Dove soap bar. When we were ready to leave I sprang the surprise on him. There were doves, wedding bells and the words "Just Married"... all the usual things you'd see on a newlyweds car. He loved my surprise and we drove up to Vegas in pitch black darkness. IT WAS FREEZING, but we survived. The honeymoon itself was amazing. The Monte Carlo Hotel is so very pretty and they have wonderful shops to visit. We ate at dozens of wonderful restaurants and took loads of pictures everywhere we went. We even gambled a bit. Since he'd taught me to play Texas Hold-em I decided to brave a tournament. I outlasted two whole tables our of 4. That was quite a triumph for me. Rigid got horribly sick halfway through the honeymoon though. I believe he took pictures of the vomit. He decided to also give the vomit back to the hotel restaurant that gave it to him. It was a strange afternoon. We also visited the Hilton for the Startrek Experience. I guess I'm the only nerd in the relationship here because I enjoyed it so very thoroughly and he was just... "meh, it's okay." A little disappointing, but I tried not to let that upset me. After all were still getting to know each other. Back Home After the honeymoon and after we'd gotten some rest we jumped onto Xbox Live to visit and chat with our friends. We told them all about the wonderful experiences we'd had and they gave us all best wishes for the future. Some people have asked us how it is that we could do something like this...How we could have met through gaming and how we ended up getting married. I just tell them were really not all that different from anyone else nor all that original. Were not the only people out there to have gotten together this way and we won't be the last. I like the idea of being thought of as a pioneer of sorts. Like the first people to hit that rock... They all sort of piled into America one after the other until they completely took over the entire country! That's what it's going to be like... a bunch of nerds meeting over the Internet getting married and making Internet babies and populating the world with Internet nerd families... Were going to take over the world!!!
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