Sweetheart Chairs

Generally, our wedding planning process goes something like this:

Me: Hey future husband, what do you think about wearing a suit instead of a tux/getting married on a farm/having a candy bar/misc other suggestion?
Dave: Ummm...ok!

While I'm inclined to believe Dave's blanket acceptance has less to do with my amazing pitching skills and more with his (admittedly, reasonable) point that we are not actually planning a wedding right now, I still get excited when I can get him excited about some little detail I've thought up to make our wedding special.

Like: chairs!


These beauties, of course, come with a story. They're the same chairs from the dining hall in our college dorm, Cabot House, where we met. The dining hall was sort of the main social space in our dorm, and on mammoth study days people would stay in there for hours, a growing pile of trays and empty coffee cups surrounding them.

I have very fond memories of long lunches and dinners with friends, although I have absolutely no memory of the meal where Dave and I actually met (introduced by mutual friends). I also have no memory of the lunch a few days later where, sitting by myself doing a crossword puzzle, I was approached by a cute, friendly Dave, who...I completely blew off? Yes, I am a sharp one...

In any case, love prevailed, and the Cabot House dining hall remains a very special place to both of us. When our house master decided a few years ago to replace the chairs, I suggested that Dave (newly graduated and moved into an apartment down the street) ask for a few of the old chairs. After he moved out, we packed up two of the chairs to keep.

Initially, I'd thought they would just be sweet mementos to have around our house--Mom and Dad used to sit in these chairs and study until their butts went numb! --but then I had the idea about incorporating them into the wedding somehow, maybe at a sweetheart table at the reception.*

It feels very full circle to be sitting at our wedding in the same chairs where we met. Plus, Cabot chairs! Aren't they nice?

*wedding lexicon alert! A sweetheart table is a table where just the bride and groom sit together at the reception. Can you believe I used to study comparative literature and now I spend my braincells on this?