Say you: Woah, control freak.
Say me: I know, but I just love those pictures of the bride and groom opening their gifts and seeing the special words written to them. I want those pictures.
Anyway, the more I thought about, though, the more I realized that I wanted to get something for Matt. I love to give gifts, especially to the people I love. And I absolutely love taking the time to come up with something special that that person would like. I have so much fun trying to be creative with gifts. Not to mention that my ring is going to cost significantly more than his is. Not that I'm all "we-have-to-spend-the-same-amount-on-each-other," but you know...
So, I thought long and hard about what to do or get for Matt. While perusing Etsy, I came across Venus Flytrap Jewels and her custom-made awesomeness. Custom-made cuff links! Brilliant!! Matt has never had any cuff links of his own - he always just uses the ones that come with the rented tuxes. And that was what he planned to do for our wedding. Umm...no. So I contacted Venus Flytrap and asked if they could make a set of cuff links with a picture that I sent her. She said she could, and 3 weeks later, they arrived at my doorstep. Wanna see?
Yay, Rocky!! Have I explained why Rocky is special to us? No? Allow me to elaborate, then! When Matt and I first met, I was told that the fact that I'd never seen Rocky is completely inexcusable. On my first visit to Philadelphia, we watched the first Rocky. Subsequent visits = subsequent Rockys. I've seen all but the 5th, including the 6th...at the theater...on the release day. So, we watched Rocky on our first "date." If you're a sentimental shmuck like me, then that makes it sort of special. But it gets better.9 months into our relationship, I found out that the city of Philadelphia shows the original Rocky on the steps of the Art Museum. Every year. I was so excited. I put together a little game for Matt for the week leading up to the night of the screening. Each day I gave him a clue about what I was planning for him, but my clues were pretty vague, so he had absolutely no idea what he was in for. The night of the screening, I packed us a "picnic" dinner of Wawa hoagies, sodas, chips, and, of course, popcorn, and put Matt in the car and started driving. I parked around the back of the museum, and we started walking up the back steps, with all our gear in town. He still had no idea what was going on. As we came around the front of the museum, at the top of the steps, we were greeted with a scene of about 200 people lounging on the steps and a big truck parked at the bottom with a big movie screen on it. The opening credits started rolling as soon as we reached the top of the steps - I seriously could not have timed it better if I'd tried. Matt was totally surprised, and completely thrilled. He was like a little kid. It was so cute. Here's a picture I took that night:
How cool is that? The steps filled up as the movie played, and by about the middle of the movie, they were completely full. When they get to the scene where Rocky takes his (absolutely physically impossible) run through the city and up the steps of the Art Museum, the crowd erupts into cheers. It's a really cool experience, and if you're in or near the city of Philadelphia, I highly recommend you check it out. So anyway, that's now an annual tradition for us.
When we bought our house, I made a special Rocky corner in our living room. It includes Matt's poster from the original film and his replica Rocky statue, plus a couple pictures I've taken - the one I have above, one of us under the real Rocky statue, and one of us at the restaurant they used as Adrian's in the most recent movie, Rocky Balboa (the restaurant, in Philadelphia, is called Victor Cafe, and is really great).
So...yeah...we like Rocky.
I'm also doing something else as a wedding gift, but that'll be another post...
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