The Name Change

Lots of people have been asking me why we've changed our names (or at least why I've changed mine), and how we came up with Nap. A lot of people have also expressed a less than positive attitude towards our new name, perhaps it sounds strange (was Naphegyi really less strange?), and rather than just tell them to sod off (see, I'm more mature since getting married), I want to present this line of thought to you: if you had met me as Stephen Nap however many years ago, you would a) be fine with it, and b) think it far more strange if I changed my name to Naphegyi - it's much easier to justify cutting letters off than adding them on.

Anyways, here's how it happened: Star didn't want to take my name (not that I can blame her) because her first name is unique enough on its own. She's spent most of her life being asked "is that you real name?", "were your parents hippies?", and when going through a roll call it's always "Tommy, Jennifer, Alice.... Star?". So I think she's fine in making that choice. Imagine "Star? Na-what?"

I can't take her last name because her uncle is Steve Ackerman, and that would be really weird.

Blending our last names, we could only come up with "Napperman" (too Jewish) and "Ackernegyi" (just plain terrible).

Hyphenation is out because it would take our kids until they were 15 to learn to spell their names, and what would happen when our Naphegyi-Ackerman (or Ackerman-Naphegyi) children marry some Surrinder-Hashimoto kids? It would get a little ridiculous.

"Nap", in Hungarian, means "sun", and "naphegyi" means "from the mountains in the sun", so Nap retains a piece of my original name and its Hungarianism.

So there it is, our reasoning for changing our names to Nap.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!

The wedding has finished and we are back in town! For those of you who could not attend, there will be a celebratory hot pot dinner at some point in the near future, followed by a showing of the wedding video on DVD (as soon as Tim and Peter finish editing it).
Here's the breakdown of the wedding:

Thursday July 14^th
7:00 - It's pouring rain and we're starting to worry about Saturday. Dinner at Alex's, a contemporary fusion restaurant in Elora. For those of you who may not know, Elora is a tourist town (mostly Toronto tourists) and thus caters to people who would eat fusion food. In short, it's a small town with high prices (for food anyways). The meal acted as a meet and greet for about 40 of the guests who would be at the wedding. A great time was had by all!

Friday, July 15^th
10:00 - Tomorrows forecast is for rain and it becomes very evident that we will not be having the garden wedding that we had originally planned. As an alternate we booked the Elora Centre for the Arts, an old schoolhouse turned art gallery that is apparantly haunted (we didn't know that at the time, but it's a neat piece of lore to throw in).

2:00 - Star' surprise bridal shower. It's hot and sunny, possibly a good sign for tomorrow. The event was held in Lion's Park, a wooden tent across the street from the Drew House bed and breakfast. The theme was 50's pink and white. Everyone came in cocktail dresses and had cupcakes, jello, licorice allsorts, and other 50's foods. They had hula-hoop contests and bubblegum blowing competitions. Star had no idea what was going on until we were walking down the hill to the party.
I left her at that point and returned to the Drew House for my stag. We played Texas Hold 'Em, ate ribs, drank beer, and smoked cigars. No strippers, sorry.

5:30 - Barbeque at Granny and Pat's, Star's grandparents' house 10 minutes outside of Elora. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows, had pop and chips and side dishes, and Granny hired a wandering minstrel to sing for the party. It was amazing!

Saturday, July 16^th
11:00 - Pouring again, good thing we booked an alternate location! Star has gone for her appointments, hair, makeup, and the rest. The one tradition we did observe is that I didn't see Star's dress before the ceremony, so I didn't see her again until the wedding.
3:00 - After lunch at the pub, Li-Kai, Daniel (my other best man), Raven (Star's brother), and myself go the the art gallery to check up on the place but it was locked! Aaaaahhhhhh!!!! I'm supposed to get married there in an hour and a half! So we ran back to the Drew House and called the curator at home. She wasn't there so I left a panicked message and began to plan how we would fit all of those people into Granny's house and clear out all of the furniture. While I'm freaking out, the woman calls back and tells me that she wasn't going to send anyone there until 4:30, and that she hadn't forgotten. WHEW!
5:30 - The ceremony occurs at the art gallery. Star and I, and everbody else, was crying - even Li-Kai got choked-up. It was beautiful with violins, flowers, people in suits. We had a quaker tradition afterwards where people in the audience just stand up as they feel like it and say nice things about the couple, memories or warm wishes, and almost everybody in the room had said something by time it was finished.
6:00 - Star and I escape with her uncle to take portraits in a feild of hay. They look really cool!
7:00 - Dinner at the Drew House. The most amazing wedding meal ever! Salad, seafood, steak, fish, and TWO KINDS OF CAKE!!!! Strawberry shortcake and chocolate hazelnut. Unbelieveable. We stole the leftover cake the next day and polished it off at 11:00pm.

Sunday, July 17^th
9:00 - Breakfast at the Drew House. Amazing breakfast with rolls, three kinds of preserves (apricot, strawberry, and blueberry), bacon, eggs, sausage, roasted vegetable, coffee, and juice. Very satisfying.
1:00 - Sendoff lunch at Granny and Pat's. My mother had it catered and everybody hung out there, and said their goodbyes one by one.

So there you have it. The full wedding account. Happy as I am, my fingers hurt from typing this all out.

Congratulations Star and Steve! I hope you're having a wonderful time at your wedding. Just letting you know we are thinking about you here in Vancouver! Bring back some pictures of your wedding, please, cuz I wanna see it!

Two weeks from today we fly out to Toronto!!!!!!!!!

Star bought wedding shoes! They're Christian Dior stiletto's and they're fucking amazing! I would try and find a picture, but I have no idea where to start (also, I think it should be somewhat of a surprise... unless you want to come over, then you can see them). I think she's trying them on right now.

Apparantly it is possible to spend half the price of one's wedding dress on shoes...

All right. It's been over a month and I've received all of 3 RSVP's. Kudos to Karen, Gordon, and Li-Kai. Out of all of the rest of you, I've heard nothing! Not even an "I don't know" (OK, Cindy and Chris have been good)! It's time for me to start knowing who's coming to this bash and who isn't.

Furthermore, you need to be booking rooms at bed and breakfasts or campsites. I suggest booking at bed and breakfasts and sharing rooms because it will be easier to get to the events from them, but do whatever you want.

Here's the info, email me if you have questions (I'm also mass mailing this, because I don't know how often people check this):

The Drew House - This is the bed and breakfast Star and I are staying at. It's very nice, about $100/ night, but the food is amazing. Tell them you're part of the wedding. (519) 846-2226

The Bissel House - They only have one room left on Saturday, so book soon! (519) 846-6695

Sem Wissler House - This is the nicest of the bed and breakfasts. (519) 856-2138

Elora Gorge Campground - This is the place to go for camping. Call for reservations 1-866-668-2267

BOOK SOON! Remember, more than one person can stay in a room and explaining that you're students and asking for a cot may save you some money.

INVITATIONS ARE IN THE MAIL! You should be receiving them soon!

When we printed them, we said to RSVP by April 5^th, but obviously since they're out so late you can just reply whenever. I'm really excited! I even made a wedding email, starandstephenswedding@hotmail.com, if you have wedding questions and such.