One, we found a VENUE! I know, it’s seven months before the wedding. The Knot has assumed I’ve had this done for months. But as we have said, we were sticklers for having amazing food be an option, and a lot of places just were not cutting it. Also we are terrible, awful procrastinators. So there will be an extended post very soon about that.
But now, let's talk about names.
I've thought about this last name business for a long time people, because let's just be honest here--I've been planning to marry Greg for like five years. Before we were officially dating even. I wasn’t writing “Mrs. Harries” in my underpants or anything, but I kind of assumed I would adopt his last name. I even had a moment of incredible sadness when I realized that I had to give up the name I had always planned for my daughter--Izzy--because then I would have a child named Izzy Harries...which sort of sounds like the question "Is he hairy?" and given my genetic disposition for peach fuzz I just didn't want that for my potential children.
But then, I think last year sometime, or even the year before, people started referring to Greg and I as The Jacksies (a hybrid of our last names). I grew incredibly fond of it. I'm a fan of hybridization in all areas of life and it seemed to really go with our marriage philosophy. As much as we love our families and our heritage, we want our last name to sort of showcase our relationship as a joining of our lives up until this point into something comepletely new. Also, Greg is sick of being called "Harris." And I am sick of that damn Outkast song.
Fuck those guys.
So for a while, our plan was to be The Jacksies.
Then we actually got engaged. And when you get engaged, those cutesie little plans for what you're going to do start to gain actual significance. Greg thought about it, and he decided "Jacksies" was a little too cutesy sounding. He suggested "Harkson." I thought Harkson sounded like a WASP name, and told him so. Then he was searching Urban Dictionary one day at work and discovered that a "Jacksie" was a cockney term for "ass."
That just wouldn't do. Damn cockneys!
So we talked and talked and talked. We debated. We fought. We polled our friends and families. We brainstormed completely new names--my personal favorites were alucarD (spelled exactly that way), Vector, or Velociraptor. (Even now, as we’ve found a solution, I'm still pretty fond of Velociraptor.)
But tonight, at rehearsal, on a whim, I labeled my waterbottle as "jaxies"...and Greg. Went. Crazy. He's all for it. The 'X' fixes the cutesy problem and I still get my totally cute name. And being a homonym for cockney ass is not quite as bad as being cockney ass. Our friend Sean suggested "Jaxeez" to up our scrabble potential but we kindly turned him down.
So what do you think? It's a little pretentious but meh, so are we.
So as of this moment, assuming we still think it’s acceptable after sleeping on it for a night (or a month), Shannon Jackson will marry Greg Harries and they will become Greg and Shannon Jaxies.
We’re such nerds. We’re gonna be sooooo happy.
