Love in Theory and Practice: Chapters 1-13

Stockholm, Sweden

The Big Day:

Callie wrestles me awake at 6:00am, pulling me out of Ville’s warm arms for a run. He mumbles in his sleep but doesn’t wake.

“It’ll take the edge off the nerves.” She says happily but when I try to explain that I don’t have any, she informs me that the nerves are hers. We pull on our running clothes and shoes and head out into the cool morning air. The sky is clear and I can tell it’s going to be a beautiful day.

“This is it, you know.” She says as we jog along the water’s edge. “You’re really married after today. Mrs. Valo.” She is happy but also sad. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” I say with a laugh.

“Well no, but we won’t be single gal pals anymore.” She says with a sigh and a half smile.

“Well I haven’t been single in a while now but maybe we’ll be married gal pals soon. You and Bam are good together.” I suggest.

“We really are, aren’t we?” She smiles

A few hours later, it’s almost noon and guests are arriving. Ville’s family seems to congregate around with his parents while my family seems to mass around my father. We laugh when we see a few of our younger cousins actually mixing together out of boredom.

Around 1:00, Callie and Jason kick Ville out of my room so they can start getting me ready. Ville and the rest of the guys just set up shop outside on the patio by the water. I can hear their conversation and laughter through my open window.

“Okay, so curls right?” Callie asks, waving the curling iron in front of my face. “Woman, you are zoning out like it’s no body’s business.”

“I’m sorry,” I say with a wide smile. “It’s just that I can hear him outside.” She clicks her tongue at me but smiles anyway.

Jason has hung my dress up on the door of my wardrobe and my shoes are set on the floor beside it. He’s laid out the lingerie he bought for me on the bed, in the hope that I’ll wear it under my dress.

At 3:30 they’ve got me made-up, dressed-up, dolled-up further than I’ve ever been in my life. I feel like I don’t even look like myself but Callie insists I look great.

She still doesn’t understand why I’m not nervous.

“It’s not like he can change his mind.” I laugh and poke her nose. She swats my hand away. She looks beautiful in the blue dress she’d chosen. I hadn’t picked any color for her and Jason, they just picked something they liked and coordinated.

In a way, there is no real theme keeping the wedding tied together. It’s just casual summertime.

Ville and the guys were dressed a while ago seeing as how all they had to do was put on slacks, white shirts and vests. They all seemed pretty happy that they didn’t have to wear stiff suits.

At 4:00 precisely, my dad walks me down our make shift aisle to Ville. They are both beaming at me and I know I have a silly smile on my face too. Pappa kisses my cheek before “giving” me to Ville.

“Hi,” Ville whispers with a happy smile when I reach him. I can barely contain the smile on my face. I don’t think I’ve ever been this purely happy in my entire life.

“Hi,” she replies. Her father winks at me before taking his seat. I can see the excitement in her face and she’s biting her lip to keep from laughing. She grabs my hands and squeezes.

She’s got more make up on than I’ve ever seen on her but she still looks beautiful. I know that Callie and Jason made her up and if she’d had her way, she’d be up here in her jeans again. Her eyelashes are heavily coated and mixed with false lashes creating a dark, thick fringe around her eyes. They’ve lined her eyes with black liner in a “cat eye” or whatever it’s called and there’s brown eye shadow on her lids. Her lips are pink as usual but now there’s gloss on them that makes them sparkle.

Her curls are perfected and there’s a small strand of pearls peaking through. The dress is beautiful and I wonder if I should find the girl who sold it to Elin and send her a present. It fits her like a glove and really suits her personality.

While the priest talking, Elin bridges the gap between us and wraps her arms around my waist. Apparently, we’re not going to have any shame in front of our friends and family. I wrap my arms around her and lay my cheek on the top of her head.

After much debate, we decided to have the service in Finnish. The majority of our guests speak Finnish. Unfortunately it leaves Bam, Callie and Jason to wonder what’s being said. I think Elin got a little bit of sick pleasure out of it.

I am almost in a daze as I repeat the vows back and my heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest when hear Elin repeating them to me. I slip the ring on her finger for the second time and she slips mine on as well. There are a few tears on both of our faces but mostly it’s been only smiles. Even though we’re already legally married there is something more powerful about these age-old vows in front of people we care about.

Then I’m allowed to kiss her. It’s done. We are really married now, not just legally but in front of everyone we care about. I feel like I could fly away. When we pull apart, Elin bursts into laughter. And soon I’m laughing with her.

Everyone cheers as we walk away together. Once we’re alone she collapses into my arms, laughing.

“You really can’t get rid of me now,” she jokes and rubs my nose with hers.

“Why on earth would I want to get rid of you?” I reply. She just shrugs with a smile.

But at this moment my heart feels like it’s brand new. There is no hurt, no anger, and no pain, only love. I feel like a child or a young man again. She’s brought me back to life and helped me shed my old self and life. I’ve never felt more like Ville Valo.

As the reception starts, everyone is in a great mood and everyone is mingling together as if they’d been friends for years.

“I like the decorations.” He says happily as we settle into our table. Instead of having our own private one, I set us up with Bam and Callie. I knew that neither Ville nor I would like being set apart.

I ordered white tablecloths and my father and I found several giant boxes of mismatched china in our storage shed. It turned out rather cute and extremely easy. We’re using canning jars as glasses and mismatched silverware. It looks like a glorified picnic but it works. Our centerpieces are arrangements of colored glass bottles that somewhat match the colors in the china.

We’ve hung white candles from a few of the trees so that when the sun goes down a bit we’ll have light. Callie had laughed endlessly about how much time I spend hanging candles for parties but I’d just ignored her.

Naturally, I’d spent the most money on food and drink. We have a wide variety of options that will make everyone happy and I got alcohol for everyone who drinks it. Ville and I are good with lingonberry juice.

“I have a gift for you.” Ville says with a sweet smile.

“And I have one for you.” I reply.

We both go to get our gifts out of their respective places and we both arrive back at the table at the same time. Ville has a box the size of a shoebox tied with a bow and I have a giant rectangle wrapped in brown paper tied with a string.

Everyone laughs at the size of the package I have. It’s almost as tall as me and much wider. Ville chuckles and takes it from me and hands me the small box. I let out a small yelp when the box moves in my hand.

“You’d better open it quickly.” He says with a silly smile. So I set the box down on the table and pull the ribbon. When I lift the lid, a small furry face greets me with a small bark.

I lift out the puppy and pull it to my chest. It immediately starts licking my face.

“He’s a Yorkshire Terrier,” Ville tells me. “He has hair instead of fur so I’m not allergic to him.” I kiss him and say thank you then motion towards his own gift that he is still just holding.

“Does he have a name?” I ask.

“No, he doesn’t. I figured you should probably name your own dog.” He laughs while figuring out how best to open his gift.

He unties the strings and pulls back the paper. I can see the smile forming on his lips.

I managed to get a hold of a first edition print of Faust. He wraps me in a hug and the puppy is squeezed in between us.

“Thank you love,” he says quietly.

“And thank you,” I say and hold the dog up so it can lick Ville’s face.

After gifts, we have dinner and cake. We have just a simple white cake with a traditional wedding tiara on top. When dinner and cake has been cleared from the tables, Bam stands up and finds a microphone. I didn’t set that up so I don’t know how it happened and if it were any other day of my life, I’d be irritated.

“Okay, so my name is Bam and I know I’m not the best man but I’ve known Ville for a long time now and he’s one of my best friends.” Bam begins. “I’m not usually one to get mushy with my speech but ever since Elin came into Ville’s life he’s been a happier, healthier person. I mean he’s not smoking anymore for Christ’s sake! Did anyone really see that coming?” Ville and I laugh, as do most of the other guests. He squeezes my hand and kisses my temple.

“I wish I knew Elin better but she must be awesome if she’s best friends with Callie.” He says with a smile and a wink towards Callie. “Callie was too shy to get up and talk in front of everyone so she asked me to do it for her. She was going to write a speech but she came to me with another idea and she and I have been working on it since it came up.” Ville and I look at each other then over at Callie who just shrugs her shoulders with a wicked smile on her face. “If you would direct your attention to the movie screen,” Bam says and gestures to the screen we’d set up back behind the reception area.

Going to California by Led Zeppelin begins to play along with a video. Bam and Callie have taken clips of video of Ville and I and edited them into a video. There are clips of Ville and I laughing, lying around reading together, cooking together. There are clips from the studio in LA. But the best part of the video is a clip of Ville and I singing Going to California to each other in the car in LA.

When the video is over, I jump out of my chair and hug Callie while Ville hugs Bam. She hugs me tightly and when we pull apart there are tears on both of our faces. We hurriedly wipe them away. I hug Bam and Ville hugs Callie. I hear her mumble something about taking care of me.

After speeches are over (Linde and Mige, my father, my brother Isak, and Ville’s father spoke) everyone begins to dance. Ville and I chose Sininen Uni as our first song. He holds me close and sings quietly in my ear.

Everyone dances, eats, hangs out, and talks with each other until late in the night. I got to meet most of his family and introduce him to most of mine.

Around 1:00am, we start a movie on the big screen. Everyone lies down on blankets and we watch Nosferatu with Klaus Kinski. I picked it just for Ville and I think he knows it.

Slowly, either out of boredom or sleepiness, people begin to head off to bed. Eventually, it’s just Ville, Callie, Bam, Linde and his wife, Mige and his wife and my brothers out on the lawn. When the movie ends we all pick up and head inside.

I change out of my dress and slip on the pajamas Callie and Jason picked out. When I come out of the bathroom, Ville is asleep. One arm is behind his head while the other is across his chest. His breathing is light and his lips are slightly parted.

I slip in beside him, smiling because I know that his is the man I’m going to sleep beside for the rest of my life. And I simply can’t wait to see what every day in the future holds for us.

When Callie and Jason come to get Ville and I up the next morning, we’re already awake with coffee. We’re watching National Geographic on my laptop and Callie and Jason look at us with pure confusion.

“Let me get this straight,” Jason begins. “You fell asleep on your wedding night…and woke up to watch a National Geographic program about volcanoes?”

“Well it’s also about earthquakes and tornadoes.” I explain with a smile. Ville just laughs and rests his head on my shoulder.