During the panels at Katsucon this year Fred and I announced that we eloped after Christmas. On our holiday sabbatical from Megatokyo we went to Las Vegas and were married on New Year's Eve. We spent our honeymoon freezing our butts off in the desert. Only Fred and I would go to the desert when it snows for the first time in a decade.

So people who have been sending me emails with statements such as "isn't it about time," and "aren't you of the age to be married," (frankly, I don't even know what that means) well you can stop now because despite age and time, Fred and I got married. Bad news for his fangirls, I know!

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We're back from Katsucon. It wasn't pretty. First our main panel was scheduled during the only free hour that wasn't devoted to a convention sponsored event or a game show. It was definitely not a good time for the panel. The opening ceremonies ran over and that gave us a total of 45 minutes to set up, present, and, frankly, get the hell off the stage. We weren't even half way through our presentation and people coming to the AMV panel after ours started coming into the room, and were all talking so much that people couldn't hear us even with the microphones. Hmmm, we weren't very happy.

Signing for fans was great -- except when the hotel was 'locked down' due to a 'biohazard' prank which had me standing in the parking lot for 45 minutes, Fred trapped inside the hotel, and the Wizzywig crew stuck in the dealer's room in the basement. Our cell phones wouldn't work and none of us could contact one another. I think the fans had fun at the con though. But trust me - behind the scenes isn't all it is cracked up to be. (AND the furnace broke while we were gone and we are currently sitting in a 54 degree house. Traveling sucks.)

So the Seraphim Survey this week is about conventions. Do you love 'em or hate 'em? Where are you going this year? Let me know!!! It's the first time I used a emoticon survey tool so check it out.

The wedding - now that I have some time. Fred and I chose a traditional non-traditional kind of wedding. I wanted to keep it a secret because of things like the J-lo and Ben Affleck debacle. All the hype and publicity and then nothing. IF it was real and not a huge stunt - how embarrassing. Mortifying actually. I know we aren't flaky Hollywood types but thousands of people expecting something can really mess you up in the head. We hadn't even finished our honeymoon and Brittney was off playing the fool in Vegas.

Not that I didn't want to rant like crazy about the whole process. The wedding dress alone was a near disaster. First of all the popular styles this year were the Renaissance style (not a flattering style on many including me) and this two piece skirt and top ensemble thing. Ok, that totally defeats the dress theme. A skirt and top is not a dress - it is a skirt and top. They are not the same. Ivory dresses are really hard to find. An ivory crushed velvet dress is impossible. Using my l33t library skills, however, I found a mill that would weave the velvet and crush it to order - cheap. Wholesale cost! It is beautiful fabric. Too bad it arrived too late. Luckily my wonderful dressmaker, Teres, had a substitute fabric for me.

I just wanted a very simple frock and couldn't find any. The guys are going to kill me for telling this story because it sets a very high standard for anyone to reach. I was very pressed for time and over confident in my ability to find a dress. At Thanksgiving I was desperate and facing heavy deadlines (read the rant about completing an entire research paper in two days...) and I was a very sad girl in snow. Fred took it upon himself to find a dressmaker for me. He set off one day in his NINJA hoodie and rattiest pants and shoes to hit these little boutique shops in a ritzy area where the owners are also dressmakers. He looked like such a punk. He told them about how busy we were with the comic and my classes and we only had four weeks and could they please do it. I'm sure his sweet (and very cute) demeanor won Teres over and she agreed. Fred doesn't even realize how special what he did was. Truthfully, most guys don't realize that clothes DON'T grow on the shelves of department stores. He is really the greatest guy ever.

We got married in a ubiquitous little wedding chapel. It was not the one Brittney Spears used and it wasn't the "Say I do Drive-thru". Afterwards we ate at casino restaurant (not a gawd awful buffet) and people in Vegas love the sight of a wedding couple. People were yelling congratulations from all around or whispering in awed tones 'they got married!'. Being New Year's Eve it was like everyone (300,000 plus) was celebrating with us and not everyone has a giant fireworks show on their wedding day.

We kept the wedding a secret to announce at the Katsucon panel which was the one year anniversary of our engagement. While in Vegas we were recognized by two fans at the Japanese restaurant at the Luxor. His name was Brian Deutsch and his friend from Purdue. We were sure we were going to be ratted out but it must not have crossed their minds that we'd be in Vegas to get married. We were surprised nothing showed up in the forums after the panel about the announcement. So we still got to pull off our little surprise on the fans. That makes me happy. We barely get away with anything these days.