The Wedding!
What a whirlwind of activity!
It's been a long time since our wedding, but I wanted to try to write down all of my thoughts and observations, while they're still somewhat in my mind.
Day before the rehearsal (Thurs)
My day started at work, where, miraculously, the day did not go by nearly as slowly as I thought. I stayed mostly occupied and I did leave a little bit early so that I could run some errands. I was able to pick up my tux, but still needed new shoes (the ones I had gotten were too big). Picked up some things at the store, and then spent the rest of the evening doing laundry, packing, and cleaning a little. Packing was actually more stressful than I thought. If I had to do it all again, I would print out big detailed checklists (things needed for rehearsal dinner, things needed for Ohio hotel, things needed for checked bag, things needed for carry-on.. etc). Packing was probably one of the more stressful events of the wedding week for me. (Part of that could have been the feeling of "Wow, it's happening!")
Day of the rehearsal (Fri)
Woke up and did some more cleaning before my groomsmen and family were going to be getting into town. James, Dave & Doug all arrived at nearly the same time, a little before lunch. We hung out for a bit and I showed them the apt before we headed over to the Boneyard for lunch. While there, Paul called and said he was in the area too, so he met up with us there too. I was a little nervous because I had called my parents & sister and no one had picked up, so I wasn't sure where people were. I was glad that the guys had all made it safely in though. We hung out playing Mario Kart at the apartment for a little before my parents called and said they were basically picking up their tux.. so the guys headed back to their hotel, and I went with James to check out the tuxes. My dad's needed an alteration or two, but James was ready to go.
Rehearsal night
As I was heading from my apartment to the church, I was feeling a little blah. I definitely felt like if I had layed down, I would have been able to take a pretty nice nap, but there wasn't time for that. On the way, the driver I had called for our get-away car, called me and told me basically that if it rains, he wasn't going to come, and it looked like it was going to rain. Oh, great! Got to the church a little early and was happy to see how the cleaning/decorating had gone. Then we waited for people to arrive. That took quite a while. Kath's church is out in the middle of nowhere, and apparently the GPS units that people had weren't finding the right address, and cell phone service didn't work at all, so a lot of my friends had to ask people for directions, which didn't work for them either. Eventually things got going, but it was much later by the time we got started. The rehearsal itself went well, although it was odd that we were doing a lot of the wedding things early (Kath walking down to the song from Amelie, saying our vows, etc.) But, I felt like people knew what they were up to for the next day. We were heading over to the rehearsal dinner when Kath's dad's car got a flat tire. More delay. I was thinking "Oh man.. how's this all going to come together for tomorrow??" Once we got to the dinner it was a good meal and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I was going to be going out with the guys to Dave & Buster's for a bachelor party, but it was getting kind of late, so we decided to just go get ice cream instead. We drove around for awhile until we found this ice cream place, but it was closed. By this point, I'm just getting tired and want to go home. So, that's just what I did. When I got back, I called Kath which was a nice relief for both of us. With everything going on, it was really helpful to just take some time to ourselves before the big day. I think this was a big, big help to us, so I encourage other couples preparing to tie the knot to do the same thing.
The Big Day - Pre-Ceremony (Sat)
Well.. I got about.. 3-1/2 hours of sleep, so I thought I'd be pretty tired, but thankfully my sleep didn't catch up to me. I went to the Georgian Manor Inn, where Kath and I would be staying and checked in with the owner. He gave me a key to the place, I dropped off my car, and James & Kristi picked me up. We then went to the church and all of us hung out at the parsonage. We ate lunch, played a little foosball, etc. One thing I remember is thinking "Wow, I have more of an appetite than I thought I would." The guys went over to the church and had some pictures taken. I was a lot happier once my dad arrived and I knew that he had gotten his tux & the alterations were fine. (though somewhere along the lines his tie was missing, so we just had to borrow one from the pastor, that thankfully, he had) Went back to the parsonage for more waiting until making our way over to the church again and waiting in the office for everyone to get settled before the start...
The Ceremony
We had a traditional wedding ceremony, with no big surprises. Katherine's little brother, Bryce, did the readings for us. After lighting the unity candles, we took our first moment as a married couple to pray together at the altar, while James sang "Be Thou My Vision" (My family & I knew the tune from "Make Us True Servants") It was really hard to concentrate on praying anything other thank "Thank You!" and I really wanted to listen to the song more; it was beautiful. Before long we had our first kiss as husband and wife, we were presented as Mr. & Mrs. Leonard, and promptly made our way to the back of the church.
The Reception
We had an absolute blast! The food was so good (got many comments on how amazing the alfredo pasta was), the cake tasted even better than it did when we had our taste test with the lady earlier. James & Beth made great & funny speeches.. Everyone had a lot of fun dancing, and we even had a silly dance-off between Dave & Doug (courtesy of Marissa and Kath). The DJ responded to the crowd well, and was appropriately enthusiastic. We were truly amazed at how well everything worked out. I got a call from the driver saying that it wasn't going to rain and that he would be there to pick us up. Around 8:30 we made our exit while everyone was holding sparklers. That memory is a blur, though I do remember seeing James happily waving just a stick (his had already burned out.. hehe) We got into the car, a 1970 convertible, as our driver took us to the hotel, while my eyes were majorly watering from the smoke of the sparklers. :)
Any more thoughts?
As we were driving away, we couldn't believe how perfectly everything had gone. In that instant, we wouldn't have changed anything, it was such a great time. We did later come to find that the video of most of our ceremony didn't work (ahh!) Apparently the battery died shortly after starting (even though the charger said it was full. Blast!) Oh well, we got part of the ceremony, and some pretty good parts at the reception (including the dance-off.. haha) I think that's about the only thing I would have changed.
Thanks to everyone for a wonderful time!
It's been a long time since our wedding, but I wanted to try to write down all of my thoughts and observations, while they're still somewhat in my mind.
Day before the rehearsal (Thurs)
My day started at work, where, miraculously, the day did not go by nearly as slowly as I thought. I stayed mostly occupied and I did leave a little bit early so that I could run some errands. I was able to pick up my tux, but still needed new shoes (the ones I had gotten were too big). Picked up some things at the store, and then spent the rest of the evening doing laundry, packing, and cleaning a little. Packing was actually more stressful than I thought. If I had to do it all again, I would print out big detailed checklists (things needed for rehearsal dinner, things needed for Ohio hotel, things needed for checked bag, things needed for carry-on.. etc). Packing was probably one of the more stressful events of the wedding week for me. (Part of that could have been the feeling of "Wow, it's happening!")
Day of the rehearsal (Fri)
Woke up and did some more cleaning before my groomsmen and family were going to be getting into town. James, Dave & Doug all arrived at nearly the same time, a little before lunch. We hung out for a bit and I showed them the apt before we headed over to the Boneyard for lunch. While there, Paul called and said he was in the area too, so he met up with us there too. I was a little nervous because I had called my parents & sister and no one had picked up, so I wasn't sure where people were. I was glad that the guys had all made it safely in though. We hung out playing Mario Kart at the apartment for a little before my parents called and said they were basically picking up their tux.. so the guys headed back to their hotel, and I went with James to check out the tuxes. My dad's needed an alteration or two, but James was ready to go.
Rehearsal night
As I was heading from my apartment to the church, I was feeling a little blah. I definitely felt like if I had layed down, I would have been able to take a pretty nice nap, but there wasn't time for that. On the way, the driver I had called for our get-away car, called me and told me basically that if it rains, he wasn't going to come, and it looked like it was going to rain. Oh, great! Got to the church a little early and was happy to see how the cleaning/decorating had gone. Then we waited for people to arrive. That took quite a while. Kath's church is out in the middle of nowhere, and apparently the GPS units that people had weren't finding the right address, and cell phone service didn't work at all, so a lot of my friends had to ask people for directions, which didn't work for them either. Eventually things got going, but it was much later by the time we got started. The rehearsal itself went well, although it was odd that we were doing a lot of the wedding things early (Kath walking down to the song from Amelie, saying our vows, etc.) But, I felt like people knew what they were up to for the next day. We were heading over to the rehearsal dinner when Kath's dad's car got a flat tire. More delay. I was thinking "Oh man.. how's this all going to come together for tomorrow??" Once we got to the dinner it was a good meal and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I was going to be going out with the guys to Dave & Buster's for a bachelor party, but it was getting kind of late, so we decided to just go get ice cream instead. We drove around for awhile until we found this ice cream place, but it was closed. By this point, I'm just getting tired and want to go home. So, that's just what I did. When I got back, I called Kath which was a nice relief for both of us. With everything going on, it was really helpful to just take some time to ourselves before the big day. I think this was a big, big help to us, so I encourage other couples preparing to tie the knot to do the same thing.
The Big Day - Pre-Ceremony (Sat)
Well.. I got about.. 3-1/2 hours of sleep, so I thought I'd be pretty tired, but thankfully my sleep didn't catch up to me. I went to the Georgian Manor Inn, where Kath and I would be staying and checked in with the owner. He gave me a key to the place, I dropped off my car, and James & Kristi picked me up. We then went to the church and all of us hung out at the parsonage. We ate lunch, played a little foosball, etc. One thing I remember is thinking "Wow, I have more of an appetite than I thought I would." The guys went over to the church and had some pictures taken. I was a lot happier once my dad arrived and I knew that he had gotten his tux & the alterations were fine. (though somewhere along the lines his tie was missing, so we just had to borrow one from the pastor, that thankfully, he had) Went back to the parsonage for more waiting until making our way over to the church again and waiting in the office for everyone to get settled before the start...
The Ceremony
We had a traditional wedding ceremony, with no big surprises. Katherine's little brother, Bryce, did the readings for us. After lighting the unity candles, we took our first moment as a married couple to pray together at the altar, while James sang "Be Thou My Vision" (My family & I knew the tune from "Make Us True Servants") It was really hard to concentrate on praying anything other thank "Thank You!" and I really wanted to listen to the song more; it was beautiful. Before long we had our first kiss as husband and wife, we were presented as Mr. & Mrs. Leonard, and promptly made our way to the back of the church.
The Reception
We had an absolute blast! The food was so good (got many comments on how amazing the alfredo pasta was), the cake tasted even better than it did when we had our taste test with the lady earlier. James & Beth made great & funny speeches.. Everyone had a lot of fun dancing, and we even had a silly dance-off between Dave & Doug (courtesy of Marissa and Kath). The DJ responded to the crowd well, and was appropriately enthusiastic. We were truly amazed at how well everything worked out. I got a call from the driver saying that it wasn't going to rain and that he would be there to pick us up. Around 8:30 we made our exit while everyone was holding sparklers. That memory is a blur, though I do remember seeing James happily waving just a stick (his had already burned out.. hehe) We got into the car, a 1970 convertible, as our driver took us to the hotel, while my eyes were majorly watering from the smoke of the sparklers. :)
Any more thoughts?
As we were driving away, we couldn't believe how perfectly everything had gone. In that instant, we wouldn't have changed anything, it was such a great time. We did later come to find that the video of most of our ceremony didn't work (ahh!) Apparently the battery died shortly after starting (even though the charger said it was full. Blast!) Oh well, we got part of the ceremony, and some pretty good parts at the reception (including the dance-off.. haha) I think that's about the only thing I would have changed.
Thanks to everyone for a wonderful time!