Long time no post
I kept wanting to write up a big post after the wedding, detailing the entire weekend. But there was just so much to it that the prospect of trying to put it all down in words was too daunting. And so I simply haven't posted anything for a while. Well rather than try and recount the entire events of two and a half weeks ago I think I'll post a few memories (before I forget) that might not get captured in the countless pictures that were taken.
The day before the wedding started out very calm and ended in a flurry of activity. Matt and I went hiking up the mountain trail, which was more difficult than we had thought it would be. But it was very peaceful being under the tree cover and slowly making our way over the rocky trail. I was thankful that he agreed to come with me. The crazy part was when all the guys finally arrived and we went to pick up the tuxes. I kept thinking the rehearsal was at 6:00 instead of 6:30, so we were rushing as fast as we could. The guys managed to try on their tuxes and get them back off in the span of 12 minutes. This included a hilarious dressing room tag team by Brett and Bryant, as well as Matt changing in a utility closet.
It was amazing at the rehearsal dinner to look around the room and see all the people that had come out for us. To see all your friends in one place is incredible and a bit overwhelming. Even more amazing was the thought that only half the wedding guests were at the rehearsal dinner. I tried to make a little thank you speech during the dinner. I tend to come up with such things on the fly, but I had orgranized a few things in my head that I wanted to say. But it all went out the window once I got up there. Looking around at my groomsmen and trying to put together the words to say how thankful I was to have them all as my friends proved to be too much. I got rather choked up and had to cut it short.
Lauren and I exchanged our gifts to each other when we got back to the inn. Her gift to me was absolutely perfect. I had been saying how I was sad that Grandpa wasn't still around to be at my wedding. She went to my mom and grandma to see if there was something of my grandpa's that I could have. She ended up taking Grandpa's watch and got it restored by a jeweler. She also had the back of it engraved with a message and the date of our wedding. It meant so much to me to have a piece of my grandpa with me at the wedding.
In accordance with the tradition of not being able to see the bride on the day of the wedding, I had to stay in a different room the night before. Brett was gracious enough to allow me to stay with him. I went to bed a bit after 1AM, before the rest of the guys. And as I lay there in bed staring at the ceiling I tried to take it all in. But there are those times in your life where your mind simply isn't able to grasp the enormity of what your heart is feeling. And as I tried to get my head around it all I fell asleep and slept very well. The next morning I got up and went outside to find a beautiful morning. I walked down the driveway a bit and came back, trying to mentally prepare myself for the day.
Right before all the groomsmen got in the limo to head over to the church my dad pulled me aside. He joked that he had to give me the father-son pep talk. But I realized that he didn't have his dad there with him when he went through with this. His dad had passed away less than a year before his wedding. And I was just so thankful that he was there with me and for all the support and advice he's given me to get me to this point.
The waiting was the hardest part. We got over to the church more than an hour before the ceremony was slated to start. All the guys got to hang outside for a little while. But once the guests started arriving I was sequestered to the sacristy with Bryant and Fr. Bill. I just kept pacing around the little room simultaneously trying to speed up this time and willing the day to go by slowly. The waiting got even worse when we finally walked out into the church. The whole bridal party walked down to the aisle to the song "For Good", and it's a rather long song. I was screaming in my head when there was still another verse to go and I all I wanted was to finally see my bride.
My mom snapped a picture of my face when Lauren finally appeared. It's a unique shot that you don't see very often, because everyone is focused on the bride. But she wanted to capture my reaction. It turned out as a mixture of goofy smile, elation at finally seeing her, being blown away by how amazing she looked, and overflowing with love.
The rest of the day is fairly well documented through photographs. My last little funny memory was at the end of the night. Our bonfire got rained on, and we all got rather soaked walking back to the inn. (Don't worry, this was after we changed out of the nice clothes.) Most of our friends were fairly inebriated at this point and insisted that Lauren and I go upstairs and consumate the marriage. This didn't sound like the worst idea, so we headed upstairs. As we got to the room Lauren realized that she didn't get to say goodbye to her dad, and she wouldn't see him in the morning. So we crept back down the stairs, made our way out the back door, past the pool, cut across the lawn, and made it back to the reception hall where people were still hanging out. We said our goodbyes and made our way back, ninja style, to the inn. We knew we'd be in big trouble if the drunken rabble caught us ;-)
The day before the wedding started out very calm and ended in a flurry of activity. Matt and I went hiking up the mountain trail, which was more difficult than we had thought it would be. But it was very peaceful being under the tree cover and slowly making our way over the rocky trail. I was thankful that he agreed to come with me. The crazy part was when all the guys finally arrived and we went to pick up the tuxes. I kept thinking the rehearsal was at 6:00 instead of 6:30, so we were rushing as fast as we could. The guys managed to try on their tuxes and get them back off in the span of 12 minutes. This included a hilarious dressing room tag team by Brett and Bryant, as well as Matt changing in a utility closet.
It was amazing at the rehearsal dinner to look around the room and see all the people that had come out for us. To see all your friends in one place is incredible and a bit overwhelming. Even more amazing was the thought that only half the wedding guests were at the rehearsal dinner. I tried to make a little thank you speech during the dinner. I tend to come up with such things on the fly, but I had orgranized a few things in my head that I wanted to say. But it all went out the window once I got up there. Looking around at my groomsmen and trying to put together the words to say how thankful I was to have them all as my friends proved to be too much. I got rather choked up and had to cut it short.
Lauren and I exchanged our gifts to each other when we got back to the inn. Her gift to me was absolutely perfect. I had been saying how I was sad that Grandpa wasn't still around to be at my wedding. She went to my mom and grandma to see if there was something of my grandpa's that I could have. She ended up taking Grandpa's watch and got it restored by a jeweler. She also had the back of it engraved with a message and the date of our wedding. It meant so much to me to have a piece of my grandpa with me at the wedding.
In accordance with the tradition of not being able to see the bride on the day of the wedding, I had to stay in a different room the night before. Brett was gracious enough to allow me to stay with him. I went to bed a bit after 1AM, before the rest of the guys. And as I lay there in bed staring at the ceiling I tried to take it all in. But there are those times in your life where your mind simply isn't able to grasp the enormity of what your heart is feeling. And as I tried to get my head around it all I fell asleep and slept very well. The next morning I got up and went outside to find a beautiful morning. I walked down the driveway a bit and came back, trying to mentally prepare myself for the day.
Right before all the groomsmen got in the limo to head over to the church my dad pulled me aside. He joked that he had to give me the father-son pep talk. But I realized that he didn't have his dad there with him when he went through with this. His dad had passed away less than a year before his wedding. And I was just so thankful that he was there with me and for all the support and advice he's given me to get me to this point.
The waiting was the hardest part. We got over to the church more than an hour before the ceremony was slated to start. All the guys got to hang outside for a little while. But once the guests started arriving I was sequestered to the sacristy with Bryant and Fr. Bill. I just kept pacing around the little room simultaneously trying to speed up this time and willing the day to go by slowly. The waiting got even worse when we finally walked out into the church. The whole bridal party walked down to the aisle to the song "For Good", and it's a rather long song. I was screaming in my head when there was still another verse to go and I all I wanted was to finally see my bride.
My mom snapped a picture of my face when Lauren finally appeared. It's a unique shot that you don't see very often, because everyone is focused on the bride. But she wanted to capture my reaction. It turned out as a mixture of goofy smile, elation at finally seeing her, being blown away by how amazing she looked, and overflowing with love.
The rest of the day is fairly well documented through photographs. My last little funny memory was at the end of the night. Our bonfire got rained on, and we all got rather soaked walking back to the inn. (Don't worry, this was after we changed out of the nice clothes.) Most of our friends were fairly inebriated at this point and insisted that Lauren and I go upstairs and consumate the marriage. This didn't sound like the worst idea, so we headed upstairs. As we got to the room Lauren realized that she didn't get to say goodbye to her dad, and she wouldn't see him in the morning. So we crept back down the stairs, made our way out the back door, past the pool, cut across the lawn, and made it back to the reception hall where people were still hanging out. We said our goodbyes and made our way back, ninja style, to the inn. We knew we'd be in big trouble if the drunken rabble caught us ;-)