today was a beautiful day
Today, Christine and I were married in the Rose Garden at Olbrich Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.
After being engaged for over two years, the day finally arrived. We got REALLY lucky on the weather, seeing as it was an outdoor wedding. On the fourth, the temp was about 87, it was horribly muggy, and we were sorta worried during the rehearsal. Overnight, a bunch of storms rolled through, hammering Chicago and southeastern wisconsin, but dropping the humidity, making it a really nice day. Of course, Christine looked absolutely beautiful.
After the ceremony: picture time! It was sort of amusing all of the poses we contorted into, but I think that the pictures turned out quite well. We hired a photographer that does this photo-journalistic approach. Basically, he minimizes the number of posed pictures that he takes, and takes lots of truly candid photos. IOW, we're just supposed to pretend that he isn't there, and do stuff. He stalks around after us and takes pictures that he believes captures a "moment". And this guy is a real master. He took some really good shots.
The reception went quite well. Most importantly, no one went hungry! (There's a story behind this, if anyone is interested) The presence of NE Pennsylvania kielbasa pretty much ensured that everyone ate well. There was even a nod to the Pennsylvania cookie table.
People seemed to drink pretty well, too. A cousin loudly proclaimed that this was the "best wedding ever". After she had gotten a picture of my head on a butterfly body.
The dancing was really great. You just don't have as much room to move at dance clubs as we had, and the DJ really did a great job of starting with the old classics and then transitioning into 80's dance. At the end of the night, I even got to embarass myself in front of my extended family and Christine's family.
This requires a bit of explanation: I've become a bit of a karaoke fiend since somewhere around my 2nd year here, and some of my fellow grad students had been pushing for karaoke at the wedding. While we didn't have that, if you know the words, all you need is a mic. Well, of course the DJ had a mic. So one of my friends got the mic in my hand, and I did a karaoke version of "Pour Some Sugar on Me".
And I did kick ass... I think my sister got it on the camcorder. I think everybody who hadn't seen me sing karaoke was amused. Except my father, who looked shocked.
And what wedding reception would be complete without a party crasher? :)
Near the end, Christine came up to me and asked if I knew the woman that was standing over by the appetizer table and picking around at stuff. "Hmmm, don't think I do." As Christine walked over to ask her who the heck she was, the woman calmly put down her wine glass and walked out. Someone told me that up in north-west Wisconsin, your wedding reception will usually get crashed by the high school football team. I'm just happy that didn't happen. :)
After that - go home & unload the car, and go to the after-parties. One at the parents' hotel room, then at my grad school friends' house. Got home at around 2 AM. As I park the car... "Say, isn't that a skunk over there? Yeah, it is." The little guy's tail twitched every time he heard ANYTHING. Yep, time to get inside... and collapse from exhaustion
Had a day of rest on sunday, then on to St Lucia for the honeymoon, but I think that's another backdated journal entry.
After being engaged for over two years, the day finally arrived. We got REALLY lucky on the weather, seeing as it was an outdoor wedding. On the fourth, the temp was about 87, it was horribly muggy, and we were sorta worried during the rehearsal. Overnight, a bunch of storms rolled through, hammering Chicago and southeastern wisconsin, but dropping the humidity, making it a really nice day. Of course, Christine looked absolutely beautiful.
After the ceremony: picture time! It was sort of amusing all of the poses we contorted into, but I think that the pictures turned out quite well. We hired a photographer that does this photo-journalistic approach. Basically, he minimizes the number of posed pictures that he takes, and takes lots of truly candid photos. IOW, we're just supposed to pretend that he isn't there, and do stuff. He stalks around after us and takes pictures that he believes captures a "moment". And this guy is a real master. He took some really good shots.
The reception went quite well. Most importantly, no one went hungry! (There's a story behind this, if anyone is interested) The presence of NE Pennsylvania kielbasa pretty much ensured that everyone ate well. There was even a nod to the Pennsylvania cookie table.
People seemed to drink pretty well, too. A cousin loudly proclaimed that this was the "best wedding ever". After she had gotten a picture of my head on a butterfly body.
The dancing was really great. You just don't have as much room to move at dance clubs as we had, and the DJ really did a great job of starting with the old classics and then transitioning into 80's dance. At the end of the night, I even got to embarass myself in front of my extended family and Christine's family.
This requires a bit of explanation: I've become a bit of a karaoke fiend since somewhere around my 2nd year here, and some of my fellow grad students had been pushing for karaoke at the wedding. While we didn't have that, if you know the words, all you need is a mic. Well, of course the DJ had a mic. So one of my friends got the mic in my hand, and I did a karaoke version of "Pour Some Sugar on Me".
And I did kick ass... I think my sister got it on the camcorder. I think everybody who hadn't seen me sing karaoke was amused. Except my father, who looked shocked.
And what wedding reception would be complete without a party crasher? :)
Near the end, Christine came up to me and asked if I knew the woman that was standing over by the appetizer table and picking around at stuff. "Hmmm, don't think I do." As Christine walked over to ask her who the heck she was, the woman calmly put down her wine glass and walked out. Someone told me that up in north-west Wisconsin, your wedding reception will usually get crashed by the high school football team. I'm just happy that didn't happen. :)
After that - go home & unload the car, and go to the after-parties. One at the parents' hotel room, then at my grad school friends' house. Got home at around 2 AM. As I park the car... "Say, isn't that a skunk over there? Yeah, it is." The little guy's tail twitched every time he heard ANYTHING. Yep, time to get inside... and collapse from exhaustion
Had a day of rest on sunday, then on to St Lucia for the honeymoon, but I think that's another backdated journal entry.