The wedding

It is official. I am a married man. This past Saturday I took the plunge and married M in Columbus, OH. Since last April when I proposed wedding planning was a big topic in our life and something that I am glad to have experienced once in my life. Now that the wedding is over we can get to enjoying the marriage. However, first things first has to be the recap of the wedding. Here are my thoughts on the wedding:

Liked

M - she did a great job with planning and even though she could get a little stressed at time she was able to almost always keep her composure. And of course I loved her dress and the way she looked. The compliments she received were all well deserved.

Disliked

Being the center of attention/all the pictures - I love taking pictures and I can certainly understand the importance of documenting such a big day. However, sometimes the amount of pictures and the time it took could be a little excessive. There were so many friends and family members I wanted to talk to instead of getting the 225th picture of M and I kissing.

Liked

Having a funny best man - Johnny was able to take the pressure off of us, make people laugh and generally help make things more fun. He helped keep me sane all weekend and then he became the life of the party at the wedding reception. This was something that I will always remember about the wedding and not just because their is a video on facebook of Johnny rapping "Bust a Move."

Disliked

The Limo service we picked - Unfortunately the limo broke down outside of the church (something about an overheated radiator) and there was no backup. The net result was that the bridal party had to find alternative rides to the reception. For M and I that meant her Aunt had to drive us in her SUV. It worked out fine, but still it was a little disappointing not to have a limo take us.

Liked

The DJ - Our DJ at the wedding was incredible. He did a great job of introducing the bridal party (to the Bulls theme song from the 90s) and then played great music all night. One thing I especially liked about him was that he had great timing and a very calming demeanour. He kept telling us about how it was "our night" and whatever he could do to make it better he would do. I would recommend him to anyone in Columbus.

Disliked

Hilton's guest service - When M and I showed up at the Hilton there was a line about 10 people deep with only one person working at the Hitlon check in. None of the Hilton employees walking around helped this poor lady out with people checking in. Also, none of the guests ahead of us in line seemed to care that M was in her wedding dress. We ended up having to wait 30 minutes to get our key. This was ridiculous.

Liked
Gifts - I don't mean this is a greedy type of way, but more the fact that I really appreciated all the generosity people showed us. We opened most of them yesterday and I am just in awe of how nice everyone was. A lot of people (M's parents, my bestman, groomsmen, etc) who didn't have to get us anything because they had already done so much got us some truly wonderful gifts. I hope to convey how great of gestures these gifts were in our thank you notes.

Disliked

Driving through Iowa to get to Columbus - This was a mistake to try a different route on our way to Columbus. I would rather take bad Chicago traffic then to drive down through Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Peoria and Champaign again. Google maps had that way taking only 30 minutes more than driving through Wisconsin and Chicago, but from M and I's experience it took about 1.5 hours longer. Also, another reason this was a mistake is that it is much better and more scenic to drive through Wisconsin.

Liked

Rehearsal dinner speeches from people from St. Andrew's - My sister, brother-in-law and my friend Marty all gave wonderful speeches at the Rehearsal dinner. Each one of them was different and each one was great. I might post Marty's speech (her second guest blog post) since she gave me a copy of it after dinner. I really enjoy how it is a southern tradition for people to give speeches at the rehearsal dinner. The speeches given at the rehearsal dinner pleasantly reminded me of my sister's wedding where everyone stood up and said a few words at the rehearsal dinner.

Disliked

Waking up at 3:45am on the night before the wedding sick to my stomach - I didn't think I would get nervous since I at no point during the engagement did have any doubts about the wedding. However, just like I didn't have any reservations about proposing to M and still got nervous the same thing happened the night before the wedding.

Liked

The food - I thought the Jessing Center was a great place to have the reception and the food turned out to be excellent. The bacon wrapped scallops, chicken and Asian ribs were all things I could eat every day of my life and be happy.

Disliked

The amount of food I ate - It might have been because I was nervous or because I was busy talking to people, but whatever the reason I wasn't actually able to eat much of the food. This is true for both the rehearsal dinner night and the wedding reception. I wish I could have just taken some of the food home with me.

Liked

The Pac Rim group's attendance - 100% of the people I invited from the group of friends that went on the Pac Rim trip back in 2004 came to the wedding. These included people from Grand Rapids, Boston and other cities outside of Columbus. This is an amazing group and I was glad to see everyone there.


Disliked
Minnesotans attendance - This isn't meant to be a slight on Minnesotans since I know there were many good reasons (money, conflicts, distance) that prevented them from coming, but still it was disappointing. M and I have made some good friends up here and besides a few key people there just seemed to be a hole in our attendance. I wish there was a way for M and I to get married in Columbus, Jackson and Minneapolis, so that we would have a chance to spend time with all of our friends.

Liked

Going out on Friday night before the wedding - In retrospect this might not have been the best idea since I should have just probably gone to sleep and got my beauty rest before the big day. However, with a bunch of friends that I normally don't see in town I thought it was best to go have a few cocktails. This ended up being a great night and despite certain reservations no harm was done to the wedding day.

Disliked

The heat inside our "naturally cool" church - I don't know what the caretaker of the church was talking about since there was nothing naturally cool about that church. While it did make the Mississippians feel at home a church with AC would have had one big advantage.

Liked

The way the church looked both in person and in pictures - It is a really nice looking church and one that I was happy to be married in.

Overall the day and evening was a success primarily because of the great people that M and I are surrounded by on a daily basis. Our families were there every step of the way and I really appreciate their support. Also, our friends traveled from near and far to be there for this big day and I don't know if I can convey my gratitude on this post. Despite a few "dislikes" above it really all added up to a great day that was definitely better than my expectations. Even some of the dislikes (limo, 3:45am nerves, etc) are things that I already have started to look back on and smile. Now that the wedding is over the real work begins for me as I have to put together all the pictures and video for the massive "Mary/Kevin wedding" documentary.

I hope all is well and just in case I don't say it enough - thank you.