Married and Home!
Sep 21, 2009 Dubuque, Friends & Family, Iowa, Milwaukee, The Wedding, Wisconsin
Thank You
Before I get to sharing all about Nicole and my wedding I would just like to take a bit to thank some people that really deserve it:
Both Nicole’s parents and my own – They were extremely helpful throughout the whole process and very supportive. Thank You is really not enough to say how much we appreciate you.
Nicole’s Aunt Lisa – She made our beautiful wedding invites as well as our reception favors. They really were quite excellent and we love them.
My Best Man – Bruce, you were awesome. You gave a great speech at the reception and you were wonderfully supportive through the whole wedding process. Thanks.
My friends from Bethany – None of you had to make the long, multiple hour trip for my wedding both to attend and/or stand up for me, especially you John and Erika…coming all the way from Boston. Thank you, I had an excellent time, Nicole and I both loved seeing you all, and I hope you had fun.
Wednesday
Wednesday started off with myself driving up to my parents in Wisconsin from Iowa. I didn’t do a whole lot but I did get my hair trimmed up a bit and I got to spend some time with my family before the wedding started.
Thursday
On Thursday I got up early like usual (530 or 6ish…no point in wasting the day, eh?) and ate breakfast…got ready for the day, etc. By 1030 I had driven the half hour to Nicole’s parents house to pick her up. One of my groomsmen, John and his wife Erika, were flying into Madison at noon from Boston special for my wedding. We picked them up, got their rental and hotel squared away, and then started our drive to Milwaukee to pick up our tuxes. I don’t think I’ve ever had the drive from Madison to Milwaukee go so quickly! Nicole, John, Erika, and I talked the entire way about all sorts of stuff and when we got to the tux place I wondered what happened to the time in between.
We arrived to pick up out tuxes and they had then ready to go (Savvi Formalwear on Oak Creek, WI if anyone needs a tux or dress, it’s a full service wedding shop). John and I both tried ours on and only required small alterations. We signed for the two tuxes the other two guys in my wedding would wear so verify that they did not try them on before they left the shop and then piled back into the car. By now it was about 430 or 5 and we were hungry. We decided to eat at Bd’s Mongolian Barbecue which, if you have not been to it or a similar restaurant, is where you get a bowl and fill it with raw meat, veggies, sauces, etc and then they grill it up for you on a big flat grill. The food is excellent and one bowl is more then enough although they do offer unlimited bowls if that’s what you want. We each had one bowl for supper followed by a huge brownie/ice cream w/ hot fudge sundae which we all shared because it was huge. After supper we made it home despite some odd directions from my GPS and dropped John and Erika off at their hotel. I also dropped Nicole off at home and then went back to my parents for the rest of the evening.
Friday
Friday consisted of the following things: the wedding rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, and my bachelor party.For most of the day I helped my mother get things ready for the rehearsal dinner and then in the afternoon I went down to Columbus to help Nicole with things down there. The wedding rehearsal started at 4pm and went by quick, it only took about a half hour to go through everything. Where to stand, when to turn this way and that, what to say, how to walk in and out. If you have been married I am sure you know what I am talking about. After the rehearsal we all went to Nicole’s aunt’s house for the dinner. My mother and Nicole’s mother provided the food…and it was good! Everything Nicole and I liked; turkey, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, cherry jello, etc was there and we ate, it was informal and nothing fancy.
After dinner myself, my best man, and my groomsmen drove up to Portage to pick up another friend (who also happened to be named Mark) before driving down to Madison for our bachelor party. My best man took care of the arrangements and for the evening we rented a pool table at the Brass Ring…the only bar in Madison that even rents out pool tables. We got there about 830 or so and stayed until about 1ish playing pool, throwing darts, drinking beer, and eating some wonderful fries. We then decided to pack it in for the night and after dropping everyone off and such I got into bed at 3am.
Saturday
The big day. I won’t bore you with my nervousness and the mundane details of what happened before the wedding but at 1pm exactly the wedding service started. Myself and my groomsmen filed into the front of the church from the back room and I stood there waiting. Needless to say I was nervous and excited at the same time and I couldn’t help but smile as Nicole walked down the aisle toward me. Nicole and I then stood at the front of the church with the pastor. The service was standard Lutheran but this bit from the sermon does make me smile:
Pastor: Nicole, how much time do you think you spent planning the wedding?
Nicole: Alot, more than I thought it would take.
Pastor: And Mark, how much time do you think you spent planning the wedding?
Me: [small smile] Not that much.
[congregation enjoys a good laugh]
So the sermon continued, we said our vows and lit our unity candle. The pastor announced us and we walked out of the church and prepped for the receiving line. I would say that by about 2 the receiving line had wrapped up and we were ready to go take pictures. We were really impressed with our photographer and as soon as we get our pictures back I will share them with you as well as the contact info of the photographer if we are happy with the end result of his work. We did get some pictures in the church, all the family ones and some wedding party ones, and then we drove up to Portage to get some pictures of the wedding party at a park that Nicole likes. We got some reallt good pictures there and made it back for the reception (starting at 530) at 535.
The reception started off with food (of course) and our menu was as follows:
- chicken
- ham
- those little red potatoes
- corn
- dinner rolls
- salad with ranch dressing
- wedding cake!
Nicole and I both got a number of compliments on the food throughout the night and it was nice to know that we were not the only ones that enjoyed the food. After dinner the music started and Nicole and I had our first dance; Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts. I’m not sure how to explain the rest of the night except to say it went on from there. Some slow dancing, some party dancing (somehow Nicole got me to do the chicken dance *shudder*), the garter and bouquet toss, as well as plenty of socializing. The only problem the whole night was the temporary loss of the garter, someone ended up finding another one somewhere and we only found the original the next morning when Nicole and I were packing our bags. By all accounts everyone did have fun and everything wrapped up by about 10pm or so.
Sunday
The day after the wedding was the present opening at my mom and dad’s house. Parts of my family and Nicole’s attended and we got lots of very nice stuff as well as a good amount of cash. Thanks to everyone who was there and to everyone who gave us presents.
Monday
We went to the courthouse, waited around for two hours while the government demonstrated the meaning of the word inefficient, and then went back to Dubuque with our official marriage license.
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So that is how our wedding went down. I can’t tell you how happy that although it was fun we are both glad it is over and done with.
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