We're Married!!!

Password: kevin&amberly

So many beautiful photos...it is amazing to see them all because when you are in the thick of it, you don't actually get to see what anything looks like!!!

Boy was it an affair and it was only 40 people!!! In all honesty, the rehearsal dinner at our house was ten times more stressful than the wedding itself! It was wonderful though. It was a great opportunity for our families to get to know each other a little bit. We had pizza, salad, beer, hockey and a lot of laughter!!! It was also Kevin's dad's birthday so we celebrated with ice cream cake!!!

We were a little concerned about the wedding as it was a bit cold, but that morning it rained and it cleared just in time for dinner and the ceremony. We challenged traditional conventions of wedding planning and had our dinner prior to our ceremony. This was for two reasons. 1: We really wanted a night wedding and 2: We really wanted to the ceremony to be the highlight and climax of the day and not the party.

Now, this did present some problems. The restaurant we chose was a lovely irish place with a very intimate dinner room. Despite wonderful food and drinks, they did not keep on the agreed upon schedule and when it was time for the wedding party to leave to change for the ceremony (I couldn't very well risk dropping pot roast on my dress!!!) we hadn't even had cake!!! Also, I spent the first half hour I was there rearranging the room with the head waitress because our coordinator had gone home sick earlier that day...

So, we addressed it with the general manager and he knocked a percentage off our bill and invited us to come back and eat our cake and have drinks after the ceremony! So, we checked with our guests and they agreed. All in all, it turned out better than we could have planned, but if we hadn't kept our cool, it could have been a moment for tears. Instead we smiled through it all and had the best possible evening!!!

Dinner was amazing though. My sisters wrote a dual "maid-of-honor" speech and Alida was crying and laughing so hard at the same time that Hanna had to handle most of it! Dad said some beautiful and honest words as did my grandfather. I tried to say something eloquent, but I got a little long-winded. Gregg's best man speech was touching beyond words.

We got to the church and starting taking photos and Christine's necklace broke!!! Another close call for a melt-down, but this time it was Christine. I instructed Jess to run to the car and find something to replace it...if she hadn't had anything, Christine was going to end up wearing my necklace!!! But we solved it, snapped a few good photos in the process and headed back into church, slyly avoiding the groom's party!!! We almost ended up not having our rings at the alter too because my dad was a little anxious and forgot to give them to Gregg, the best man. At the last moment they remembered and all was well!!!

The ceremony went off without a hitch except for the fact that Bishop Morneau picked up Johanna's meditation with his Gospel reading and so she was a little lost for a moment while he looked for it!

The wedding itself was amazing. The party looked amazing, the parents were all very comfortable, our guests very involved and our vows the most amazing words I have ever said. There was no waiver, no question, no nerves. I remember smiling bigger than I could ever have imagined and staring into Kevin's eyes and promising to love him and hold him forever. There wasn't anything more natural.

It was just as we expected and more. I wouldn't do it any differently if I had the chance to do it again. Saturday my family came over for a BBQ before their flight and then we finished our packing and crashed for the night.

And now, as much as I might like to continue, the pressure from someone of the feline persuassion is getting strong and I must descend from my office and feed the kitties.