We are official. Chris and I are husband and wife, and Fred is legitimate.

Things went really, really well. Everyone got to Church Saturday morning with minimal to no problems (thank you, Lara, for making sure there was a map involved!) I got to the Church about 15 minutes prior to the service, and felt pretty calm. Then they opened the doors for Dad and me. I panicked when I looked out at what appeared to be a sea of people. (but on the plus side, Chris said they gasped when the doors opened, which is what we brides are shooting for, right?) It was hard to believe that this was the big day, and I did tear up a bit on the walk down the aisle. Then I was worried that everyone would think I was crying for sadness, and it really wasn’t. So I was even more panicked. We got to the altar (I tripped on my dress) and Father Tom told me I looked lovely. Then he turned to Chris and said “your wounds healed up well” at which point Chris whispered to me that he crashed that morning on the pre wedding ride that he, Bill, & Mikey went on. Eeks. Lara told me later that she debated about telling me, but decided I would panic less if I found out after I saw Chris and he was ok.

The rest of the service went very well. Fr Tom gave a great sermon, vows were said without incident (despite Chris & Christine thinking that I was going to pass out. I felt fine, Chris said I was swaying, and I was a little choked up) and then Father Tom said those wonderful words “What God has joined, let no man put asunder”. Finally the ceremony was over, and Father Tom introduced us to the congregation and told Chris he could kiss the bride. And he didn’t. I was sort of getting miffed until I saw Eli pull the 2-step stepladder out. Chris climbed up the ladder and planted one on me, and we marched out to the strains of Handel’s Royal Fireworks (I think. That part was a bit of a blur…)

So the things I remember from the ceremony:
-how wonderful everyone was, coming in to see me in my little side chamber.
-the puzzlement when Chris wouldn’t kiss me, and then the hysterical giggles when I realized that they had brought the little step stool.
-Christine hustling to make sure the dress was just right
-Tammie being as solid as a rock
-Father Tom & Ralph keeping us calm and in the right places at the right time. I couldn’t have asked for better from either – and it was Father Tom’s first wedding
-That we’re supposed to have lots and lots of kids. Father Tom said so in his sermon.
-The St Cecilia’s wedding coordinator for the day. We hadn’t seen her before, but everyone had a story on her by the end of the day, starting with her chewing on Father Tom until Ralph stepped in and distracted her, moving on to her telling my Dad that she was accustomed to receiving tips, but never accepted a tip of more than $20 (hint, hint), moving on to her explaining doub-le-run-ners to Chris who didn’t know and didn’t care what they were, then telling me that we only had 30 minutes for photos. And explaining it to me on and on just prior to my walking down the aisle. Finally after it was all over, she was going on about how the stepladder was over the top – when everyone in the wedding party was really pleased with the effect.

After the wedding it was photos, which went really quickly. (I loved the photographer – if the pictures come out half as good as he was to work with, I’ll be over the moon) Then we had a limo trip to Royale Orleans and attended our reception. I got a bit of food – enough to keep me moving, and I got to visit. I think the hardest thing about the whole reception was just that I had so many friends that I just didn’t get a chance to spend any time with. I saw my pen pal from high school for all of a minute after he, his wife and son drove down from Chicago. The funniest thing was watching all of the kids on the dance floor. I think you had to be shorter than this tall to dance. We all did the duck dance, and the hokey pokey, but I discovered that other than those two, you just can’t dance in that gown. I did hoola hoop in it, with varying degrees of success, fortunately my hoola hoop prowess has already been established at some cousins’ wedding. Oh and Br George was a good sport and went out to hoola hoop, which he may never live down with Fr Tom and Br Bill. But I loved it.

Basically the day went perfectly, I think. I hope everyone had a good time, it’s sort of hard to tell at your own wedding. But there were no major catastrophes. As Chris puts it, we’re just gobsmacked at how well it went.

After the reception, I sort of felt like I’d been drinking from a fire hose, so we headed to our hotel, the Drury Plaza, in downtown St Louis to check in before going to my parents’ house for wedding gift opening. We just needed a few minutes for us to be alone and somewhat quiet. So we stood in the lobby, Chris in his tux, me in my gown and veil, our decorated car parked outside, and the lovely woman behind the counter changed our rooms for us. We ended up with a corner room that overlooked the Arch. Chris went to park the car, while I went up to the room. I was in the elevator with one man and after a few floors went by, I looked over at him and said, “You’ll never guess what I did today”. He started to laugh, and congratulated me.

When we got to my parents’ house, and I pulled up, we saw what looked like a lightning storm inside their house. I knew we were in for it. Sure enough, Chris parked the car while I went in, and I was blinded by the paper camera paparazzi. I can’t wait to get these pictures back, apparently there are quite a few pictures of people taking pictures.

Ok, the wedding night…oh sure, like I’m going to tell you. Or if you must, you can go here for ideas

We woke up Sunday morning to a gorgeous sunrise over the Arch. Chris is totally right, we’ll never be able to not associate the wedding with St Louis with a view like that. We were a few minutes late for our Mass of Thanksgiving at the new cathedral, but it was beautiful. We both like Fr Tom quite a bit, both from the personal side and in his priestly duties. After Mass, it was a lovely brunch at the Holiday Inn South County where quite a few friends had been staying, a quick trip to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, and we went to Louisville.

The B&B we’re staying in, the Aleksander House, is just beautiful, and the owner LOVES Fred. The weather is a little grey and snowy, which just means more snuggle time.

So it seems like this is the best place to end a blog about our wedding. Maybe we’ll start another one at some other time, but for now, I believe that there’s only one thing left to say:

And they lived happily ever after.



- posted by cam @ 11:12 AM