Wedding Day

Sorry this is taking so long to post all these updates. I guess real life has caught up with us already. Plus my laptop decided to get all freaky on me again. I panicked because most of the pictures are not uploaded yet. Luckily I was able to copy them all off to another hard drive and after re-installing some drivers the laptop is behaving much better. I thought I would add some pictures to this post that are not in the Favorites album but still great pictures. Thanks again to my Mom, Justin, Stephanie and Chris for all the great photos. You can find all the pictures that they took of the wedding on my smugmug site. (ps - We still have not seen our official photographer's pictures! I guess we should let her know that we are back and ready!) So, I guess you want a few more details of the days events. Hopefully this will suffice... Saturday morning I got ready, packed, and headed to the hotel to pick up Jill and her mom. We needed to be to the Salt Lake City Temple early in order to get ready. Carrying the dress around the streets got us lots of turned heads and smiles. It reminded me of just a few days earlier traveling through the airports. I forgot to tell you how Jill put her dress, fully laid out, in the overhead compartment and closed the lid. Luckily there was not a huge amount of carry-on luggage and everyone assumed that since it was closed, it must be full! We were shuffled around to and fro by the ever friendly temple staff. There was staff posted at every corner searching the crowd for yellow labels pinned to our lapels branding us bride and groom. Several staffers recounted stories of lost brides and grooms. I'm not sure if these stories were supposed to A) assure me that I was good hands, B) scare me into not wandering around un-escorted, or C) reaffirm their own doubts as to why they had to sit with me and wait. After getting dressed, and waiting, and forgetting the rings (prompting an un-escorted journey back to the locker room), and waiting some more, Jill and I were finally reunited. She looked absolutely amazing. We were escorted to the Celestial Room where we waited until our guest were in the Sealing room. We met with our Sealer which was a bit unnerving. I think he is suffering from a bit of dementia as he kept asking the same questions and offering the same advice and antidotes. It would have been nice if the friendly staff had offered some explanation as to what were doing. They just kept leading us and handing us to the next person without know really what was going on. Added to the fact that were not exactly absorbing 100% of our surroundings left us pretty confused and frustrated a few times. I guess we should have asked some questions, but I'm not sure what I would have asked. Oh well, looking back, it left us with a few interesting and funny memories. It was a great moment when we finally entered into the Sealing room and saw our family and friends waiting for us. The Sealer did a great job but again reaffirmed that he did not really grasp what we had discussed with him before-hand. I don't think he understood that we were older (not the usually 19-21 year olds) and that Maya was in the picture. Oh well, he still had some good advise and from what I remember (and what others have said), it was a good ceremony. Hugs and congratulations were exchanged as everyone filed out of the room. For some reason Curtis thought he would get me back. At his wedding, last June, he held it together until I gave him a hug. This time he got me. We had more escorting, changing clothes, more waiting, then our grand exit from the temple. It was great to see everyone there waiting for us outside in the gorgeous (although quite windy) weather. Jill and I had great big smiles. What can I say? We were just happy! The wind had picked up so Jill was having some challenges with her veil flying around wildly. It made for some interesting pictures. After all the pictures at the Temple, we spent about 15 or 20 minutes searching for our car in the Joseph Smith Memorial parking garage. We ended going to almost all of the levels before we found it. Apparently they don't give out the free parking tokens but the nice lady in the booth saw us all dressed up and let us out for free. I was ready to bat my eyes but I didn't even have to. We met up with the parents, grabbed some food, and headed up to Midway for more pictures and the reception. The place (Inn on the Creek) looked great. Everyone started arriving and enjoyed some appetizers while we finished up taking more pictures. We made an 'official' entrance with silver streamers being launched at us. (Side note - Jill's sister, Linda, found these streamers that are spring loaded and shoot out. The streamers are attached so there is no mess to clean up. But NONE of the party stores in Utah carry them even though the website claims that Party City should have them. You can order them directly from Wilton (Pop Out Streamers) but of course we didn't order, thinking that we could just get more at the store. Oh well, I guess we had enough for the desired effect). We had a short program that started with Jill, Maya, and myself performing a Unity Sand Ceremony. We wanted something that would include Maya and symbolically show that we were becoming a new family. We had three different colors of sand that we each poured into a jar individually as a representation of our individuality and strengths that we each add to the foundation of our family. Then we poured all three of our colors together so that they would mixed in interesting patterns. Next, Jill's brother Chris gave a great talk on the significance of a temple marriage and the sealing. We felt like it would be nice to give some explanation for our many friends and family who were not able to be inside the temple with us for the ceremony. Chris did a fantastic job. Thanks. Jason, (My sister Sharlie's husband) played us an original adaptation of a Cure song on the guitar. It was great. Thanks Jason. Then the fathers gave their toasts which were, of course, very touching. My dad had threatened all week that his toast was about 5 pages long. And I don't doubt it (he may have used really large font but still long). We kept hinting that it only needed to be a few words which is what he delivered. Some day I would love to see what he actually wrote down (and re-wrote during our picture time at the temple). The dinner (prime rib, fiesta chicken, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, and tomato bisque) was wonderful. We also had a hot chocolate bar with flavorings to add in. For desert, cheese cake and of course Wedding Cake. Everything was wonderful. The only snafu was that Sharlie had a pretty severe allergic reaction at the end of evening. The theory is that the strawberries on the cheese cake probably were cross contaminated with the melons (which she is very allergic to). It was not at all pleasant for her. Luckily, the chef had a allergy pill that she took while Jason ran to the store for Benedryl. No fun. The reaction was pretty much under control by the time they left but her eyes were still swollen the next morning. As part of the package, we got to stay in one of the rooms at the Inn. So instead of making a grand exit, we kicked everybody out! It was an absolutely wonderful evening. We both regret not being able to spend more time with everyone who was there. But I guess that is pretty normal. Thanks to everyone who was there with us. I hope everyone had as good a time as we did. A very special Thank You to the 33 people who traveled from out of town! Here are the rest of the pictures from the Temple, and at the Reception Dinner. If you still want to see more pictures, try these: Baltimore Celebration, Family Dinner, Pampering, and Favorites. And here are Tara's great pictures.

We Did It!

Saturday, March 24, 2007 Thanks to everyone. It was an absolutely wonderful day. Everything was perfect: Weather Flowers Bride Brides Maid (Maya) Family Friends Pictures, Pictures, Pictures (we still have not seen our Photographer's pictures) Reception Location - Inn on the Creek in Midway, UT Reception Food (mmmm! Yummy prime rib and chicken) Decorations Unity Sand Original adaptation and performance by Jason (bro-in-law) Wonderful speech by Jill's brother Chris Short and sweet Toasts from our Fathers The day was incredible. We really had a great time celebrating with our family and friends. Deciding which pictures to put on this post was just taking too long so you will have just look here for the favorite pictures (so far). Here are the rest pictures that Chris and Stephanie took with my camera. Thanks you guys, you did a great job.

No Time to Post

I have 6 partial blog entries concerning the wedding and honeymoon that I am trying to complete. I know all four of you are really anxious for the details. I promise they are coming. The impact of having two weeks off is no fun. Plus I have been in a 3-day, all-day meeting so nothing is getting accomplished anyway. Stay tuned... PS - What do you think of the new rotating headers? Personally, I think they are pretty dang cool!

The Week Before (continued)

I guess it is time to post about the last couple of weeks. For those who would prefer the Executive Summary version: It was great! Here are a few of the highlights about the week before the wedding that I have not already mentioned. Family and friends started to arrive in Salt Lake City and we continued to run around doing lots of errands. Jill put together some small welcome bags for her family full of treats associated with Utah such as salt water taffy. Actually I think the taffy was only thing that was really Utah centric. See's Candy is based in California and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is based in Colorado. Oh Well. It is the thought that counts, right?! And I didn't hear any complaining about finding chocolate in their hotel rooms. On Thursday Jill scheduled a pampering day at a nail salon with her sisters and sisters-in-law. I ended up staying for the whole event also, watching little Grace. The salon is in the Cottonwood Mall. My family grew up less than a block from this mall and remember it as one of the bigger and more popular malls in the valley. Now it is a absolute ghost town. Most of the stores are closed. The food court only has one store (Hot Dog on-a-Stick). The story we heard is that Larry Miller bought the mall two years ago and is planning to turn it into a California Style, outdoor mall. But first they are waiting for the current leases to die a very slow death. All that is left is the dedicated mall walkers making laps in the quiet indoor retreat. Unfortunately, even though Jill had called ahead to warn the salon that several of them were coming in at once, they only had one employee on staff and the owner was too busy fighting with her boyfriend to come and help. Therefore, it took much, much longer than they had expected. Robyn, Linda, and Kelly only did pedicures because 3 hours was just too long. Maya's nails turned out OK, Mindy's were OK, but Jill was completely unhappy with hers. Apparently the lady went straight from filing and buffing to painting so her nails had lots of nail dust and bubbles embedded in the polish. Robyn won the prize for most horrific salon experience since she left with a gushing wound on her toe since the lady decided to trim the nail way too close. Although the salon took For-Ever and the quality was extremely questionable, the goal of spending time with the sisters (and Mindy) was a complete success. Thursday night we enjoyed a great meal at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We (Corey, Jill and Maya) took the parents to dinner. This was the first time they had met. The restaurant was a bit loud but we were still able to get to know each other a bit and had a great time. Friday was full day. It started off by going to Books and Bagels at the JCC. Jill and I read several books that Maya picked out to her classmates. They enjoyed some mini bagels while competing to be as close to the reader as possible. Maya left school right after this which she has been excited about all week. We picked up the flowers, the cake, and all the decorations and drove them up to the Inn on the Creek. Jill set up one of the tables like she wanted to show the staff how to decorate the rest of the tables. We were a bit disappointed to see that the landscape was not quite what we had hoped for. Having a March wedding in the mountains we were fully prepared for snow and bwst case scenario, the flowers would be blooming. Instead we were greeted by mashed down, brown vegetation showing the effects of winter. Luckily the flowers around Temple Square very blooming strong. Friday night was the big family dinner celebration. Since I have a very large extended family that won't be able to attend our wedding ceremony and reception we had a big family dinner. Lots family came and lots more family did not come. It would have been nice to see more of the cousins (all married with kids now) but that is how goes. We all have busy lives, right? We had a blast and enjoyed some great food. I dropped Jill off at the hotel where she spent the night with her family. then I crashed - after all, I need my beauty sleep for the big day! Here are some more pictures: Pampering, Books and Bagels, Family Celebration Thanks Chris C. for taking the pictures at the party. Unfortunately my lens decided to stop working! It will not rotate to the wide and zoomed extremes so my 18mm-70mm lens is now just a 25mm-40mm lens. Very bad timing!