Wedding Pic Preview!

Deidre Lynn has posted some of our preview images on her blog (see link at right)! She is amazing!

coincidence?

Any one else find it ironic that on the same day that "The Dark Knight" comes out on video, our super-corrupt governor is arrested in the same city in whch the movie was filmed?

Maybe now we need Batman more than ever...

married

for 5 whole days now.

wow.

What amazes me the most at this point is the thought that months of meetings, planning, and details all culminate in a number of hours on a single day. and then it's over (at least the party is).

But the day could not have gone any more smoothly or have been any more perfect. It was exactly as we hoped and prayed it could be. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it was nearly 50F at the end of November! We quickly realized how amazing that was as we were driving home from Chicago two days later on icy roads in blowing snow.

I started the day (Friday) with a morning workout with my old high school friend, Jeff. After the rehearsal dinner the night before, he decided it might be a good idea to try his tux on. good thing. The jacket sleeves were about 5" too short.
So, we cut the workout short and managed to get in and out of the tux place in 12 minutes-and ended up getting the the church about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Joe made us a beautiful and elaborate wedding arbor to set in front of the altar, which he put the finishing touches on hours before the ceremony started. He's amazing.

Then I got to see Gina.
I could hear the fabric of her dress brushing softly against the carpeting of the center aisle of the church as she made her way to the altar, my back turned to her until I was given permission to turn around. She was stunning. Everyone says that, but she REALLY was. I can't wait to see the pictures. I think I was speechless. Or maybe it was just because time seemed to stop. I don't know. But I will never forget that moment.

And then the photo session began.
Gina's brother, Wes, had rented a limo for the afternoon. The bridal party piled in and we headed to Bradley U. The guys were warm in their jackets, but it was a bit brisk for the girls in their dresses. Our photographer, Deidre, was giddy with how the images were appearing in her viewfinder. The light was perfect. The slight breeze was lifting Gina's long and flowing veil into the air like some fairytale painting of a princess. seriously. it was that good.



And before we knew it, we were off to the church.

Nerves were calm, until Wagner's bridal march began. The doors swung open. And there she was.



Charlie performed an absolutely beautiful ceremony that was both powerful and personal (while I may be a bit biased, my opinion was echoed by many of our guests). We had taken all the photos before the ceremony, so as soon as we had dismissed the last pews of guests, we were right out to the limo and downtown to the reception at the Packard Plaza. We strongly despise waiting an extended period of time for the bride and groom to arrive while waiting at the reception hall, so we made it a point not to keep our guests waiting. We made our grand entrance five minutes after the last guests arrived, followed by toasts, a highly entertaining video of Gina lip synching to "Supremes" as a kid, and a wonderful dinner-catered by One World.



After dinner was the traditional cake cutting (I was kind) and the first dance, mother-son/father-daughter dances. The rest of the night was spent socializing and before we knew it, it was 11:00PM. I think we may have only danced to one other song. My only regret is that there wasn't more time to visit with everyone.



From there, we departed for Frankfort, IL, where we spent the weekend. I think I was asleep more than awake while we were there. It was a much needed and deserved escape. We came home Sunday evening and decided to open all the gifts and cards, which left the living room and dining room looking like the scene of tornadic aftermath. I think we had six or seven garbage bags of cardboard and wrapping paper when we were done (don't worry, they were all recycled)! We were overwhelmed by the generosity and kind words of our friends and family. We are truly blessed by the community we are surrounded by.

We both took Monday off, which ended up being a snow day for Gina anyway, to get the house situated and run errands. The highlight of our endeavors was the purchase of a new Playstation 3, which I've been ceaselessly bugging Gina about since we began our wedding registry several months ago. It truly is an amazing machine and MUCH more than a video game system. i'm sure she'd agree wholeheartedly.
However, I was not allowed to even open the box until everything (of mine) had been removed from all kitchen cabinets, the cabinets had been cleaned, all new kitchen items had been put into place and all boxes of Gina's things had been opens and gone through to determine what stayed and what went to Goodwill or "Good Chris". Mr. Evans is building a nest for his soon-to-be-wife and is the beneficiary of all things disposed of. That little task ended up taking 5 hours. fun, fun, fun.

So, anyway, that's the story of my married life to date. It's incredibly good (five days).

Less than three weeks to the Riviera Maya honeymoon!

stay tuned for photos....