The Wedding

Okay... I have come to the conclusion that I have gotten really good at writing about absolutely nothing on this site. That, however, is not the point of this website. While at the moment, my husband is the only other person besides me that knows it exists, the idea is not to keep it that way forever. Therefore, I must begin to write about events in our life so that I feel comfortable with it before I tell everyone in the world about it. So, here goes... first "real" entry.

It was around 8:30 on Friday evening by the time we got to Carroll to begin our wedding weekend. We quickly checked into the hotel room (which Jake's dad paid for… TOTALLY cool!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, we owe you immensely!!) and then headed to Jake's Uncle and Aunt's house for the rehearsal dinner. Most of the food was gone when we got there, but there were still several people so we ate quick and then mingled. It was aHawaiiann style thing, which we we certainly not dressed for, but it was fun anyway.

About 10:45 we had everything cleaned up, because it looked like it was going to rain, and Jake (who had already helped himself to some tequilaa and SEVERAL beers) wanted to know if I would be really mad if he went to the bar with his cousins. Now I REALLY didn't want him to go as I knew that we had to get up early the next morning for him to go golfing and me to go garage sailing, but he made it a point to ask me in front of EVERYONE and then to continue to ask until I just said okay.

His cousins, knowing our past and knowing I would worry, promised me they wouldn't let anything bad happen so I begrudgingly let him go and then headed back to the hotel. They had wireless internet at the hotel so I stayed up for about an hour checking my e-mail and updating the website. Around 12:00 I tried to call Jake, but I'm sure he couldn't hear me in the bar and so I went to bed.

Oh, did I say bar… let me re-clarify, titty bar!! Yes, you read that right, I let him go to a strip club. Well… I didn't really let him go, I just didn't make a scene about it because I knew he was with some pretty good guys. They had said they were going to the Parana club which was right by our hotel, however, what they forgot to mention, and what I discovered while driving back to our hotel is that the Odyssey club is attached to the Parana club. Now I could have stopped on my way back to the hotel and went in and got him but what would that have solved? So, I just let it fly. However, this Friday my dad is having a bachelor party for my grandpa and there has been talk of them going to the Lumber Yard and I'm NOT thinking that is a good idea. I know his cousins would not let him do anything too stupid, however, I'm not so sure about my dad and the group of guys he hangs out with.

Anyhow… I'm veering. It was 1:15 when Jake got back to the hotel room. He then proceeded to tell me that he had tried to get into the wrong hotel room before making it to ours. I'm sure the people at the Burke were very impressed. (I apologize immensely to you if you happen to be or know these people. I'm sure my drunk husband at your doorstep at 1:00 in the morning was not what you were expecting!) At least he got number right. He said they were up, which I REALLY hope to be true. I guess when he left the bar they told him that his hotel was right next door and he didn't bother to, oh I don't know, look at the sign before he entered. So he just walked in and headed to the room. I'm not sure if they were in the room or in the hallway but either way they politely informed him that he was not, in fact, in the Super 8. You have no idea how many people Jake told that story to this weekend. He thought it was the funniest thing. I guess that's what alcohol will do to you, if I had done it I would be very embarrassed, not sharing it with everyone.

So Saturday we woke up at 7:00 and I had Jake call his dad, who informed him that it was raining and they probably wouldn't be going golfing. Since we were up, and I thought we would still be going garage sailing, we decided to go down and partake in the free continental breakfast. I would have liked to also use the pool but the didn't open until 9:00 am and it closed at 10:00 pm so we did not get to use it the entire time we were there. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

After breakfast, I called Jake's aunt and asked about garage sailing. She informed me that she was too tired and was not going to go, but if I still wanted to, I could come out there and go with Molly(Jake's sister)'s mother-in-law. Looking back on it, I probably should have gone back to bed and gotten some sleep, but I didn't. I rounded up Keith (Jake's Dad)'s girlfriend and we headed out.

As we headed out for the sales the rain only got worse. We went to two towns and got soaked and found NOTHING!! Most of the houses had run down stuff. Nothing like the garage sailing I'm used to. Finally when we were on our way back we stopped in Arcadia. There we found a few things. I ended up with one baby toy and three books. It was disappointing to say the least and by the time we were done I was TIRED!!

Jake, however, was just starting his day. He called as we were at our last garage sale and informed me that he, and his dad, and his uncle were going to breakfast. So, after we left, instead of going back to the hotel and laying down, we stopped to have breakfast with everyone. After breakfast we headed back to the hotel to get ready. It was 11:45 and we had to be at the church at 12:30, so there was a slight rushing around factor to get Jake and I dressed and out the door.

Since we didn't know where the church was we called his dad for directions, however, this man apparently should not be giving directions because he got us TOTALLY lost. He told us to turn on Grant Street and then onto another street, only that street doesn't connect to Grant street!! After we drove around for about 10 minutes I decided to stop and just ask someone. It was at this point that I could tell that Jake, also, should have taken a nap. He was making a HUGE deal out of his dad not answering his phone and us being lost and then made and even bigger deal out of the fact that I wanted to stop and ask for directions. He apologized though, after I got back in the car directions in hand.

So, we finally made it to the church and as it turns out, we were not late at all. It still took another 5 minutes or so for them to get to us for our picture. It was just one photo, taken about 5 times and then more waiting. The wedding didn't start until 2:00 and we were done with pictures at 12:50 or 1:00. It was while we were waiting that I finally got Jake to admit to me where they had been the night before. Although he told me not to mention it to Sara because Hog (Josh, Jake's cousin) didn't want her to know. That a boy Jake… encourage him to start his new marriage out on a lie!!

Finally 2:00 rolled around and the wedding started. It was warm in sancuary so Jake kept trying to drift off. The Father played the song that Josh was supposed to walk the parents in to, but didn't cue Josh to start. So it was over half done before he started walking them down and consequently he ended up walking Sara's parents down the aisle to dead silence. Then instead of hitting the CD button to play cannon in D, which is what all the bridesmaids were supposed to walk down the aisle to, he hit the button for the wedding march. So… they came down the aisle to the wedding march. Luckily, the piano lady was playing for Sara's walk, so at least that didn't get messed up.

Sara looked WONDERFUL!! Her dress was strapless and gathered at the side. It was VERY flattering. I thought it was a perfect choice for her. After the ceremony ended and Sara and Josh escorted out each row and since we were one of the first rows we ended up standing outside for what felt like forever. It was starting to sprinkle and Sara and Josh were supposed to ride around town on a fire truck before going to the reception. Josh is a volunteer fire fighter so he had some of the firemen there. By the time the came out of the church it was sprinkling, so they only did one lap around the block on the fire truck.

From the wedding, we headed back to the hotel so Jake could change. He was wearing a suit which he has owned for around 7 years and is a little snug in the wiast area. He also had on a long sleeved shirt and wanted to put on a short sleeved shirt. When he put on the new shirt he didn't like how it looked with his slightly snug suit pants so we spent 10 minutes debating the appropriateness of him wearing jeans to the reception. He won the argument and ended up in jeans, much to my dismay. After we left the hotel we headed to Clete & Charlotte's. (Molly's in-law's) Kim and Kim were staying there to save money and Clete and Charlotte decided to have a few people over to kill time between the wedding and the reception.

We hung out there for about 30 minutes before deciding we had better head to the reception before we missed the food. We got to the reception in Arcadia about 5:00 and just hung out for a half an hour before they served dinner at 5:30. By 7:00 all of the "dances" were done and half of the guests were well on their way to being three sheets to the wind. It felt like 10:00 even though it was only 7:00. I gave Jake $13 and his dad gave him another $10 to buy drinks on and told him that should be enough.

I was right. By 10:00 he was REALLY plastered but kept trying to convince me that we needed to go to Clete and Charlotte's for a night cap. I was SOO tired from not having slept much the night before that all I wanted to do was go to the hotel and go to bed. He told me he didn't agree with me (well it was more like don't talk to me any more) and went off to dance with his cousin. I could see him talking to her as they were dancing and I figured he was asking her if she would give him a ride or something. After he got done Kenzie came over and sat down next to me and said I tried. That's it… that's all she said, I tried. I asked her later what he had said to her and she said that she couldn't understand most of it but got the general idea that he wanted to go out after the wedding and she told him she didn't think it was a good idea. She thought he should just go back to the hotel and go to sleep.

Finally, at 10:30 they turned the lights on and said the party was over. I was more than ready by this point. Jake tried one more latch ditch effort to get me and/or his dad convinced that we needed to go and have a night cap. Finally he compromised with I'll go back to the hotel if we can order pizza. That, I would agree to.

When we got back to the hotel we discovered that even though it was only 11:05 everything was closed in Carroll. So we decided to walk next door to the sports bar, Bloomers. His dad & Karen met us there and we all ate dinner. Score, another free meal for us, Keith bought. Thank you, Thank You, Thank You, again Keith!! We left the sports bar at 12:00, got back to the hotel room, and I think Jake had passed out by 12:15.

On Sunday it was 10:20 when I sat straight up in bed and said oh crap, we have to check out in 40 minutes! I quickly jumped in the shower and then Jake got in after me. We were dressed and packed with 5 minutes to spare. We decided to ride with Keith and Karen to the present opening/brunch. I think it was around 1:00 when we finally decided that we needed to be getting back home. Keith took us back to our jeep and we drove over to Grandma Donna's to say goodbye to everyone. By 1:30 we were on the road, and none too soon by my standards. We had been going, and going all weekend and I was ready for a break.