Getting Ready

The night before the big day we hung out with most of the wedding party in the gazebo in front of the Tour Inn where most of the wedding party stayed. When it came time to finally crash, I found myself with no real place to sleep. The bedding arrangements had somehow gotten confused by people crashing at different times, an because no one would let Chris and I sleep in the same room the only open spot left (with him) was off limits. I ended up being one of the only people without a bed the night before my wedding, which still amuses the heck out of me. I slept on my mom's couch. At least I didn't end up sleeping out on the deck like Boo.

The next morning the efforts to try to prevent Chris and I from seeing each other didn't last long when I ended up trapped in the bathroom because he was in the livingroom. We settled on simply not letting him see me in the dress.

It didn't take long for the house to explode into activity. We had a lot of friends who really pitched in. We want to thank everyone who helped, especially at the last minute, pull this thing together. Chris Walker how gave us a ton of extra decorations and inspiration, not to mention the 100 other ways she pitched in; Dennis Walker for fogging for bugs; Nick Walker for helping get the arch to where it needed to be. We want to thank Angela and Sue for taking care of 50 small details we either hadn't anticipated or had miscalculated. And we want to thank Diane for fixing Kenzie's flower girl dress so beautifully.

While the the bridesmaids put together the center pieces and decorated the tent, Nick and Jason pulled rocks out of the crick to use to hold down the tablecloths. Then Kenzie and Mason washed the rocks. It was gorgeous, warm, and sunny out the whole time.

Matt Walker graciously agreed to cue the music for the ceremony. When I went to get it all set up; I was horrified to discover that half of it was gone. I had to go sit in the parking lot of the Tour Inn to get it back. Our pre-ceremony songs included "White Wedding" by Billy Idol and "Chapel of Love." The processional was a beautiful intstumental version of "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper, followed by the Wagner Wedding March. "Banana Wind" by Jimmy Buffett was cued up for when we signed the contract, and the recessional was "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz (before it became the most overplayed song on the radio, ha). Granted, none of this actually happened, but it was a nice plan, no less.

Kristen was a huge help; she put together my gorgeous white and red snapdragon bouquet and did hair for bridesmaids and friends. It was a bit of a madhouse because the bridesmaids, since they were already on hand to help with all the setup and other craziness, all ended up getting ready in my mom's one bathroom house, but it worked out in the end.

Making the Cake

Chris made our wedding cake. It was a 6 tiered, 6 flavored cheesecake with graham cracker crust and decorated with fondant with a beautiful ivy motif in dark green.

At least, that was the idea.

Chris and I spent hours in the kitchen at Rockford Freshman Center the night before the rehearsal making the cake.

It took a lot longer than we expected, and was absolutely exhausting. We did get the opportunity at one point to wander off into the school to - explore, which took the edge off, and eventually we got all the cakes into the big fridges to set.

Sadly, in the end, the cakes didn't set up in time to come out of the pans, so only one of them got to wear the gorgeous fondant wraps that Chris made, but they were delicious nonetheless! And trying to make our own 6 tier wedding cheesecake was certainly an adventure.

GALLONS of cheesecake batter

Molding and painting fondant we'd never use . . .

This is one of the only pictures we ended up having of the cake cutting. Someone has one of the actual decorated portion of the cake, but I don't know where it went . . .

The Rehearsal

The weeks and days leading up to our wedding were crazy and stressful. With Chris working constant overtime and me studying for and taking the NY Bar exam (which I passed, by the way), there was very little time to plan - and even less money.

We pulled together some main elements - the rings, the dress, the recipes for the 6 cakes, the minister (until he backed out), but really we left it all up to fate, faith, and whatever we could pull together in the time we had in MI.

By the time the rehearsal "dinner" rolled around, we were out of money, out of time, and I was out of patience. We were both late, out shopping for odds and ends - but that was okay because an oversight in the time difference between Lafayette, IN and Howard City, MI also meant that half the wedding party was late too!

We really want to thank my mom and Michelle for paying for the pizzas since they showed up a 1/2 hour early while we were still down by the river rehearsing. And we want to thank everyone for coming, having fun, and overlooking my slight crankiness . . . ;-)