Part 1. Again, as I remember stuff I will update.

After the Mass, Kathy and I exited the Church, followed by her bridesmaids and my groomsmen. We had a receiving line and of course, received everyone as they exited the Church. This was a lot of fun to be able to get to see everyone 1 on 1 even if for a brief moment. I originally did not want to have a receiving line as it creates clutter, but, I’m glad that we did as there were many people that I did not get a chance to talk to at the reception. This was a great way to see everybody, even if brief.

When the receiving line was finished, we walked down the steps of the Church and walked on down to the entrance on the ground level. There everyone was huddled around. As a special treat, Kathy’s dad had some doves that he was going to let out of a basket and they would fly off. It was kind of funny, when her dad first opened the basket, they just sat there, not sure what they were supposed to do, but after a few seconds they eventually took off in flight. It was pretty cool.

From here, most people left to go to the reception, meanwhile the bridal party and family stayed behind for more formals. My brother the best man and Kathy’s sister the maid of honor signed the marriage license as witnesses. We had a lot of fun getting the last of the formals done. After we got the family and bridal party pictures done, we dismissed them and let them head over to the reception. Kathy and I stayed behind with our photographer and videographer to get some last shots in of the church.

We took some good shots of us “leaving” the church (just going to the reception, not abandoning Catholicism) and headed on over to the reception hall.

It was totally awesome seeing everyone there. We did some looking around and mingling before our grand entrance. We walked in to “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith and did a little dance and spin on the dance floor for everyone.

There were many chimes on the glasses for Kathy and I to kiss, and so we made sure everyone got a show each time.

Father gave a prayer before we ate dinner, which was a very solemn prayer. Afterwards we ate (I’ll have to rethink what we had, I believe it was Chicken Parmesan, Honey Ham, Ceasar Salad, Green Beans with Shaved Almonds and Butter, Dinner Rolls and thats all I can remember).

After most people had finished eating we commenced with the speeches. Kathy’s parents were up first and they had some witty comments at my expense, along with some nice ones. It was very touching and since we had a “long-distance” themed wedding, they pointed out all the states that our guests came from as well as many statistics regarding our guests (Kathy is a Statistics major).

When Kathy’s parents had finished, they passed the microphone over to my friend Brad, who filled in for my brother for the speech. Brad’s speech was witty, clever and short, as he joked (Kathy’s parents had a bit of a long speech, but it was still good). Brad commented a bit on how of all the couples he knew that had gotten married, Kathy and I were the most perfect for each other and that we really practiced our faith. I didn’t realize that Kathy and I had demonstrated this, so, we were humbled.

After Brad finished, Kathy’s sister Mary came up and gave possibly the most touching wedding speech that I have ever heard. She spent the first half roasting me (there seems to be a pattern here) and the second half she talked about how generous Kathy has been with her in both her time and helping Mary with her physical disability. Mary’s speech was definitely one of the top three things people liked about our wedding.

Next, I was up to give my speech as the groom. I commented that after hearing those three speeches, that people would more or less have to suffer through mine, as I didn’t think mine would be that good (I still think it was my worst public speech yet, but others disagreed, go figure). I explained our wedding theme and thanked everyone for coming, thanked Kathy’s parents as well as mine. I was applauded and no one booed me off, so I guess I didn’t do too bad.

We cut the cake, had desserts, and began with our first dance “Making Memories of Us” by Keith Urban. We really enjoyed that, and then had the father/daughter and mother/son dances. We did them both at the same time just to be a little different.

People took awhile to get out on the dance floor, but once people got out, it was quite hopping. Kathy and I made sure to spend some time to talk with our guests, but sadly, didn’t get to talk to everyone. We were thankful to have the receiving line as we at least got to spend a couple of seconds saying hi and thank you to our guests.

The reception was a huge hit and a lot of fun. I really miss just being able to go carefree at my wedding. Kathy and I actually celebrated 3 months yesterday (October 14) and we watched the video. It was excellent. I do miss being able to just be a goof ball and to have fun. I think I need to cut back a bit more from time to time and not be so “serious”.

Finally, at the end of the night, when Kathy and I were ready to call it, the DJ put one final song on “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers. It was so touching and since Kathy and I knew it would be our final dance for the wedding, we decided that we would remember this moment for the rest of our lives, and that when we are struggling or in an argument, that we would come back to this moment at how happy we were and remember why we love each other so much. If we have to, grab the song and play it for the other. This way, the music itself would bring us back. I will admit that it has already worked on an occasion when Kathy and I were arguing. It helped calm us down and then we were able to resolve it. I’m thankful that I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to think of this. We now consider this our “second song”.

Again, I will be editing this as I remember other things.