4.10.2007

P.S. I forgot some REALLY important credits:


All of the musicians including Esquizito and the Panorama Jazz Band played this event for love not money. Also Brother Charlie Dale of Grace Baptist Church performed the ceremony as a gift to us. It was a beautiful and well thought ceremony that was just right as a result of their collective talents.

Also Joanne Hilton pulled some last minute strings to distribute balloons at the site, so that everyone knew where to be. This turned out to be a beautiful touch. It added amazing movement and excitement to the event... and it looks great in the pictures.

4.06.2007

It was sooooo FUN!! (Click Here for Photos)





Click on the title, and it should bring you to the web album. All photos are compliments of Diane Tripplett. I love them!

I have been dying to find the time to update this blog. It has been 3 weeks since the wedding and Sean and I have landed safely back into our normal life, but have not forgotten a moment of this spectacular event. I can say with 100% confidence that it was the best wedding ever. If being a wife is as fun as being a bride, I am in for a good time!

When Sean and I decided to get married, it took 6 months to come up with a plan. It took another 6 months to figure out that our plan was lame, and yet another 2 to decide what to do instead. That left us roughly 4 months to execute the plan, which involved renovating a house. It didn't seem possible, but we did it. This has made us very proud and still humbled by the amount of support and labor given to us by our friends and family. This was truly a group effort. I hope everyone is as pleased as we are.

For the last several months, my mind had been crafting a very clever, sweet and articulate speech that I planned to deliver at the wedding. The speech explained our gratitude and illustrated the process and reasoning that lead to our decision to host an event like this.

When the time came to deliver my thoughts, they no longer seemed relevant or useful. What I mean is, our purpose was so obvious and universally felt, that my words could not have enhanced anything.

Having said that, I am now at my computer holding the virtual mike, and I would like to tell spill my heart to you all.

The decision to marry Sean was an easy one. He is an amazing man and my life has been unbelievably improved since he entered it, and I believe the same is true for him.

The decision regarding how to get married was not so easy. It was a struggle to find something that represented us well. We entertained the idea of running off to get married alone and throwing a party afterwards. A few people had opinions about it and shared them with us. I believe that Esquizito's sentiments rang to the tune of "it's tacky and I will have no part of it" (he was slightly more eloquent, but we got the message). Ben Schenck reminded us that committing ourselves in front of others is kind of the point, and to sneak off may cheat us of the meaning behind the event. Merica thought the idea was a snoozer, but agreed to support our decision. My mother probably would have had nightmares if I had told her. My father continued to remind Sean and I, that whatever we decided to do would be just right.

Thanks guys.

As we planned the event, it became so obvious to us, that we couldn't get married without our people any more that we could live without our people. The fact is that we needed all of you to participate in our marriage in order to make it work. The decision to involve our friends, family and community felt like a decision to not build our castle out of sand.

Thanks again.

I also would have mentioned that my husband has laid his hands on every grain of wood in our house to make it beautiful. I am very proud of his work.

And then, I would have given an Oscar length speech about all the cool ways that everyone helped. If that had worked out, I never would have cut the cake!

Credits:
Speaking of Cake, Chef Kaysey Hasslock of Liaison Catering supplied the bulk of dinner, hours d overs, and the delicious and beautiful carrot cake. She also supplied the delicious and beautiful staff, Brittney, Chef Matt and Sam. Katie Malloy-Peck baked the chocolate bourbon grooms cake and her husband Bryan Peck (of Elizabeth's fame) concocted the cochon du lait. Chef Jerry Mixon from Cafe Amelie supplied us with the roasted duck app, and Melanie Kuffel sent the champagne. Beth at Swirl (mid city wine boutique) picked out just the right wine, and Dena was a godsend and keg mistress. James CrawfishMan Fulton was the boil king and site boss for the last month. His totally killer wife, Isa, lent him to us for many hours and we are grateful.

Several people contributed their free time and sweat to the rapid beautification project (AKA, Mission: get this shit DONE! ) which included gutting walls, rebuilding them, hanging and floating drywall, painting, sanding, finishing floors, gardening, digging up dirt, uncovering bricks, hanging lights, artwork and curtains, cleaning the darkest corners of our house and cleaning up a most unsavory trash pile in front of our house. Thank you Mom, Dad, Jenny, Bruce, Brian, Shelly, Katie, Red, Sidney, Debbie, Rebeca, Marley, Salvadore, Dena, Janice, Kathleen, Ken, Wayne, Shyanne, India, Daniel, and Greg.

Katie Triplett made it all simple. She helped me keep it all together. Diane and Tim Triplett, thanks for the food, and thanks for the fabulous photos. Olivia, thanks for the hair darling!