Rehearsal Dinner and the Wedding

The Olympics are distracting me too much! On the Saturday before the wedding, our families all gathered at Kevin's parents house for the rehearsal dinner. We had an amazing dinner of grilled salmon, green salad, pasta salad, and chicken skewers, preceded by some truly excellent appetizers. From the beginning of our wedding planning, Kevin had wanted to have pizza as part of our wedding. Though I shot him down for the wedding reception, his mom came through for him at the rehearsal with yummy chicken artichoke pizza, and other deliciousness! We had a great time, playing bocci ball, visiting with family from out of town, enjoying the impeccable weather, and starting to really feel like this wedding was happening!

Kevin and I cut the yummy yummy cake that Susan had made by Blackbird Bakery for the occasion.

Of course there were games! The new brothers-in-law teach my nephew Nate the ins and outs of bocci.

Some of the family mugs for the camera. Capriel, Matthew, Terri, and Joseph, clockwise from left.

One last squeeze before we part for our last night as singles!

Now for the main event! We don't have too many pictures from the wedding yet, but our family friend Doug kindly dropped off a CD of all of his pictures, and I stole a few from Adam and Erin. Eventually we will have the professional shots to look at.

The day was so gorgeous! The sun was out in force with a wonderful breeze, and our rehearsal in the morning went really well. After we set up our few decorations (not much was needed at the Farm Kitchen) we all got dressed. The guys had their own cabin, while we ladies got ready in the Farm House in the Bridal Suite. Everything was very laid back, as we all did our own hair and makeup. I hate looking too made up, so I decided I'd just do it myself, and I think it worked out quite nicely!
Kevin and I decided to forgo the traditional giving away of the bride. He walked down the aisle with both of his parents, and my dad and I walked together and my mom joined us in front of our guests since wheelchairs and grass don't mix too well! :) We decided there wasn't any "giving away" happening, but rather a joining of our families. Our dad's both read a welcome blessing to us, and we each gave the other's mom an orchid to signify the joining of our families.


David Stallings was our officiant, and he did such an amazing job. He made sure that we slowed down and really took our time letting the moment sink in. We did something a little unique and had a chance for our guests to say a little something to us, advice, bits of wisdom, a blessing, to send us into married life. We also passed our wedding bands throughout the guests and asked that they give a little blessing on them. We felt it was very important to have our family and friends actually participate in our ceremony, because in some way or another, they each had a part in getting Kevin and I in front of them committing to a life together. It was really emotional for me to watch the rings going in and out of the rows and know that I would be wearing a ring that had a piece of each person as part of it.


We wrote our vows ourselves, and felt that they really expressed what we want to promise to each other. I am very proud of our vows!

Finally, the kiss I've been waiting for all my life! It went by so quickly, but it was exactly what I had hoped it would be!

Three generations of Shaffer men! Don't they all look handsome!

It was then time for the ceremony, visiting with family and friends. We had people come in from all over the country (and even one from London!) and it was so nice to see people who we hadn't seen in some cases in many years. Here Kevin and I are talking with my "lil bro" Olaf, who I have known and loved since he was in diapers! All grown up now!

We had the most amazing barbeque for our reception. Spady's Barbeque made everything to perfection, and we couldn't have been happier! Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. We had some excellent toasts from our best friends and a couple of family members. Then Adam and Erin had us play a little game in front of everyone.
We had one of each other's flip flops, and we had to raise the flip flop of the person who most resembled the answer. For instance, "Who makes more messes?" We both raised my flip flop. "Who cleans the messes up?" Kevin's flip flop goes up! There were some great questions and apparently we answered the same for most everything. We had a really good time, and it was totally unexpected! Thanks Adam and Erin!

Of course we couldn't just have some cake for our wedding. Nope, ice cream, in 8 different flavors! Yowza, it was good! Cream of the Crop Ice Cream did an amazing job accommodating all our guests. Only regret was that Kevin and I never made it back for seconds!
Our first dance was to a They Might Be Giants song, "Another First Kiss" which from the moment I heard it several years ago, I knew I wanted to use it as my first dance with Kevin! Then I danced with my dad and he with his mom to Nancy Griffin's "Turn Around" which made my dad cry all over again!

Then the band came on! My dad had been in a Bluegrass band for sometime now, Chele's Kitchen. And they rock! So when we were thinking about what to do for music, we immediately hoped they would be interested, and they were! They didn't disappoint! The rest of the evening went by in a blur of photo taking, garter and bouquet tossing, and saying goodbye to everyone! We left the Farm Kitchen around 8:45 to head out to the Green Cat Bed and Breakfast for our first night as a married couple in my dad's green miata. Our bridal party decorated it, though convertibles and shaving cream don't mix too great for being able to see out the window! No matter though, we got sent off to a lot of applause, got about 2 minutes down the road with the windshield wipers going furiously to get a little bit of viewage through the window, when I realized that I had left my change of clothes for the net day at the Farm Kitchen! Ack! We had to go back, and how often does that happen?! We felt pretty silly, but we got a second send off after I gathered my stuff, and away we went! Hooray!

I seriously don't think that our wedding could have gone better. It felt so short, but we crammed a lot of stuff into it, and I'm so glad that we never caved in to our little day dreams of just eloping! It was all worth it, and I am so glad that I got to share it with so many wonderful people! Thank you to all who helped us out!

The honeymoon posts may come soon, though probably greatly abbreviated. I have thank you notes to write afterall! :)