The Wedding

...was a total blast!  Although eloping would have been much easier (minister, photographer, license, done!), I'm glad we decided to have a wedding.  In addition to the opportunity to see a lot of people we hadn't seen in quite awhile and catch-up, a big part of what made the wedding so great was how a lot of our family and friends jumped right in and helped us pull the whole thing together.  Thank you to everyone that brought things, made and put up decorations, ran to town for forgotten items, and just generally helped get this whole thing put together!  It wouldn't have been nearly as fun or enjoyable without your help!

The Procession (Photo by Christine Williams)

A few people really put in a lot of work to make our wedding day special.  Susan, in addition to fulfilling the normal duties of a henchwoman, made all of the 218 cupcakes for the wedding herself (not to mention scones for the wedding day breakfast).  She wants to open a bakery in the Seattle area someday and, based on my extensive "research" of her creations, I think she'll be very successful.  Emily, also a henchwoman, did my make-up (convincing me that, yes, I did have to wear mascara) and brought all the materials to decorate the cupcake display.

Yummy Cupcakes (Photo by Christine Williams)

My outlaws received all of the random shipments we sent to them (cake toppers, photobooth backdrop, mustache straws, wine, etc.) and brought them up to the wedding.  My parents brought up a bunch of other random stuff for the photobooth and food to feed the wedding party.

Photobooth Fun!

My sister served as my social butterfly and event organizer and her boyfriend provided IT support for the photobooth.  The groom's brother/best man (after some convincing) brought the beer from across the state and made our cool wedding sign (with help from his grandmother).

Our Cool Wedding Sign (Photo by Christine Williams)

The whole wedding party, family members, some guests, and our photographer (in addition to photographing the rehearsal dinner, set-up, wedding and reception) helped put together our paper lanterns, make the LED lights for them, and put them up.

Paper Lanterns (Photo by Christine Williams)

In short, we had lots of help in putting this wedding together and we're very grateful for all of our friends and family that helped make our wedding day so special.  It wouldn't have been nearly as wonderful without all of your contributions!

Wedding Party (Photo by Christine Williams)

Photobooth Pictures!

Everyone seems to have had a great time using the photobooth at the wedding.  Since there are still a few of our guests that are Facebook challenged, I've posted a copy of all of the photobooth pictures here on Photobucket.

To Download A Picture:

• Go to our photobooth album on photobucket
• Click on the picture you want
• Move the mouse over the picture
• Move the mouse over "File" which should appear in the top-left corner of the picture
• Click on "Download"
• They're proportioned to print on a 4x6, if you'd like hardcopies

Feel free to download as many pictures as you want!  Some of them might make good blackmail!

Wear This, Not That (To Our Wedding)

Our wedding is only a few days away.  Wondering what to pack?  My sister (the fashionista) created this handy attire guide to help you figure out what to wear to our casual wedding.

 

Lots of examples of what not to wear to this wedding (or any for that matter).

Wedding Events Schedule

Just so you know, this part of Nebraska happens to be in the Mountain Time Zone, so make sure to factor that in if you're coming from the East.

Saturday

5:00 PM               Procession and Ceremony Starts

Unless the groom, the bride or the minister are missing, it will be starting on time.  Please gather at the general store and we'll all walk down to the ceremony site together.  Wear comfortable shoes or bring someone willing to carry you quite a ways.


6:00 PM(ish)       Reception Starts

Right after the ceremony, the wedding party will stick around and take a few pictures.  Once that's through, we'll head over to the reception site (on the other side of the campground) for dinner and more.  There will be dancing, a photo scavenger hunt, a photobooth, and even some board games to play.  We may also get a campfire started.

Sunday

9:00 AM               Goodbye Breakfast

A last chance to say goodbye to our friends and family before we fly off on our honeymoon and then back to North Carolina.  The menu is biscuits n' gravy, scrambled eggs and fruit.

Photo by Sweet.Eventide (Creative Commons)

Photo Scavenger Hunt!

Bring your digital cameras!  One of the activities at the reception will be a photo scavenger hunt for our guests, including prizes.  A box of sea salt caramels will go to:  the guest with the best picture overall, the guest with the best pictures in all five categories (one guest with the best five photos), and the guest with the most pictures from the list (if there's a tie, we'll go by quality).

Bride & Groom

• the bride & groom when they think no one is looking
• the bride & groom arriving at the reception
• the bride & groom acting silly
• bride & groom cutting/eating the cake
• first dance
• father/daughter & mother/son dance

Wedding Party & Family

• wedding posse on the dance floor
• wedding posse member fixing their sash/tie
• bride or groom's parents
• groom's grandparents
• bride & her sister (maid of honor)
• groom & his brother (best man)

Guests

• cutest couple
• best/worst dancer
• couple dancing together
• messiest cake eater
• laughter
• someone taking a picture
• guests playing games

Details

• favorite decoration
• the cupcakes
• someone signing the guestposter
• fun with favors
• artistic shot of food

Fun

• you & another guest (friend, family member, partner-in-crime, someone you just met, etc.)
• photo of any group (your table, school friends, couples, cousins, people wearing blue, etc.)
• clinking glasses
• silly faces
• kisses

We'll have a computer at the reception for you to download your photos onto before you leave or you can upload them on our shutterfly site or our Flickr group!

Photo by Samantha Decker (Creative Commons)

The Fun Part of Wedding Planning: Wine, Beer & Music!

Sometimes wedding planning can be kind of frustrating, but on Saturday we got to take care of some of the more enjoyable tasks on our to-do list.  We drove out to Wood Mill Winery to select the wine for the wedding.  By "select," I mean we tasted every variety they had (some of them twice) and picked eight different kinds to bring out to Nebraska for our guests.  We tried to get something for everybody, but because there aren't many true wine drinkers among our guests, the vast majority of these are quite sweet.  Here's a list of the wines we picked:

• Dry Golden Scuppernong
• Semi-Sweet Golden Scuppernong
• Dry Red Muscadine
• Semi-Sweet Red Muscadine
• Semi-Sweet Mon Amour (Blend of Golden Scuppernong & Red Muscadine)
• Sweet Blackberry
• Semi-Dry Blueberry (tasted like a merlot)
• Sweet Blueberry

We also ordered some of the beer for the wedding.  We're getting a light microbrew called Infinite Wit from Nebraska Brewing Company and mild dark microbrew named Third Stone Brown from Empyrean.  It even seems like we've finally convinced the best man to pick up the beer, even if he doesn't agree with our selections.

Inspired by the Jason Aldean concert we'd gone to the night before (and almost had too good of time at, if that's possible), we decided to also work on our song requests and blacklist for the DJ.  We just put the iPod on shuffle and saw what came up.  I'll post some of our selections later, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to share them now!

Photo by sameliaz8 (Creative Commons)

Still Need A Place To Stay?

There are still two modern cabins and six primitive cabins (as well as tent and RV sites) available at the campground where we'll be getting hitched.  Contact the campground for booking and let them know you're with the wedding.

Eagle Canyon Hideaway

866-866-LAKE

1086 Lakeview West Rd

Brule, Nebraska 69127

View Website

For those planning to grab one of the primitive cabins, remember to add a sleeping bag to your packing list, since bedding is not included.

Photo By usbristols (Creative Commons)

Meet Our Photographer!

Our photographer is actually someone I've known for quite a long time.  She was in my sister's class from elementary school and spent quite a lot of time over at our house.  Because of the magic of Facebook, I happened to see some of her work and that she was doing photography professionally.

Christine Williams of Carpe Diem Photography

In addition to being our paparazzi for the day, she will be doing her best to capture guests being...well, guests at our wedding.  Dancing, talking, playing games, laughing and generally having a good time (or so we hope).  So, if you see her sneaking up on you at the wedding reception with her camera, just continue with that embarrassing story you were telling or goofy move you were showing off on the dance floor.  These are the types of memories we want to keep and treasure for years to come.  Yes, including that stupid face you make when you laugh.  Don't worry, we won't post the really embarrassing ones online.

The Herd

...also known as the procession and everyone is included!

Campground Office/General Store

Before the ceremony, our guests will gather at the campground in front of the office/general store.  There is no parking area right by our ceremony site, so guests will be walking approximately 0.15 miles with us down to the beach.

View from the Campground Office/General Store - The Ceremony Location is Around the Bend in the Road

The procession will start at exactly five o'clock...seriously, we will leave you.  Along with our parents, we will lead the herd down to the beach where our officiant will be waiting to marry us.

Our Ceremony Site on the Shore of Lake McConaughy

Don't End Up Cabinless!

We've dropped our block on the cabins, so if you plan on staying on-site please book your lodging as soon as possible.  Make sure to tell them you're with the the wedding, because apparently they usually do two night rentals on weekends (news to us) but will do one-nighters for our event.  If you have any problems booking, let us know.

Eagle Canyon Hideaway 
866-866-LAKE
eaglecanyon@atcjet.net

In addition to the large modern cabins, there are primitive cabins with a nearby bathhouse ($55), tent camping sites ($20) and RV sites ($30).

Additional lodging is also available about three miles away at the Bayside Golf Course (two night minimum on weekends) and about 20 miles from the campground in Ogallala, NE.

Aliens Abduct Wedding Guests!

Last Friday was the response deadline for the wedding and we've heard from just over half of the guestlist.  That means about forty percent of our guests have been kidnapped by aliens!  Hopefully they're nice aliens...

If you have not responded and are not currently being experimented on by creatures from outer space, please let us know.  We understand how sneaky those deadlines can be sometimes!

Of those that have responded, we've received some pretty hilarious replies.  Below are some of the best comments, so far.  Names have been removed to protect the guilty...

Number of Minors

1. Can I bring [the dog]?
2. Three (sorry)
3. Not Sure

Song Requests

1. You've got to be kidding
2. [Husband] likes "I Touch Myself"
3. I Like Big Butts

Best Messages

1. This has got to be the strangest wedding invitation I have ever gotten...I love it!
2. We've never been to middle of nowhere Nebraska and since we live in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, we're looking forward to the middle of nowhere somewhere else.

Seven Things Guests Should Do (On Our Website)

1.  RSVP Online

So we can ensure we have enough food and drink for everyone, we need everyone to RSVP.  We're even asking our parents to RSVP.  Besides, you should really see the response options...

2.  Get Directions

It's kind of out in the boonies and we don't really want our guests lost in Nebraska cornfields...

3.  Find Accomodations

Our campground venue has lots of lodging options.

4.  See Our Events Information

Currently, what to expect at the ceremony and reception, plus a cupcake flavor poll.  Coming soon...what's on the menu and reception games.

5.  Sign Our Guestbook

Say hello or even heckle us a little.

6.  Find Answers to Your Burning Questions

Our FAQ page covers attire, alcohol, and other questions.  If your question isn't on there, other people are probably wondering the same thing...

7.  Keep Up With Updates

Although we do not guarantee that all information will be useful, we'll continually update this site up through the wedding and after we'll post links to pictures for our Facebook challenged guests...

Need More?  Here's Four Fun Things On Our Website:

• Help make sure we have your favorite cupcakes by taking the cupcake flavor poll!
• Find out how these two crazy people got to this point
• Meet the wedding posse
• See more photos of us...you know you want to!  There's even a picture of Cody in a pink bunny suit!

Photo by ms. tea (creative commons)