Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Stillwater, baby. Woot!
 

Hey, dude!
 

On a gorgeous sunny day, in Oxnam Memorial Chapel at Wesley Theological Seminary, we were married by the Rev. Kyung Lim Shin-Lee, dean of community life at WTS. After a late-lunch reception in the refectory, we went to the Embassy Suites in Friendship Heights for the evening.
 

Beach on a resort in Cozumel. Then again a week later at the dock at Martin Nature Park.
 

I'll answer for Teditor!

In Las Vegas! And live on teh Internets!

(I watched it!)

... and I think everybody else had a coller weddin' venue that we did! (Although it 8was* cool to assign a photographer from the paper; he just knew to be at the JP's office; bout was he surprised to see his boss and his boss's lady there to get hitched!).
 

Beat me to it, eh, ER.

Yep, it's been dang near two years since the love of my life exchanged vows.

We had talked about a weddin' here, in our hometown, which is my bride's hometown. But this was my wife's second wedding, and she'd already had the big Catholic retreat. So we looked at my hometown in western Kansas.

When we started talkin' particulars -- flowers, tuxes, dresses, etc. -- I said, "Uh, I'd be all content on the local courthouse." She said, "I don't want to get married in the courthouse. But I'd go for Vegas."

Tweren't long before we had it all figured out. To make it easy on any attendees and as to not leave anybody out, NOBODY was invited to attend in person. EVERYBODY and their dogs, cats and fish were invited to watch the nuptials online, since the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapels offered a live Webcam (with several weeks of archive) for a reasonable price.

It was great. We flew out of Kansas City on a Friday. That evening, we took a double-decker bus from our Strip hotel to downtown to get our marriage license. On Saturday morning, a limo picked us up to get me decked out in my tuxedo.

On Saturday afternoon, my honey got her hair fixed up all nice, and later that afternoon, the chapel's limo picked us up for our wedding.

FYI, it was 109 degrees that day, and the second limo's AC was on the fritz.

We spent the evening doing the Vegas thing. On Sunday, we flew back home. Quick weekend. Quick wedding.

When I proposed to my bride in February 2006, we had it videotaped, then put on a DVD. When we got married, the DVD of the wedding came with the package. Combined viewing time of BOTH DVDs: 11 minutes.
 

In the Los Angeles LDS Temple on Valentine's Day 1985 -- had beautiful blue skies. Had a reception at the meetinghouse in Irvine, spent the night locally, then onto Las Vegas for our honeymoon.

More fun to tell is that my maternal grandparents eloped to Tijuana, Mexico. :)
 

I ran through that exercise at my then-church in Oklahoma City on July 11, 1987. Wedding night was spent at the Skirvin Plaza Hotel, shortly before it closed down (I am very happy it has since been renovated and reopened.) The evening included a horse-drawn carriage ride through downtown and dinner at the hotel restaurant.
For the record, that one ended on July 10, 1990. We can't all be good at choosing wisely, unfortunately. I wish Paul and Jennifer all the best!
 

My husband and I were married in the church that I helped build. The pastor that married us was the one that confirmed me (my confession of faith at the time was a well-written piece of drek that I knew would set my parent's minds at ease...and I think he knew it.)

My friends were all weirded out, because less than a year before the day of our wedding I was swearing up and down that I would NEVER get married, because marriage was the worst thing that could possibly happen to a woman.

I had been twenty years old for three months because my husband-to-be did not want to marry a teenager...so we set the date after my 20th birthday.

The pastor spent our three counciling sessions looking at my husband-to-be, shaking his head, and saying "Are you sure you know what you are doing?"

My Mother-in-law to be begged my husband to find someone better, and dump me.

At the end of the ceremony, the pastor raised his hands, and said "may God shine the light of his blessing on this union". The formerly heavy, grey clouds parted, and a shaft of light came through the skylight and shone on us, standing before the alter.

The light bathed us in an unearthly glow, and an audible gasp came from the assembeled congregation.

I believed it was a beautiful coincidence, which is probably why I'm going to hell.

After all was said and done, my best friend grabbed my husband by the lapels, dragged his face down to within an inch of hers, and said "I love you. You are like a brother to me. If you ever hurt my friend in anyway, I will hunt you down like a dog and kill you. Welcome to the family."

That was twenty years ago.

We're all still OK, and my husband doesn't drink much at all, considering...
 

Cool, T.

This hear sounds like some kind of water brother confession! :-)

"I love you. You are like a brother to me. If you ever hurt my friend in anyway, I will hunt you down like a dog and kill you. Welcome to the family."

Hoot.


BTW, the first time I watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown in Arlington, a similar water thing happened. Cold blustery early spring afternoon, dark clouds but dry. The instant the ceremony began came this huge-mongous rain drops, big as quarters, splatting about 2 feet apart. They continued through the ceremony and stopped the instant it was over.

Coincidence? Deep? Chilling? Holy-God-Grokness? Yes. :-)
 

Northside Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor, MI, on Sept. 15, 2001. Yeah, check the date. The deposits had been paid, the photographer engaged, and the invitations were out. We had about 2 days of phoning everyone we could think of to decide whether or not it was in poor taste to hold a wedding only 4 days after 9/11. Everyone said go for it, and we did. And, ultimately everyone at the wedding said how good it was just then to have something to celebrate.

One of our best men was in Manhattan on 9/11 the time, a postdoc at Columbia. Took him 2 days to get out of the city and drive to Michigan, but he made it anyway.

Reception was at the Michigan Union. It was crashed by a few well-dressed undergrads who stopped by after discovering the open bar. (They saw the open bar and then went back to their dorm and changed into nice duds so they would blend in.) LOL

Honeymoon was the following spring in Ireland.

Of course, you're dying to see the pictures, aren't you?

http://tinyurl.com/56pvav

(Our photographer set up a backdrop at the reception so anyone could get their picture taken and order it later. This turned out to be a wonderful idea as now, whenever we go to our friends' homes, we see those pictures taken at our wedding.)