Wedding day!

So, it's over and done with. We is hitched!

The weather was a bit more humid than we would have liked but over all it was perfect. Mostly sunny, nice breeze and the ground was dry and firm.

Groom, ring bearer and Best Man

The ceremony begins!

She gets her ring...

and I get mine!

First married kiss!

It was quiet and simple. 14 people involved. After the ceremony we went to Belleville for the photo shoot. My brother-in-law Steve is a semi-pro photographer and did our pictures as a wedding gift. Hopefully we'll see them soon.

Carries teacher, Marilyn Rankin, was able to make it. I think that was one of the big surprises for Carrie.

Marilyn and Carrie

Will "Slinkyaroo" Ludlow, one of the guys I know from the paintball forum, made it. A pleasant surprise for both Carrie and I. I was a bit concerned he would miss the wedding due to when he finished work and when we were going to start.

My biggest surprise was that my friend from WAAAAAY back in grade 4 made it. John and I met in Nova Scotia and now he lives in Ottawa. He had told me a few weeks before that he and his family should be back from vacation in time but may not be able to make it because of sitters and his wife getting ready to start teaching. The night before the wedding he calls and tells me he'll be there. 5 minutes before Carrie arrives I see him hop out of his truck.

John and I.



The married couple.


The wedding party.


Being a little silly


Groom and Best Man


My mother and the Bride goofing around.

Dinner was kind of a mixed blessing. Logan hadn't slept properly the night before and was starting to get very cranky. We all told him it was fine if he had a nap at the restaurant but he refused. Everyone did their best to be patient with the little guy but after a couple of hours it does grate on the nerves. Jim, my step dad, took Logan back to my parents place and put him to bed. It turns out Logan didn't want us to be upset with him for missing his special dance with his mom. What a little sweetheart. We also had a visit from an elderly lady. She and her husband were there celebrating their 65th anniversary! Supposedly that's a sign of good luck.

After dinner it was back to my parents for cake and a bit of dancing.

Yeah... I still have icing in my nose.

Sunday morning we left on our Honeymoon.

We made it!

On the Maid of the Mist.

Champagne toast in our heart shaped jacuzzi.

Smooch!

It LOOMS!

So. Here it it Thursday. The wedding is Saturday. That leaves me about 48 hours as a "bachelor". 2 days, 5 hours and a few minutes according to the countdown timer on facebook.

The weather looks good albeit a tad muggy for the wedding, no rain though. As far as I know there's only one guest, John and Andrea, that can't make it due to just having had a vacation and kids to settle. While it's a bit disappointing my oldest childhood friend can't make it, it's understandable. His kids are still fairly young and have been traveling for the last week, they won't be up for traveling here. So sometime in October we'll make plans for a day trip up here.

Carrie and I have both written our vows.

Hers:

Keith,
First, I want to say I love you more than life itself. Second, I am so glad that through all our hard times we are still standing here today, as happy as ever.

When I first met you, I was afraid of falling in love with you. I did not think that it was possible for anyone to give me all I wanted to give them. As time went by I realized how much we could truly share. Today I would like to join my life with yours.

I am proud to marry you on this day. I promise to wipe away your tears with my kiss, to ease your pain with my caring and compassion. I want to share your joy and successes with my smiles and laughter.

Today and every day from now on I promise to love you always.

Mine:

Carrie,
Over the years, I have seen my share of trouble and loss. For a long time I wondered if, I could feel any kind of emotion, let alone love someone. When I met you, you proved I could feel, could love and could be happy.

What we have between us makes us stronger than when we were alone. It has allowed us to share our successes and our failures and kept us together no matter what the problem, physical, emotional, financial and some days pure insanity. If I had to face these on my own, I would have shriveled up and blown away long ago.

There are only a few true gifts love can give, one of which is our son. The other I give you today.

You know I have never believed in marriage and I think you understand why. However, love makes us do strange things. We sacrifice our bodies and souls for the ones we love. Love alters our perceptions and beliefs. Because of this, I can give you another one of loves real gifts.

Today I give you my heart and soul, my willingness to be yours and yours alone. I do it in front of these people and I do it willingly.

I love you and will love you forever.

Mom sent an email today saying that all the decoration are up and her place is ready for a party. I hope it's ours. (Yeah a bit of sarcasm)

We still don't know what's happening for the honeymoon. We've been told we're staying in Ontario but need our passports for "accidental" border crossings and that there's lots of stuff both Carrie and I will enjoy doing. Other than that all we know is that mom and Jim will be out golfing in the area....

Logan seems to be doing ok. He's looking forward to being a ring bearer again, and to having a week off with out mom and dad telling him to clean his room. lol

Tonight we're having a little bachelor/bachelorette party. Just Carrie and I and a few friends going out for a couple of drinks. Don't know where but the one and only strip club is rumored to be a location.

Carrie's been busy running some "last minute" errands. She picked me up a new swimsuit (the old one is about 8 years old and a bit snug) and she found a tripod for the video camera. I'm sure there are other things she needed for the honeymoon, like whips, chains, candles, dog collar, leash.......

The Best man and some minor stress....

So... the best man got the same suit as I did but has a red tie to match the red dress of the maid (matron) of honor. It's not the best pic on the planet but it doesn't look too bad.


As for the stress.... Well the info is on my personal blog but the short version is that us moving into the new place on Friday doesn't look like it'll happen. Landlord said it might be a few days delay. But we're not really surprised.

On the plus side a few hints have been dropped about our honeymoon.... We're not sure if it's good or bad. I don't want to say anything more because it's supposed to be a surprise and I don't have all the details.

Suits? Check!

Picked up our suits today. Logan's was too small through the waist so we had to find something else. Mine fits great but the pants need some serious hemming.

Getting closer.....

So.... Wedding Officiant has been booked and paid in full.

Marriage license is paid and will be dropped off tomorrow.

The dress is paid up in full and Carrie goes in for alterations tomorrow at 1500.

Went and ordered my suit today and will have that around the 19th.

This weekend or next we have to get Logan measured for his suit.

The bouquets are bought as are the boutonnieres.

The only thing left to do is figure out where to have the reception or if we'll actually have one. With only 15 guests on one hand it seems silly but on the other it would be nice to have the dances and some food.

We're also still a bit in the air about the honeymoon. Right now were considering just going to Toronto for 4 days and spending to at Wonderland's water park, going to Medieval Times for dinner, and not sure what else.

New date...

Well Carrie's getting fed up with people who think their opinion means more than ours. She starting to agree that we should just say screw it and elope.

We contacted an officiant in Shannonville earlier this week to see her garden where she does weddings. Looking at it on line it seems really nice. It was at this point the new wedding date was selected: August 23, 2008.

In case you didn't get that: August 23, 2008. The time will be 1800 hrs(6pm). Sunset is two hours later.

The only guests will be immediate family. Afterward we'll be heading back to my mother's place for a small party.

We've been looking at flower.... Tons of fun for me, especially since I have allergies.

Carrie's going to have a bouquet of roses and dendro lilies with some English Ivy.

She's not going with a cascade like in the picture but at least you can see the types of flowers. She also wants to incorporate a tie clip of my grandfathers. He passed away a couple of years before Logan was born.

The brides maids will have white roses and the men will be wearing the lily in their lapels.

The closest florist can do it in live flowers for abut $450.00 for everything. Not a bad price really. Carrie would like to use silk so that her bouquet will still look good in 100 years but according to the florist that would double the price. Carrie would like to go with a teardrop cascade but again that doubles the cost. So we're still looking around for other options. A friend of ours knows of a place in Toronto that might be able to give a much better price on silk. If it's half the cost plus $100.00 for shipping it's still a good deal.

Looking through the Yellow Pages it seems Kingston is lacking in hat shops. There's a "vintage" store downtown that has some fedoras... for $9.00. They're the cheap costume hats, the kind with a stiff plastic liner. I'd rather pay $50.00 for a decent quality one that will last longer and look better. Once the weather warms up a bit and stabilizes I'll tromp around the stores downtown and see what I can find. If I absolutely have to I'll order online.