Some Progress

First bit of progress: Erik and I have confirmed our minister/officiant!  Some time ago, Erik and I came to the conclusion that we wanted someone we both know to do our wedding ceremony.  We wanted to avoid the whole "wives obey your husband" stuff and such that might come with a random pastor.  We also didn't want a judge, a complete stranger, to be the one who officiates our wedding.  After brainstorming people that we thought we might like to do our ceremony, Erik and I had come up with the same person.

We both thought of our mineralogy professor, Jamey, from undergrad.  Erik and I started dating the semester we took Mineralogy (study sessions for the weekly mineral identification quizzes were some of our first dates).  But then we thought, would he want to do our wedding ceremony?  How should we ask him?  Would he think it's too cheesy?

Over Memorial Day weekend Erik and I had the chance to meet up with Jamey and his girlfriend in Zion National Park.  We hiked, we camped, ate good food, and had fun times catching up on news.  The topic of the wedding also came up.  Turns out that Jamey had thought it would be cool to be our officiant, but he thought that I wouldn't be on board with the idea.  Once we cleared that up, he said that he would be our minister!  Now we just have to work on getting the official paperwork to make it all legal, and it looks like we'll be having a wedding!

Jamey, Erik, and I hiking down "Walter's Wiggles" on the Angel's Landing hike at Zion National Park.  Photo taken by Kim (Jamey's girlfriend).

Second bit of progress:  My wedding dress arrived!  Or rather, I should say, my wedding dress arrived??  I called the store this week to see if the dress would be in by July (when I'll actually be in MN to try it on and pick it up).  The lady on the phone said that the dress actually had already arrived, and that they had sent me a postcard to notify me.  A postcard?!  I would think that spending money on a wedding dress (sure, I'm not spending the amounts that people do on TV weddings--thank goodness!) would at least merit a phone call or an email, or any combination of those in addition to a measly little postcard that got lost in the mail.

Despite my frustration that they only sent a postcard, I'd like to note that everything is fine.  They are willing to let me pick up my dress in July when I'm in town.  I was just worried that the 60 day period (as noted on my contract) would run out.  And because I haven't paid the full balance yet, that they would send the dress back to inventory before I had a chance to get there.  But, like I said, everything is fine.  The lady on the phone was very polite and made a note when I would be in town and available to pick it up.  Yay!  I'm very much looking forward to seeing the dress in white (the one I tried on was a gold/champagne color).

Winter Wonderland Wedding

People often worry that weather could play a negative role in a wedding. What if it rains on the outdoor ceremony? What if it's really cold? What if your state gets the 5th largest snowfall on record on your wedding date?

Wait, what? Yep, that's what happened to one of my good friends on 12/11/10 in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. (This is the same snowfall that made the Metrodome roof collapse; see the video and a picture of the blizzard from space here.) The invitations warned that "the weather outside might be frightful," but who could have guessed they would be getting a giant dumping of 17.1 inches of snow!?

Here is a summary of the crazy events that took place:

• Everyone got stuck (probably) at least once on the roads.
  
• The plows weren't clearing the side streets yet so my dad and the neighbors tried clearing the road with snow-blowers (we still got stuck and had to be rescued by another neighbor in a front loader snow plow).
• The wedding photographer canceled! Nightmare!! (Thankfully my dad and my friend's boyfriend Rustin stepped in as the photographers and videographer)
• The wedding started 45 minutes late because the bride's vehicle got stuck. So much snow!
• Everyone got to have seconds at the reception because so many couldn't make it due to the weather and road conditions. The food was delicious!
• Having the reception at a hotel was a genius idea (even though the bride and groom probably didn't expect a blizzard when they booked their venue). No one had to try driving home on the bad roads, they could just get a room.

In the end, everything worked out just fine. The bride and groom got hitched. The ceremony was lovely, and the reception was a blast!

Congrats to Michelle & Zach!

Bride & Groom Photo: Rustin R.
Snow Photos: Me