The Bridal Shower: A Modern Groom's Perspective

Mary had her first of two bridal showers last Sunday at Old Oak Country Club for her side of the family and her friends.  It came with some standard accoutrements: favors, mimosas, a light lunch, and of course, shower gifts.  All along, I knew that my attendance was expected.  To be honest, I was looking forward to it.  I expected it to be one of the more fun and easy-going events leading up to our wedding.  I expected this because I knew it wouldn't be an overdone or overly elaborate event.  It was a time for many of the women in Mary's life, of all ages, to celebrate our upcoming wedding with just her.

For many grooms, I'm sure they dread having to attend the bridal shower.  Having to be up in front of female friends and family and pretend to be excited about measuring spoons and vacuum cleaners is certainly something I wouldn't rate at the top of my list of fun activities.  Chit-chatting with the girls is also probably not a groom's favorite Sunday afternoon activity.

For me, however, I really did enjoy having a chance to talk to some of Mary's friends and family that I don't normally see.  While I felt I was mostly there in a support capacity for my bride - pulling out her chair, getting her mimosas, loading up the gifts - it was a nice warm-up for our actual wedding.  I made some introductions, was introduced myself, had a chance to catch up with important people, and also got to celebrate our upcoming nuptials.  As a broad generalization, since women tend to be more social than men, being surrounded by women helped get me into the wedding-mingling mode!

I think that since I had already resolved that I would enjoy myself, I found it much easier to do just that.  I was relaxed and comfortable, and truly did enjoy the socializing.  Mary also looked great in her nice white summer dress!  As far as the gift-opening is concerned, just think about how excited you'll be when you open your brand new wine tool set and beer pilsners.

We Won't Be Homeless

Well we've had a chance to spread the word a little amongst our family and friends, but, we've got more big news!  We decided many months ago that we would try and look for a condo in the city this summer so we could try and close in August.  Well, at the end of June, we started looking.  After what seemed like 3 VERY long weeks, we found a place that had just about everything we wanted in a condo!  We made an offer that went back and forth a few times, but eventually we came to an agreement with the seller.  We had a really good home inspection and appraisal.  We're waiting for the final approval on our mortgage, and if all goes well, we'll be closing on August 28th.  We're both REALLY excited about this for so many reasons.  If you want to help us pack and move, you know how to reach us!

Website Photos

Due to popular request (sort of), I started adding more photos based on some of our blog entries.  Previously, there were only links to additional photo pages in the blog entry itself.  Now you can just go to the Photos section of our site, and there are links to the additional photo pages.

South Dakota Road Trip

It's been over a week since we've posted, so for all the avid readers, our apologies!  The good news is that we have LOTS to write about.  We'll try and space it out over a few days.

Last weekend, Mary and I drove (yes, drove) out to South Dakota.  One of my best friends from college was getting married in Spearfish Canyon.  The drive one-way is just under 1000 miles.  Fortunately for me, Mary and I did a pretty good job of splitting up the driving duties.  We left on Thursday morning and drove through Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota all the way to Mitchell, SD (about 630 miles).  On Friday morning, we went to the world's only Corn Palace before hitting the road again.  The first really cool scenic view was crossing the Missouri River.  Shortly after that we drove through the Badlands and stopped several times to take pictures.  At the end of the loop through the Bandlands, we stopped at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD to pick up a wedding card, then we headed into the home stretch for the last 115 miles.

Surprisingly, the drive out went by pretty quickly, although that could have had something to do with the fact that whenever Mary drove, I slept!  Good thing she had her iPod for company (she's such a good sport!).  We arrived at the Spearfish Canyon Lodge just in time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  It was great to finally meet my friend's fiance, as they had previously lived in Montana together.  We also got to catch up with some other good friends of mine from college, who will be at our wedding next month!

The wedding ceremony was perhaps the shortest in history at just under 10 minutes.  It probably would have taken about 20 minutes, but being an outdoor wedding and due to the storm that rolled in just before the bride was to walk down the aisle, it had to be cut short.  Fortunately, she was very calm and easy-going, so she seemed to have not been phased by the turn of events at all.  We finished the ceremony indoors with a hymn and a sand ceremony before having cocktails and moving to the reception across the street.  It was another great opportunity to relax and enjoy a fun wedding and get even more excited for our big day!

Sunday morning, we went up to see Bridal Veil Falls, went to mass, then stopped in Deadwood to have lunch with friends.  Afterwards, we hit as many sites as we could!  First we stopped at Pactola Lake for some pictures on the way to Mt. Rushmore.  Mt. Rushmore is just amazing.  Mary commented that it just didn't look real.  It's hard to imagine anyone being able to create such a realistic representation of four of our great presidents on the side of a mountain.  We had a quick bite to eat there before driving further south to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  This mountain carving is not nearly as complete as Mt. Rushmore, but the story behind it is equally impressive.  The last part of our scenic tour was through Custer State Park.  The park was really amazing, and while we didn't see any bison, we did see several Pronghorn Antelopes, which didn't seem to be bothered by our presence.

After our tour of southwestern South Dakota, it was back to Rapid City to drop off the tuxedos.  By the time we were ready to hit the road again, it was already 5:30pm and we still had 400 miles to go!  We finally arrived in Worthington, MN around 1:30am.  Since we were on the road so late, we didn't get started on Monday until around 10:30am.  After another 500 miles, we made it into the city just in time to pick up Bentley at the kennel at 7:00pm.  Phew! 

Although we were really looking forward to this trip and had a great time, we were both very relieved that it's now in the past.  All the big items for our wedding are done.  We have no more vacations or out-of-town trips planned (except for a work trip next week for me).  We should just be able to take care of the little things and enjoy our time before our own wedding is upon us!

Due to the large number of pictures we took on this trip, I posted several on our South Dakota Road Trip page.

It Zipped!

My mom and I went to my first dress fitting last night.  Now don't get me wrong - I was very excited to get to see my actual dress and be able to try it on, but for whatever reason, I was VERY nervous.  I think I was afraid that my weight had fluctuated or something and the more I kept thinking that that is always possible, the more I was afraid that it would not fit.  I worked myself nervous enough that I thought maybe we would not be able to even get it zipped.  I cannot tell you the relief I had when it zipped all the way up with no trouble at all!  From that point, I was just totally excited to be in my dress! 

We knew that they would have to alter the dress on top since my top half isn't the same size as the bottom half of me, but overall, they didn't have to do too much and the price for it all came back pretty reasonable.  I was also pretty relieved to figure out that I can wear a "normal" foundation piece and that the alterations person can add a snap from it to the dress to ensure that it stays in place the whole day!  Whew - one less thing for my bridesmaids to have to check on all day.  And to top it off, I do not have to have the length of the dress altered at all!

The alterations person, Vicky, was extremely nice and definitely seems to know what she is doing.  She took her time and explained what she was doing and how that would change the way the dress would fit.  She would ask what we thought to be sure we were happy and she was just so pleasant and calm.  It was a great experience.  And I am just so glad that my mom is able to do these things with me.  It makes it so much easier to have her there, and also that much more exciting.  Thanks, Mom!