On Their Way

I forgot to post this yesterday, but my dad, being the great dad that he is, took all the invitations into the post ofice personally and handed them to someone, as opposed to just dropping them in a mail box somewhere.  He told me that he even went so far as to tell the postal worker what they were and she assured him that they'd take care of them and they'd be on their way.  So as of yesterday, our invitations were mailed!

Bridal Shower #1

About two weeks ago, we had our first wedding shower.  My mom hosted the event, with some help from my dad, and it was spectacular!  I don't know that I had a preconceived idea about what it should be like that day, but it was just what I would have planned for myself!  It was held at Old Oak Country Club in Homer Glen, which is very near to where my parents live, and also happens to be where my dad works as a golf ranger during the summer.  My parents let me have a say in the food for the afternoon, not because I am a picky eater, but so that I could have just what I wanted.  The menu included cream of chicken soup (my favorite!) and a salad that was enormous and had fruit, candied nuts, large grilled shrimp, veggies, and much more that I can't even remember.  It was so huge that a common theme was to eat "all the good stuff" and leave the lettuce once we each realized we were barely making a dent into what was on our plates.  For dessert, we had vanilla ice cream with warm blueberries and whipped cream.  Oh, and the beverage of choice was a delicious punch, which if I could, I would have packaged up what was left and brought it home with me!

The room we were in had floor to ceiling windows with a view out on to the course, and thankfully, we had a beautiful day so it was nice and sunny!  The Banquet Manager, Juan, put out purple napkins for each place setting, since we told him that was the theme color.  And then at each seat, my mom had a purple gift bag with a bunch of my favorite candies from when I was a kid, along with a split of champagne for each guest.  There was a balloon attached to each bag to add some festiveness to the room and then there were purple and yellow flowers in the middle of each table.  My parents did an AMAZING JOB! 

When guests started arriving, my dad made sure to get pictures of each guest with me before they even had a chance to put down their purse.  I felt really special to have all of these people come and celebrate this day with me.  I had relatives I do not get to see too often and a friend I haven't seen in years!  And I felt so honored that in addition to all the planning my parents have done for the wedding and all the effort they have been going to, that they would add planning and hosting a wedding shower to their list.  That is the kind of people my parents are though - they go the extra mile and do all they can to make things special. 

After everyone was done eating, we moved on to a game where people had to form as many words out of "Sobczak Minster" as they could, but each word could be no less than 4 letters.  After people had time to think and write and write some more, we found our two winners and awarded the prizes.  We then moved on to Jack and I opening gifts and I was just completely overwhelmed and excited.  I have heard some people say that it is tough to be excited about getting towels, but every time I opened anything I was thrilled!  I thought, "one less thing for us to have to buy!" and I could start to picture setting up house in our new condo.  I was imaging how so many of these things would look and I started to picture us eating dinner using the utensils from the Nayder family, the plates from my Aunt Leah and the knives from my parents. 

We are so very grateful for all the gifts, but more importantly, it was just great to have everyone there that day.  It kind of prepped me for what it would be like at our wedding -- getting used to the idea that as much as you'd like to, you can't spend as long talking to people as you'd like, but realizing that everyone there is just excited to be there and share in the day.  Thank you to all who could attend.  Thank you to Gina & Kristen (two of my bridesmaids) for keeping things straight with all the gifts.  More importantly, thank you again to my parents for going above and beyond to give their little girl a day she will always remember!

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.

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.

Bachelor Party Weekend

This past weekend, my best man planned a trip for the guys for my bachelor party.  Aside from Steve and myself, two of our ushers, Ken and Bob, came as well as my good friend from work, Rafi.  We rented a cabin up in central Wisconsin and drove up Friday afternoon.  That night we went to the local casino where Steve and I won a little bit of money.  It wasn't much, but it was definitely a nice way to spend the first part of the evening.  Then we went to a local bar for a few drinks.  There's nothing like a good local bar to soak in the culture!  Afterwards, we headed back to the cabin for some post-bar beverage consumption before retiring for the night.

The next morning we got up to go on a 4-hour ATV trip though the 500+ miles of trails in the area.  Obviously, we didn't go nearly that far, but we think we covered about 30-40 miles.  We went through all kinds of mud spots and at the end, went through the ATV park with jumps, ramps, mud pits, etc.  It really was a blast, and no one got hurt (for the most part)!  After our ATV adventures, we went back to the cabin to shower up.  We had dinner at a nearby supper club (ask Steve to explain it, because I don't even know myself).  We all had great steak dinners and stuffed ourselves.  After a few hours of recovery, we spent the rest of the evening just relaxing at the cabin with a few drinks and cigars.

I really have to hand it to Steve, it was a fantastic time and I think we all really enjoyed ourselves.  Thanks again, boys!