The Wedding!

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be going back to Nebraska for Max and Ashli's wedding... Well, I think that may have been the most fun I've had on any single day since my wedding. I loved the chance to spend time with so many of my camp friends and church friends, it was really great hanging out with Stephen and Ali, and I'd forgotten that while I'm really not good at dancing, with the right people, it's a lot of fun.

Saying what the best part of the day was would be pretty much impossible, so I'll just give a short run down of the parts that I really enjoyed.

Hanging out with Max at the hotel. This was definitely the most laid back part of the day, and it actually started the night before, but it was really great to just hang out and catch up on what's been going on in our lives. (Max bought a house!) I also can't express how much it means to me that Max asked me to be his best man. Really... I'm still completely blown away to be thought worthy of being his best man...

The pictures. Now I'm really not a big fan of getting my picture taken, but the photographers that they hired, Shane and Erin Melenbacker are probably the best ones on the planet. I don't believe that I'm exaggerating either. First, you would be hard pressed to find a nicer couple, possible I'm sure, but very difficult. Second, you won't find any photographers who take better pictures. It's possible that a trained eye might be able to determine a better photographer, but again, you would be very hard pressed to do so. And third, they actually have this amazing talent of making the subjects of their pictures feel relaxed and at ease. Your wedding day has quite a few aspects that can cause stress, and having a photographer that actually alleviates stress is really amazing. When you put those traits together, you will find that they are worth every cent, in fact you are actually getting quite a deal.

Alicia and I had the Melenbackers at our wedding. We met with a lot of photographers at different bridal shows and our initial first impression was that these people are some of the nicest people we've ever met, and they really do have a passion for capturing the joy of weddings. Our wedding party assumed that they were old friends of ours who happened be be excellent at taking pictures. They took the time to meet with us and actually get to know us before the wedding. Now, when we saw them a year and a half later, they not only remembered who we were, but were genuinely interested in how life was going for us and what we were up to. I can not say enough great things about them and I highly recommend that you take a look at their website www.melenbackerphotography.com

Back to my list of great things... Off-roading in a limo! Yes, you read that right. It was really cold, but Ashli wanted to have some outdoor wedding photos, so here's what happened. After the wedding, once we were all in the limo, the driver asked where we wanted to go for the pictures. We obviously deferred that to Shane Melenbacker... Anyway, Shane said to find a place with a good backdrop of trees and hopefully a decent wind break. So he takes us to Pioneer Park just west of Lincoln. As we are nearing the parking lot the driver says to hang on... We assume that means that there is a speed bump or something like that, but instead he cranks the wheel to the side and we start taking off through the grass. It was definitely the bumpiest limo ride I've taken, but also the funnest. Anyway, so when we near the first tree line we assume he'll be stopping, but no. He went right through the trees, scraping the side in the process. Then he came to another tree line, this time there was a fairly large branch in front of us. He slowed down and we thought he would stop, but then he gunned it and we drove right through with the branch scraping all along the side. He brought us right down by the pond that otherwise would have been too far to walk in the cold wearing uncomfortable shoes. He even volunteered to pick up the streamers that we had shot of for some of the pictures. I really wished I remembered the name of the company because I would recommend them as well.

The dance was also quite a lot of fun. As I indicated at the beginning of this post, I don't consider myself to be very good at dancing, but with the right people (and a couple of drinks) I relax a bit and actually give it a shot. What I never seem to remember, but am reminded of every time, is that dancing really shouldn't be about how good you are or what you look like, it should be about having fun, enjoying the music, and enjoying the people around you. It also gives my wife and I a chance to dance with each other which is something we really should do more often.

The toast. This was my one and only source of apprehension for that evening. I had thought about it off and on for the last few weeks, but I really hadn't gotten together any solid idea of what I would say until the morning of the wedding. I had woken up surprisingly early (about 7:30) and didn't really feel like I'd be able to fall back asleep, so I began thinking much more seriously about what I would say that night. That was when I actually figured out the substance of what I would say, but I didn't have anything written down. The only thing that I had neglected was a proper opening, but after a somewhat rough start, I think it actually came out OK. The reason that I put my toast as a high point of the day is not that I think that I did a really great job, but because I was much more nervous that anyone probably realized (even Alicia) and despite that, my mind didn't blank on me (except at the beginning), people laughed at the parts that were supposed to be funny, and Max and Ashli were both smiling at the end.

Now you may notice that, with the exception of the time I spent with Max, my friends aren't mentioned all that much. Most of the reason for that is because the time I got to spend with them made me feel like I was back home. When I first think about the good times, that feeling of being at home doesn't usually come up because it's something that I've been blessed enough to experience for much of my life. It's been hard for me to really feel at home here in Charleston. It's not to say that I've been miserable or that I can't wait to leave, but it's not home. Being back home, being with my friends, just seeing them again... It's hard to express the combination of joy and relief that comes from returning home. This trip back home was such a huge blessing! I haven't even said anything about the rest of the time that I spent back in Nebraska, but for now, I think I've written enough.