We're married!

Posted by: Dan on Jul 18, 2008

Wow, I can hardly believe it. Brooke and I are officially married, back from the honeymoon and just about all settled in to the new apartment.

I plan to come back here and post more details about the wedding, reception, honeymoon and the other wonderful events soon. I don’t want to rush those posts.

The reason for this post is to let you know that this blog will remain active to talk a bit about the lives of two newlyweds and what you can expect after you get married!

Oh I also wanted to thank everyone who helped us make our special day such a wonderfully beautiful day full of memories, love and lots of laughter. Listing everyone would end up being the world’s longest blog post so instead I’ll do the typical, “you know who you are”.

Thank you all, we love you all very much.

Under the One Day Mark

Posted by: Dan on Jun 27, 2008

As I sit here tonight after the rehearsal for the wedding I notice that it’s only 14 hours until the ceremony. There’s a lot to reflect on, the memories, the laughs, the love and the support – among other things.

I’m looking over the past few months, in particular the past two weeks or so as the wedding as really been the focus of every day life. I realized something, I really am blessed with the friends and family that I have. Actually not just the friends and family that I have but Brooke’s family and friends.

Tonight was the rehearsal – the wedding run through and the dinner and it all went rather well. But it was an eye opener, in a good way. Seeing my everyone together at the church tonight made me see the quality of people in my life. I could look at each one and know that no matter what happens (or has happen) in life they’ll be there to offer ever ounce of their being to help. They all mean the world to me and hopefully then know that no matter the situation I will be there for them.

Brooke’s father gave Brooke and I a gift tonight, a putter. I honestly wish I had a copy of his speech to post here because it simply blew me away. I think it touched a lot of people because there were a few individuals shedding a tear (I won’t name names).

The other night I sent out an email and mentioned to people that if they wanted to say a few words at the wedding reception that they were more than welcome to. I also know that not everyone is comfortable doing to. A few hours later when I checked my email again I got a very touching letter from my mother. It’s something that I’ll hold dear to me for many years to come.

I can’t say how many times I’ve had friends and family call me to see if Brooke and I needed any help with the wedding plans or putting things together.

As we passed out a few gifts tonight to those who are a part of our wedding ceremony I just kept thinking to myself, “In a million years I could not be blessed with a better group of people in my life.”

Brooke and I wrote out some thank you notes to pass out to those who are in the wedding tomorrow but it was hard to do. How can you find the words to say thank you to those people who mean the world to you? How can you tell these people how much they mean to you and how they’ve helped you become the person you are today? These are the people who’ve loved you all your life. Who’ve cared for you, offered up not only their lives to you but their undying friendship as well.

Somehow thank you doesn’t seem to do justice to everything you’ve given us. So from the bottoms of our hearts Brooke and I just want to say that we love you all and we thank you for everything you’ve done for us.

General Update

Posted by: Dan on Jun 18, 2008

Well there’s been a lot going on lately as we get closer and closer to the wedding date. Which is why I’ve been pretty bad lately about keeping this blog up to date – sorry about that. Really, I am sorry.

I’m happy to report that thanks to Brooke and her mother we now have a new caterer for our reception. Who’s the new caterer? Ellen Zilli’s Catering – at least I’m pretty sure that’s the place. Brooke told me the name an the only thing I can keep in my head is “Ellen’s Catering” so when I did a search that came up.

Here’s a quick run down of how we got to this point (with the caterer anyway)…

As mentioned before we found out that the IRS was after Woody’s Steak House. We were told that instead of paying Woody we’d pay the IRS. But how can Woody’s afford food if he’s not getting any money? So we decided to look for a new place.

We found that out on Saturday night. I called Woody’s but no one answered. Left a message for the catering department but no one called back. That next Monday Brooke called Woody’s and the IRS with little help or information from either. I believe that Monday Brooke and her mom went searching for a new caterer. They found Ellen Zilli’s Catering and started talking with them.

Wednesday I officially canceled with Woody’s – which at the time I was told he would send our deposit back to us. Which is nice if two things happen – 1. He actually sends it. 2. The check clears.

Saturday Brooke and her mom met with the Ellen Zilli’s Catering and pretty much took care of everything.

There’s more to the story but Brooke would be better at filling in that information. Plus my short rundown was getting long.

With a new caterer secured we’ve been working on a number of other things. I finished the Moo MiniCards which will be part of the wedding favors. I placed the order last Tuesday and we received the shipment this past Monday – they turned out pretty well too!

Both Brooke and I took care of the seating chart – at least how the people will be grouped. Now we have to assign tables and I have to make the actual chart.

And then today… yes today we headed down to the court house for our fishing license. Okay that was my little joke… I told Brooke when we got inside I was going to tell them, “I’m here to get my fishing license” and see what they’d say. Anyway we had all the necessary documents and the cash (which one of the couples there didn’t have – ONLY CASH, NO CHECKS!). Everything was filled out and we were on our way.

In the mean time we’ve been… okay I should only speak for myself here… I’ve been stressing out a lot. I’ve been short tempered, very short and moody. Which is not like me at all. I really hope that a week on the beach will cure me of that. If not I know having the most beautiful wife at my side surely will!

One Down, Two To Go

Posted by: Dan on May 28, 2008

Last weekend we got Brooke and her sister moved out of their apartment. And by we I mean myself, Brooke, Bettina, Kurt (Brooke and Bettina’s dad), Ted, Matt, Mel, Jodi – and later Cyndi (Brooke and Bettina’s mother), Ben, Becky and even Samantha.

Things went pretty well. In the morning Brooke came over to pick me up so we could go and get the U-Haul (and I’m not linking to them because of the hassle we went through with them!). I drove that out to Brooke’s apartment and we started to take box after box down. In a few short hours – even if it seemed like ages – we were loaded up and headed off.

The unpacking went a lot faster, as it always seems to. We unloaded everything out on to Cyndi and Kurt’s driveway and then started to haul things into the house and the garage. I think it was around 6PM when I got back to my apartment.

Sunday I went back over to Brooke and Bettina’s apartment to help pack up a few last minute things and to clean. I think I got home around 3:30PM or so and spent the rest of the day packing up things in my apartment. And pretty much all week (so far) I’ve been doing the same. Packing and cleaning.

Friday we get the keys to the new place and should be able to get all the boxes from my place over there. At least that’s my goal. If all goes well I hope we can get a few pieces of furniture over there as well. Then Saturday will be time to move the large items, clean up a bit and hand over the keys. I can’t wait.

Sunday I think Brooke wants to move some of her stuff over. So that’ll be another move. I think after than I’ll just want to sleep all week. I can’t though since we’ll have to kick it into high gear for the wedding. Only 30 more days!

Surprise #2

Posted by: Brooke on May 28, 2008

We were having a great day at school! We had just gotten back from a field trip to the zoo. The weather was perfect and we all had a great time. I was the last to get off the bus when we returned back to school, so I signed the bus forms and headed inside. I was thinking of having a low key afternoon since we were all pretty tired from the field trip. I walked into the room and….

SURPRISE!!

I was surrounded by the mothers of my students! They had decided to throw me a surprise bridal shower. I was completely shocked but touched by their thoughtfulness. We had another wonderful spread of food and there were lots of gifts! It was a great opportunity for all of the moms to be together to talk and get to know each other! I opened gifts, we all ate, talked and laughed. We ended the party with a group pictures.

As I left school that day, I cried a little. I was so honored and touched that these parents would do such a wonderful thing for me. I felt so lucky to work with those kids and those parents and I really felt that the connection between us had gotten stronger!