Well, it finally happened. Following my proposal and a year's worth of preparation, the big day came off without a hitch. Well, without any big hitches, anyway. Those of you familiar with Otto's reputation as a love van, are probably not surprised at all that he carried us ably from the ceremony to the reception. Nothing says romance like a Eurovan, I tell ya.
| As it turned out, a year was just the right amount of time to wait for our wedding. Any longer and the hordes of suitors besetting Kristanne might have won out over yours truly. It was all Kristanne's brothers, Chuck and Vince, could do to peel off the swarming pests. |  |
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The days leading up to the blessed event had the pell-mell flavor of a shopping spree where you get to keep all the free meat you can toss into a grocery cart in sixty seconds. "Free meat shopping spree" is actually not on the Approved List of Marital Metaphors, but I'm going to use it anyway. |
| Thanks to the best efforts of good friends, Otto was wearing his Sunday best, even though it was Saturday. And, since Otto is just a van, he doesn't really "wear" anything, you know? This anthropomorphism of Otto has got to stop somewhere. Or am I just looking for a chance to use the word, "anthropomorphism?" It feels kinda good. Anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism. Ho ho ho -- that does feel pretty good! |  |
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The ceremony itself was something of a happy blur. Odd images and feelings come back, some related, some unrelated. I remember smiling so much my face hurt for a couple days afterwards. I remember how wonderful it was to see all our friends and family come together to help us celebrate. I remember losing my breath briefly when I saw Kristanne coming down the aisle with her father. I remember saying "I will," and meaning it like I never had before. |
Once the vows were said, my brother Russ drove us to our reception in Otto. Though this drive took a total of one minute and thirty seconds, it was nice to have a brief moment to ourselves before the reception. And, oh, the reception! We had it on a converted 1924 ferryboat called the M.V. Kirkland. It took us on a sunlit cruise through Lake Washington and then a moonlit cruise through Lake Union. It was magical -- we didn't want it to stop. |
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Apparently, neither did our good friend Daryl. You can see him getting the party started at left. You can also see him finishing the party at right. He topped the evening by doing his own impression of "Carmen" on the tabletops of a nearby eatery. Reviews were generally positive -- look for Daryl in a community theater near you. |  |
And then we walked into our new married life together, hand in hand. Wish us luck!
By the way, all the pictures on this page are courtesy of our good friend Carl Schaefer (yes, of those Schaefers. He took a lot more pictures, which you can see on his web site as long as he leaves them up. Note that this page has a lot of graphics and will take awhile to load...be patient!
Anthropomorphism! Anthropomorphism!