Wedding Bells

Ike (Izzy) and Liz got hitched this weekend. Eventually the official pictures will be up here. I have a couple pictures I took, but I need to shrink them down and host them somewhere before I can put them up on this site.

The wedding was very nice. Ike didn't run and Liz looked great. Amybear came up so she could go with me and Amy was tearing up (as was the bride for most of it). Liz's side of the aisle was slightly fuller than where Amy and I were sitting on the groom's side. Everything was Christmas seasoned because the church was already decorated as was the reception location. First time I saw a nativity scene next to the dance floor at a wedding reception though. The couple also had a brand new red Pontiac GTO on loan from friends at Harco. Ike really liked the car. I have some pictures of it too.

It was a fairly traditional evangelical wedding. Groom and company were up front, bridesmaids process in followed by the bride who is escorted in by her father. The used a unity candle ceremony I had seen before. If you aren't in the know, a member of each family lights a candle and then they use those to light a single large one to symbolize two becoming one. There were of course vows and rings, although the bride and groom weren't wired for sound, so it was a little hard to hear exactly what they were saying. The kiss and then present the bride and groom and everybody processes out to the receiving line.

The reception featured good food at a restaurant right next to the C&D canal. It was really funny because you could see these huge ships moving down the canal a few hundred yards away from where you were eating. They have to pass under a bridge and a particularly big ship builds a sort of dramatic "will it hit tension" that distracts from the wedding festivities a bit.

Oh and one of Ike's groomsmen bought 20 cases of Cheerwine from a distributor in Virginia. That was great because Ike loves cheerwine (its a cherry soda found mostly in the south) and everybody at the reception got to have some from coolers they had lying around.

Ike and Liz are also intimidatingly good dancers when that part of the party got going. Ike even flipped Liz during a spirited swing number. Yes evidentially aerials were allowed on the dance floor. *Insert head-over-heals joke here*

Amybear and I had a few thoughts regarding our eventual nuptials. First, we want to get married in warm weather, especially since we will probably be having the ceremony outside. Ike and Liz chose winter because neither is done grad school and they wanted some time off together following the wedding, which meant Christmas break. Second, Amybear wants to go for a princess look with her wedding dress. Liz was more sleek and modern. Third, we want one big room for the reception. Ike and Liz had two adjoining rooms. They had the dance floor in one room (an enclosed porch actually). The other room had the couple's table and the food. They balanced the two rooms well because at some points in the reception the focus was on the wedding couple's table/buffet, but at others it was on dance floor festivities. I'd like one big room if I can help it though, not being able to see the best man when he gave his toast was really annoying. It also took all the fun out of ringing your glasses.

UPDATE: Michael Dean was there with his wife and he has a picture of the limbo contest at the reception up on his site.