Three Years Ago!

Happy Anniversary Amy!

Here is a re-post from three years ago!
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Jack and Amy’s Wedding
Saturday, April 12th, 2008


Photos are posted here:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563089890IJUyfl


My parents came down on Thursday and the rest of my immediate family arrived on Friday afternoon. We had all gotten together the previous weekend for my Grandfather’s funeral up in Virginia. This weekend we would get together again, only this time it would be for a happy occasion. The pre-wedding celebration went on way into the night!


Early the next morning the Redneck BBQ trio of Amy’s Dad, her Uncle Tony, and her Uncle Bill arrived to fire up Uncle Tony’s giant smoker grill. Six turkey breast and seven pork butts were place on the grill long before most of my family was awake. You just gotta love those breasts and butts!

The 40% chance of showers was upgraded to 100% as some heavy rains fell throughout the night and into the morning. Fortunately the redneck chefs came prepared and erected a tent to keep the grill dry. After all, you can’t control the temperature of a smoker grill with heavy rain falling on it.


They also came prepared with a several mason jars filled with some sort of crystal clear liquid. I wasn’t about to sample any of that until much later in the day. I took control of the breakfast duties by frying up a bunch of sausages, bacon, eggs, and sausage wrapped biscuits. About half of my family missed out on my breakfast masterpiece because they still had not emerged for their beds!


After breakfast the sun broke through and my sister and I decided to get a nice power walk in to get the cholesterol filled blood flowing again. I chose an hour-long walking route and exactly half way through the walk, when we were about as far away from the house as we could get on an hour long walk, another band of thunderstorms passed through soaking my sister and me to the bone! This one went on for a good two hours, dumping about an additional half-inch of rain onto the already soaked ground.


Amy was in a panic, because the wedding would be in our backyard and we didn’t have a good back-up plan in case of rain! I was able to relieve her worries as we checked the weather radar online and saw the tail end of the storm system passing through. By around noon, the rain was done giving us about four hours for the backyard to dry out!


We didn’t feel it necessary to spend thousands of dollars on a wedding, and with the help of family and friends we did everything ourselves.


- The Redneck Trio of Amy’s Dad Chris, Uncle Tony, and Uncle Bill took care of the pork and turkey breasts.


- One of Amy’s co-worker’s sisters made the beautiful and yummy wedding cake


- Amy’s friend Jackie did up all the flowers


- Amy’s friend Bill, who she used to work with at WSPA-TV, performed the music.


- Dave from my outdoor photography and hiking group took care of the photos.


- Amy’s best friend Kristi took control of the preparation of all the side dishes, with the help of a bunch of other of our family members, including both our Mom’s and several of Amy’s Aunts.


- My Brother-in-Law Scott, a retired chef and caterer, provided the professional chafing dishes, Sterno Flames, and made sure the pork and turkey was kept hot and moist until serving time. He was also the one to notice at the last minute that we forgot to throw the hot dogs and Bratwursts on the grill, and took care of the last minute preparation of those items.


- My entire family pitched in to help set up all the tables, chairs, balloons, and other assorted decorations.


- And finally, Reverend Leland (aka Pressly), another one of my hiking buddies performed the service


Rather than have a traditional wedding party, we wanted our parents up with us during the service to perform the duties traditionally performed by the best man and maid-of-honor. Leland arrived a couple of hours early, so we rounded up our parents to do a quick rehearsal before things got too crazy!

Amy decided that she wanted things casual, and declared that no neckties would be allowed! Except for a couple of rebels in ties, most everyone went along with the casual dress.


Of course, she didn’t want it too casual, so when our photographer friend Dave arrived, we decided it was time for the families to change out of our T-shirts and pork grease covered overalls into something a little more presentable.


We all posed for a bunch of family portraits, which turned out great thanks to Dave! The final hour before the service was spent greeting guests as they arrived.


Despite the morning rain, we could not have asked for better weather. Things went absolutely perfect. Leland did a great job performing the ceremony, and by 4:30pm it was time to dig into the food.


I popped open a Newcastle Brown Ale, my first adult beverage of the day and of my married life, as Amy and I signed the official marriage license papers to make it official!


We spent the next several hours eating, drinking, socializing with family/friends, and giving everyone tours of our new house.


By 8:00pm, most of our guests had left and we were down to only the (16) people who would be spending the evening at our house. Rather than rush out for a honeymoon trip, Amy and I decided we would rather spend the additional time with family.




The last of our out-of-town guests left today (Monday), and tomorrow (Tuesday) it is back to work and the beginning of our life as husband and wife!


It could not have gone any better, and again we would like to thank everyone who helped pull off our special day without a hitch. We would also like to thank all our family and friends who drove long distances to attend our ceremony and celebrate with us!


Again, the photos are posted here!
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/563089890IJUyfl