Wedding photos

Hello,

Sorry for the absence. Actually, I'm not sorry that I've been absent. I'm just sorry I never really acknowledged that there would be an absence.

In any event, I thought I'd share some pictures from my wedding last month. I'll post the pictures chronologically in the order in which they were taken.

NOTE: If any of the pictures are too small, just click on the actual picture and you'll get a larger version of it.

February 24, 2007

Our ring bearer and flower girl were my 7-year-old brother Owen and my 5-year-old sister Lisa.

You'll notice that Owen is carrying a matryoshka doll. It's the doll that I gave to Jamie with a ring inside it when I proposed on the steps of the state capitol building in St. Paul. If you want to know the whole story, just ask her. (She's generally more than willing to tell it....)

My bride with her dad. (And to think that just a few short months ago he was nearly unrecognizable, unconcious and in a hospital bed. God is good!!)

We got married in front of a fireplace along the shores of Lake Superior at Cove Point Lodge in Beaver Bay, MN. We loved it!

We sang The Love of God, a song that we sang at the end of the church service the Sunday before our wedding. Our pastor preached that Sunday on marriage.

I was pretty sure Brian might say, "You may hug your bride." (He didn't.)

The silly grins said it all....

Lisa couldn't have played the part more perfectly!

We'd talked about dancing to I'll Be for our wedding dance. However, with a small wedding and dinner afterwards, we didn't have a dance. So, I slipped it into the playlist of songs we played as we took pictures after the wedding. And, we danced.

This is the entire cast of our wedding (minus the pastor's wife, who took the picture, and their 6-week-old daughter). Each of us had our immediate family, one set of grandparents, and our wedding party in attendance.

(I absolutely loved the tennis shoes on my little brother Bryce in the front. He's the one in the gray suit. I was just impressed that he was the only one....)

"Joey, will you dance with me??" How could you turn a little girl down?

This is one of my favorite pictures. My grandpa (better known to his grandkids as "Papa") was using that hidden right hand to tickle me. Classic Papa.

The flower girl asked to dance, while the ring bearer...well, he just...did the worm.

Once she says "Yes," no need to impress! (With brothers Chet and Keith.)

Her grandma insisted on this picture. I'm glad she did.

Lake Superior provided the perfect backdrop. Behind us is Cove Point Lodge's namesake landmark.

For those who haven't seen the rings and want to. This picture doesn't do them justice (especially hers...the 9 diamonds in it sparkle a lot more than this shows), but it's a small taste.

Someone thought it was a good idea for us to go outside for some pictures. If it looks cold, it's because it was!!!

I posted this for two reasons. 1.) It's a good view from the outside of the lodge we were married in. The chimney behind us is the fireplace in front of which the ceremony was held. 2.) The pastor who married us can be seen in the window to the left of the chimney. Making elephant ears with his hands. And possibly sticking his tongue out at us. Thanks Brian!!

We held the dinner afterwards at the Blackwoods in Duluth. You can see the snow starting to come down through the window in the background. We had to drive 35 MPH down I-35 on the way back that night through a severe snowstorm. Most of the wedding party stayed in Duluth or just south of Duluth. I surprised Jamie and had booked a room at The Marquette, a 4-star hotel in downtown Minneapolis. She thought we were staying in our apartment, which we'd left in a bit of a mess thanks to her moving everything in. I sold her on the idea that I was going to look for a hotel closer to the airport so we wouldn't have to drive through any snow the next morning (and because of the messy apartment). I pulled off downtown and told her I needed to go to the bathroom (which I did). When we got to The Marquette I laughed at how funny it would be to go in just to use the bathroom, and then told her I was just going to do it anyway. The surprise went down perfectly....

We were able to make our flight the next morning to Honolulu with no problems. We nearly got in an accident on the way to the airport thanks to some gawkers who decided that it would be a bright idea to come to a complete stop in the left lane and stare at the person who'd spun out in the center and right lanes (thus blocking the entire freeway). Thanks to some nifty maneuvering (that I'm sure was guided by the hand of God!!), we made it through the snowbank between the cars in the left lane and the median and continued safely to the house of my Aunt Kari, who took us to the airport.

I'm hoping to have some Hawaii pictures up here soon as well. As soon as those are up, I'm hoping to get back into the regular swing of things with the blogging.

Thanks for taking a look at a snapshot of what turned out to be a perfect, beautiful day!!