Thoughts about our wedding, written by Kisha

I arrived home from a trip to the VLA in Socorro, NM at probably 1 PM the Wednesday before - and I had also scheduled a chiro appointment for that afternoon (much needed!). From then it was a flurry of cleaning the house (helped by family who came out early), getting ready for the Sunday gift-opening, etc. Thursday was spent doing the last minute errands that need doing, such as acquiring the tuxes and the chocolate favors we had ordered, picking up Kat (my maid of honor) at the airport, and the like. My mom brought dinner along with her when she came, so that we didn't have to cook or worry about going out that night. Brilliant move.

Friday morning we headed down to Northfield for the frisbee golf game but pretty much no one showed up, (Lisa had planned to but had to cancel last minute). So instead, we took Kat around on a tour of Carleton. It was all in all a fairly relaxed morning. Then the three of us plus my mom & sister Kimberly got lunch at Chapati (the Indian restaurant in Northfield we've heard rave reviews of). After that we headed to the reception hall and got that ready for the reception. This involved getting the centerpieces set up, getting the favors set as well, and a few other things. All in all it took just slightly over an hour, with all the great help we had (any more people and it would have been too many, but it was just right the way it was). Then, it was off to the rehearsal, wherein we learned Where To Stand and reviewed What To Say (fortunately during the actual ceremony, we got prompting by the minister). After that, we headed off to the rehearsal dinner at the Ole Store, which did a fabulous job with everything. It was great, nice and intimate. After the dinner, we headed over to Froggy Bottoms, a new(ish) pub in town (at least new since we went to Carleton) and hung out with friends & some family for a few hours. That meant we got to talk to people we really hadn't seen in some time, which was nice. Writing it out, it sounds like a full day, but really it was fairly relaxed. Then we headed back to the B&B we stayed in (oh yeah, somewhere in there we had checked in. I think after lunch.) so I could wash my hair and for a good night's sleep for both of us.

Saturday morning, I awoke bright and early to get my hair and makeup done. Kat did her own, so she got to sleep in a little, and Lisa joined me after a while to get hers done as well. Charles' mom hopped over to the florist early on and picked up the flowers for my hair. After a few hours of being prepped and coifed, I emerged looking somewhat not like my normal self (but then, when do I ever do my hair/makeup?) although I think it looked good. Then it was back to the B&B for a brief bit - I did get to eat a brunch as well, though was very careful not to smear my lipstick, which did make it interesting. A side note: the B&B was wonderful, and the lady who runs it (Pamela) was very very nice too. We relaxed a little then, and then headed off to the chapel for getting dressed & pictures. A minor glitch was quickly solved by my dad running back to their hotel room and getting the "poof" for under my dress. Then we took some pictures, and Willy (the photographer) had set up a nice first seeing each other picture. At that point, I wound up crying a little because it was hard to contain all the emotion (hooray for waterproof mascara). And I must say, Charles looked pretty good in his tux. :) Then we took a whole bunch of pictures. We actually took almost all the photos ahead of time, with the exception of some of the group stuff.

At 2:30 came time for me to run and hide, just as the first people were showing up. We stood downstairs for a while and then Kat & John helped me with my train ascend back up to the entryway. They straightened out my train and then got all set to head down the aisle ahead of me.

Everyone says it's all a blur but actually the ceremony itself really stands out in my mind. There was the walk down the aisle with my dad (Larry Archbold played the organ), and the readings (Megan looked great, Kathy was glowing, and Eric looked great too. None of them looked at all nervous). Kimberly played the flute at a couple of points and she did a wonderful job as well. I thought the (brief) sermon was quite nice, as well. And there was the vows, I almost started crying again and Charles looked so very happy too (which I guess is a good thing, eh? ;) and the rings with their blessing. And the unity candle with a bit of train confusion but not too bad. And of course we stood all the way through communion but it wasn't too bad. And as we left the church, we got to skip a little (how can you contain the bounce?).

Afterwards were the remaining pictures, and then we even had a little time to head back to the B&B for a little relaxation before the reception, which was nice. The reception itself was great fun -- we got some talking to everyone in, and some dancing. Our Carleton friends thought it a travesty that we didn't get any bubbles (a tradition at all events at Carleton) so went to purchase some for blowing on us during our first dance. It was lots of fun. Plus I have some very good memories from everyone, too many to list here. The cake was scrumptious, the food was great (Indian dish, a Chinese tofu stir fry, and Swedish meatballs!) and it seemed like everyone had a great time. There was great energy out on the dance floor, imparted by Boston, Carleton, Aikido, and other friends as well as family.

At about 10:30 PM we began our goodbye, exhausted, and by 11:00 we were on our way back to the B&B. In the morning we had breakfast (once again, fabulous) and headed back up to our house in Fridley, where we opened gifts and chilled with a few people who had the time to stay. And then they left. And we relaxed. We had a few days before our honeymoon so we had a little time to get things in order. Highly recommend this to anyone considering getting married - it meant we didn't have to rush off, had time for friends, and didn't have to worry about packing ahead of time (and we even had time for a load of laundry before we left, as well as some other things like acquire a larger memory card for the camera and traveller's checks and the like).

And I should say another great big THANKS to everyone who helped, participated, or just showed up to the wedding. It was special because of everyone involved (and especially so for our parents, siblings, and friends who participated in the wedding itself).