My Prince Charming
My Mom used to say to me: "You had to kiss a lot of frogs before you found your prince!" She was right! Thankfully, I found my Prince Charming and all the frogs are long forgotten. Eight years ago today, on October 17, 1998, I married my prince (AKA Kirk) on a rainy, fall day in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. It was without a doubt the best day of my life. Some people say the day your child is born is the best day of your life, and that may be the case for me at some point, but as of now the process of labor and delivery is still too fresh in my memory. I prefer the wedding memories in which no pain and exhaustion were involved. I had so much fun at our wedding. It was a huge party, just for us, and we were surrounded with people we love. Best of all, I married a wonderful, loving, witty, smart, handsome man. I feel so lucky to be his wife.
And now for some random wedding memories...
--Two nights before our wedding, Kirk and I went out on the town with a bunch of our friends, including a few of our out-of-town guests who had never before experienced Wisconsin hospitality. We drank beer and ate fried cheese curds and danced polkas to an accordian at the Essen Haus, a Madison institution. I still laugh when I think about a certain New York friend of ours (who happens to also be a reader of this blog) who at first refused to drink beer out of the community "boot" that was being passed around the table. In the end, we all drank from the boot! When in Rome...
--You know how the wedding night is supposed to be so romantic? All I remember is that by the time Kirk and I got to our hotel room around midnight I was STARVING and all I wanted to do was order a pizza. Note to all newleyweds: Have your caterers pack you a doggie bag for the hotel. On top of that, Kirk's attempt to carry me across the threshold was unfortunately ruined when he instead slammed my elbow into the door frame of the hotel room. Yes, it was very romantic.
--We had the world's worst DJ. His name was Jens or Hans or something Scandanavian. On our first meeting (after we had already signed the contract), he told us he likes to start wedding receptions with Footloose, because "it really gets the crowd going". Sorry, no, this is 1998, not 1988. We ended up buying a bunch of CDs so that he would play the music we wanted.
--After getting my hair done on the morning of the wedding, a bunch of my girlfriends joined me at my parents house for a huge carry-out Mexican lunch from Pasquals. Meanwhile, Kirk was apparently trying to keep down a piece of toast from IHOP. And so the story continues today... Him: Nervous stomach. Me: Gut of Steel.
--Our Pastor got Kirk's name wrong during the vows. It went something like this: "Repeat after me: I, Gretchen, take you, Thomas..." And I said: "I, Gretchen, take you, Kirk..." And everyone laughed. Kirk's first name is actually Thomas (Kirk is his middle name), so it wasn't that wrong, but still, I wasn't going to call him Thomas.
--Apparently, the Pastor had just come from a couples workshop (he was a counseling Pastor for the church) where they had had some intense discussions about the Myers-Briggs test. Our Pastor found it really amusing that Kirk and I are opposite in so many ways ("One of you is an extrovert, one of you is an introvert...") and he decided to work Myers-Briggs into his sermon. Oh no, all I could think about was a woman I used to work with on Capitol Hill (P Browne) who analyzed everyone according to Myers-Briggs. ESTP, INFJ, all that stuff.
--One of my favorite moments of the day was when I surprised my Dad with a very nontraditional father-daughter dance: "If you want to be a Badger", which is a polka-type song that they sing at Badger games in Wisconsin. He used to sing it to me as a little girl.
--My nephew, Connor, was 5 at the time and he was our ring bearer. At one point after the ceremony, when we were all still mingling at the church, he walked up to a friend of ours (who happened to be known as a bit of a gassy one) and said "Hey, you're the GASMAN!" We have no idea how he came up with it, but Kirk and I still laugh about it today. A couple minutes later, Connor walked up to another of the groomsmen and said "Hey, are you gonna be at that party later?" as if he were 16. What a boy he was/is.
--I wish I could show you a picture of my dress. It was frilly and poofy and I loved it. I wanted to feel like a princess and I did. The best secret about my dress was that it was an absolute bargain and it fit me right off the rack. Lots of my friends were spending thousands of dollars on their dresses and mine was only $99 at the Jessica McClintock warehouse store in San Francisco! To top it off, my Mom made me a priceless headpiece that I will treasure forever.
So many happy memories. And so many more to come with my Prince Charming and our beautiful baby daughter.
And now for some random wedding memories...
--Two nights before our wedding, Kirk and I went out on the town with a bunch of our friends, including a few of our out-of-town guests who had never before experienced Wisconsin hospitality. We drank beer and ate fried cheese curds and danced polkas to an accordian at the Essen Haus, a Madison institution. I still laugh when I think about a certain New York friend of ours (who happens to also be a reader of this blog) who at first refused to drink beer out of the community "boot" that was being passed around the table. In the end, we all drank from the boot! When in Rome...
--You know how the wedding night is supposed to be so romantic? All I remember is that by the time Kirk and I got to our hotel room around midnight I was STARVING and all I wanted to do was order a pizza. Note to all newleyweds: Have your caterers pack you a doggie bag for the hotel. On top of that, Kirk's attempt to carry me across the threshold was unfortunately ruined when he instead slammed my elbow into the door frame of the hotel room. Yes, it was very romantic.
--We had the world's worst DJ. His name was Jens or Hans or something Scandanavian. On our first meeting (after we had already signed the contract), he told us he likes to start wedding receptions with Footloose, because "it really gets the crowd going". Sorry, no, this is 1998, not 1988. We ended up buying a bunch of CDs so that he would play the music we wanted.
--After getting my hair done on the morning of the wedding, a bunch of my girlfriends joined me at my parents house for a huge carry-out Mexican lunch from Pasquals. Meanwhile, Kirk was apparently trying to keep down a piece of toast from IHOP. And so the story continues today... Him: Nervous stomach. Me: Gut of Steel.
--Our Pastor got Kirk's name wrong during the vows. It went something like this: "Repeat after me: I, Gretchen, take you, Thomas..." And I said: "I, Gretchen, take you, Kirk..." And everyone laughed. Kirk's first name is actually Thomas (Kirk is his middle name), so it wasn't that wrong, but still, I wasn't going to call him Thomas.
--Apparently, the Pastor had just come from a couples workshop (he was a counseling Pastor for the church) where they had had some intense discussions about the Myers-Briggs test. Our Pastor found it really amusing that Kirk and I are opposite in so many ways ("One of you is an extrovert, one of you is an introvert...") and he decided to work Myers-Briggs into his sermon. Oh no, all I could think about was a woman I used to work with on Capitol Hill (P Browne) who analyzed everyone according to Myers-Briggs. ESTP, INFJ, all that stuff.
--One of my favorite moments of the day was when I surprised my Dad with a very nontraditional father-daughter dance: "If you want to be a Badger", which is a polka-type song that they sing at Badger games in Wisconsin. He used to sing it to me as a little girl.
--My nephew, Connor, was 5 at the time and he was our ring bearer. At one point after the ceremony, when we were all still mingling at the church, he walked up to a friend of ours (who happened to be known as a bit of a gassy one) and said "Hey, you're the GASMAN!" We have no idea how he came up with it, but Kirk and I still laugh about it today. A couple minutes later, Connor walked up to another of the groomsmen and said "Hey, are you gonna be at that party later?" as if he were 16. What a boy he was/is.
--I wish I could show you a picture of my dress. It was frilly and poofy and I loved it. I wanted to feel like a princess and I did. The best secret about my dress was that it was an absolute bargain and it fit me right off the rack. Lots of my friends were spending thousands of dollars on their dresses and mine was only $99 at the Jessica McClintock warehouse store in San Francisco! To top it off, my Mom made me a priceless headpiece that I will treasure forever.
So many happy memories. And so many more to come with my Prince Charming and our beautiful baby daughter.
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