Ding Dong Wedding Bells Pt. 3.2 "The Finale" (Extended)

So yes, the wedding posts are much longer than I originally planned. But then again it makes sense, as A LOT went on. This one should be fairly short, though I do tend to ramble at times. I know that Mariko said she'll have a post after this one about her day, since I don't know what happened prior to the ceremony..... but this is Mariko so anyone's guess if/when she'll post.

Last we left you the wedding blur of fun was ending and we were making our way to the hotel, and yes it was the same hotel that had been giving us so many problems. Mariko arrived and checked in, both of strutting our stuff in formal attire. Luckily we got into our room quite nicely, and began to cool off. Sadly though our change of clothes were in Mariko's parents room, so we had to wait a bit to get comfy.

Ding Dong Wedding Bells Pt. 3.1 "The Finale"

I'm sure this is the post that most people have been waiting for... the wedding info! Though it was a rather busy day for me, I'm going to try and remember the details as best as possible. And though we don't have the photographers photos yet, we still have a few from family members (and if you have more PLEASE send them to Mariko and I)!

My day (Dave) started off a little earlier than I had planned, waking up around 6:30. I mostly wondered around the hotel room, declining breakfast with a few people.... I don't like to eat in the mornings and my stomach was already a little nervous. I had to do checks with Mariko's family to make sure we didn't wander the around the hotel at the same time, didn't want any accidents happening.

Ding Dong Wedding Bells Pt. 2

And so we move on, they story continues with the next chapter of our little wedding posts! Last we left off, Mariko and I were working on all the wedding prep at the beginning of the summer. I won't bore you all with the dirty details of wedding planning, but as I'm sure you can all tell we got things finished!

We'll do a little time jump around this point to July 20th, 2011. It is Wednesday before the wedding and people are starting to arrive in town. We had visitors from California, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Utah and even the far off land of Japan. We were lucky enough to have quite a few friends and family make the trip.

Ding Dong Wedding Bells Pt. 1

Yes the big day has come and gone. I am now officially married to my beautiful wife Mariko (though I guess saying married to my wife is rather redundant). A LOT of has happened in the past few days, probably more than one blog post could handle... or more than I can handle writing in one post. So I am going to break it up a bit and do three posts of all the fun-ness. Post #1, which if you can't guess is this post, will be a little background on Mariko and my relationship. Post #2 will be pre-wedding fun, while the wedding day and post-wedding day fun will be included in Blog post #3.

Listzomania

Its been about 2 weeks since my last posting, and though not much new has occurred I wanted to get myself in the habit of posting... so I don't forget once we are in Germany and things are more exciting.  On the wedding front not any big news, decorations are just about done.... Gretchen and Midori have been working hard to get those finished (with help from family). Final guest count is due on Tuesday, July 10th. And the current count is........ 78 people plus one baby! Now that is given those that RSVP show up, and those didn't RSVP don't show up. We shall see!

Other than that the wedding is getting closer, and I as of yet am not stressing out. It is a big step for Mariko and I, but doesn't seem scary to me at all. Plus I am always optimistic and generally need to be not stressed (to help counter Mariko's built in stress factor).

Licenses, parties and packing... oh my!

We are nearing an end to the lovely month of June, and as it does so, both Mariko and I reflect on how much we've accomplished in the past 30 days or so......... and then realize once more that our wedding is in 24 days!!!! And yes we did a little bit of panicking, but not much. I would say just enough. Honestly things are going well and I am almost certain we have things under control. Mariko and I just picked up our wedding license yesterday, so things are starting to feel a bit more "real" but not scary. We have toured the venue once more and hammered down things like the menu, color of table clothes and other such things. Things are looking well on that front.

The Pavilion for the Ceremony

The Reception room

All that is really left is to finish some decorations/flowers that we are making, finish the table assignments and to turn in the final guest count (which is due in 2 weeks). So that means we will only have 1 or 2 minor things pop up and stress us out as we get closer.... it is inevitable and thus I am actually planning for them.

Prelude to the adventure

So in approximately one  month we will be getting married, and by we I mean Mariko and myself of course. 30 small days until all the planning for the past year come into play. We will have family and friends flying, driving and making their way here from where ever they may be.  All the planning and bustle that we've been doing will culminate in a flash of 5 hours, that Mariko and I will probably barely remember without photos, and then we will be married.

Judging from what most people say, after the wedding is when you can take time to relax and just enjoy the new sensation of being married. Well we all know how Mariko and I love to be different, because that just isn't our plan. A mere 15 days after our wedding we will be packing up what we can take with us and moving to Germany. That's right we will be traveling 5004 miles over the Atlantic Ocean to make our home, albeit temporarily, in Braunschweig Germany.