THE LATEST-Part 1: The wedding!

It's been a few weeks now, the smoke has cleared, I've caught my breath, and I'm finally ready to share some news regarding my wedding to the wonderful Laura Tanner.

For all the headaches, money concerns and petty squabbles that went into our wedding (as is the case with ALL weddings, mind you), our wedding was truly everything we ever dreamed of, and exactly what we wanted. Somehow, within the strict boundaries of our budget and resources, we pulled together an intimate ceremony and reception that reflected us perfectly. And most significantly, Laura and I were able to share our vision and happiness with so many of those closest to our hearts.

The whole sha-bang took place at The Bay City Players, a community theater close to both our hearts. To set the mood, I'll tell you that our processional song was "Rainbow Connection", as sung by Kermit the Frog in "The Muppet Movie." This was a natural choice, since I'm a huge, HUGE Muppet fan. Once we got up on stage, we were greeted by Laura's maid of honor, Allison, my best man Scott, and the honorable Judge Tim Kelly, who presided over the ceremony.


























Laura and I wrote our own vows, and we each had people do readings. My friend Justin read a piece chosen by Laura, and Scott read a poem I'd written. They both did wonderful jobs, and it meant so much to have them involved in the ceremony.



























Our recessional song was "All You Need Is Love," by The Beatles, which was reflective of Laura, whose a tremendous Beatles fan. We greeted out guests per isle, exchanges hand shakes and hugs, and led them to the lobby for the reception.














The reception was also a unique event. Rather than having people clinking on their glasses to get us to kiss. laura and I devised a trivia game where someone would pick a question from their table, come up to us and ring a bell, then ask the question which was about each or both of us. If they got it right, we kissed. If not, there was a penalty, such as they'd have to give us marriage advice, kiss someone themselves or sing a song about love. For the most part, the guests knew us pretty well, and there was abundant kissing.

Here's Laura with her maid of honor, Allison...

















Here's us with Laura's grandma...


















Here's a picture of us cutting our wedding cake, which was very good, and decorated with a "Corpse Bride" topper that I built myself...















Here's me, my dad and his wife...












This is the photo collage I made for the reception, full of pics of Laura and I together and separately, many from our childhoods...


















Here's me, Laura and my grandma...

















Here's Laura dancing with her dad....


















Here's me dancing with my mom...

































Here's me, Laura and my birth-mom, Penny...


















Here's me, Laura and her mom...

















Here are my best men, my crew, my boys: Justin, Scott, me and Dooley...














And here's Laura and I, enjoying our first dance together as husband and wife. The song we chose was David Bowie's "As The World Falls Down," from the Jim Henson movie "Labyrinth." This was also the first song we'd ever danced to as a couple about four or five years back at another friend's wedding when we first began dating. Not to mention that we both loved Bowie, Henson and Labyrinth, so this song was so perfect for us in so many ways.




























The night went off without a hitch (or at least, no hitch so bad that we couldn't recover), and it was wonderful to experience it with so many great people. I hope you guy's enjoyed this sneak peek, and remember what I said before: you were all there with us in our hearts.

Jay