I’ve been meaning to post these pictures since the first month…instead of saving our entire cake top for the 1-year anniversary, we cut our cake top into twelve slices and froze each one individually.

I wrapped each one in plastic wrap and then put them inside Gladware. Here they are, stacked in the freezer:

So, on the 12th of each month, we will thaw out a piece of cake and enjoy! It just made more sense to us to eat the cake gradually than a) try to keep that whole cake top in our freezer for a year, and b) probably end up wasting a bunch of cake anyway.

Mmmm….freezer cake.

I love that we’ve already created our own little tradition!

Tags: wedding, wedding cake, traditions, anniversaries

Rand and I put a lot of time and thought into selecting the songs for our dinner playlist. We wanted music that we felt reflected us, and I think we were successful!

I remember, at one point during dinner, saying, “I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but I love this playlist.” We talked about making a CD as a favor, but we just ran out of time!

Here is said playlist:

The CD also would have included our first dance song, “That, For Me, Is You” by Jim Boggia. (I had previously posted a youtube video of the song, but it’s since been removed. Wah.)

Additionally, it was very difficult to decide which slow songs to use for actual slow dancing. We tried to keep things which would have given us an odd dance beat to the dinner list! Here are the other slow songs that we selected for dancing:

All You Need Is Love (The Beatles) <—this was our parents dance
Follow You, Follow Me (Genesis)
In My Life (The Beatles)
God Only Knows (The Beach Boys)
Can’t Help Falling In Love (Elvis Presley)
I Will Follow You Into the Dark (Death Cab for Cutie)
Something (the Beatles)
You’re My Home (Billy Joel)

Yes, it’s pretty heavy on The Beatles!

I know we heard from at least a few people that the music selections were appreciated, which made us very happy. If anyone (guest or not!) would like a CD, let us know, and we’ll send you one!

(our first dance…photo by Debbie)

Tags: wedding, music, dinner, dancing, CD, ipod wedding, playlist

Although Rand and I “hosted” the wedding ourselves, we had a tremendous amount of help from our families. It would take me hours to list everything that everyone did to help us, so I’m going to try to sum it up as best I can!

My Aunt Di, who is my mom’s sister and my godmother, helped us out in all kinds of ways. She bought our toasting glasses as a Christmas gift last year. She went to Sam’s Club to buy up a bunch of Polaroid film for our guestbook, and wouldn’t take any money for it. She bought wine for the rehearsal dinner. And, as I mentioned in my last post, she did a reading during the ceremony.

My grandfather (my mom’s father) *very* generously paid for the bulk of my wedding gown. Whatever slack was left over, plus alterations, was picked up by my parents. This was his gift to us, and I am so grateful!

My cousin Niki from Syracuse did my hair, as well as my cousin Brandy’s and both our moms’. Since Niki lives in Syracuse, I didn’t have a chance to do a trial. I also gave her very little direction. I said, “I don’t care, just make it look cute.” I think she did a fantastic job!

(Photo by Debbie)

Rand’s brother Dan (left), of course, performed the ceremony. His son John (left, blond hair) was an attendant, and James (right) was our ringbearer. David’s son Evan (middle) was also an attendant. As I mentioned previously, David also did one of our readings.

(photo by Debbie)

Rand’s sisters-in-law, Betsy and Deanna, did a great job of getting the kids all spiffed up for the wedding!

(photo by Debbie)

Chris(left) and Scott–also Dan’s sons–were our ushers. Scott escorted my mom before the ceremony:

My cousin Brandy was my bridesmaid:

I know *someone* took a photo of Brandy and me together, but I haven’t located it just yet. She’s pictured above with my aunt (her mom), Denise. Denise, whom all the cousins refer to affectionately as “Aunt Sis,” bought the beer for the rehearsal dinner and took care of getting Brandy’s dress made (which I think is adorable!).

My brother and sister-in-law, Justin and Leslie, took charge of the guestbook for us, making sure people understood what to do!

Rand’s parents gave us a very generous gift that helped offset some of our costs, and they gave us a week in one of their timeshares to use for our honeymoon! Rand’s mom also provided *lots* of goodies for an informal post-wedding brunch on Sunday.

My parents bought the food for the rehearsal dinner, and helped us out with SO many things along the way! My mom made the little “lampshades” for our centerpieces, for example, and bought most of the materials. They picked up goodies to put in our out-of-town bags as well.

My Aunt Debbie and Uncle Steve stayed at the hotel during the rehearsal to fill the out-of-town bags, and took care of ordering the food and making sure everything was set to go!

I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone…and I hope I’ve adequately expressed to everyone involved how much we appreciate their help and support.

We couldn’t have done it without you, any of you, and we love you very much!

Tags: wedding, family, rehearsal, photos

I’m not quite through my thank yous yet, but I did want to get to a post on the details of the ceremony. In the above photo, I’m hiding out before the ceremony in the ladies’ room with my Aunt Di and my cousin Brandy, who was my bridesmaid.

We decided, for a number of reasons, to have our ceremony and reception in the same location. For me, it was the ceremony itself that mattered, not the room it was held in. I had momentarily contemplated an outdoor location, like the rose garden in Delaware Park, but ultimately, it wasn’t worth worrying about the possibility of rain/heat and the logistics of getting our guests and entertainment from the ceremony site to the reception site. Plus, doing both in the same location meant no additional ceremony costs, which was definitely a bonus!

(Photo by Debbie)

Here, my dad waits for me to emerge so we can begin our walk down the “aisle”. In our case, the aisle was a path along the edge of the tables where our guests were seated through the center of the tables to the brick archway where we held the ceremony.

(photo by jennimi)

As I had already mentioned, Ron played a lovely acoustic version of “Across the Universe” for me to make my entrance.

Rand’s brother Dan, a minister, performed the ceremony for us. We worked very closely with him, selecting the vows, readings, and other personal touches we wanted to include. We very much appreciate his help and support in our endeavor!

A great deal of people commented on our vows, believing them to be personally written by us. They weren’t…I found them online, and I was moved to tears reading them:

I, Rand,
take you, Erin,
to be no other than yourself
loving what I know of you
trusting what I do not yet know
with respect for your integrity
and faith in your love for me
through all our years
and in all that life may bring us.

I, Erin,
take you, Rand,
to be no other than yourself
loving what I know of you
trusting what I do not yet know
with respect for your integrity
and faith in your love for me
through all our years
and in all that life may bring us.

(Photo by Allison)

For the ring exchange, we used this:

I give you this ring as a reminder that I love you every day of your life.

Short, simple, and to the point.

We had three readings during the ceremony…the first was done by my friend Vicki:

She read a poem called “Looking for Your Face” by Rumi, a favorite of ours. I decided to give Vicki this one because I knew she could handle the word “effulgence.”   (the poem is the first one on the page linked to above.)

Second, we had my Aunt Di read from Ecclesiastes:

Two are better than one
Because they have a good reward for their toil.

For if they fall, one will lift up the other
But woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm
But how can one keep warm alone?

And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one.
A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

And Rand’s brother David read from John:

My father sang while we lit the unity candle:

(photos by Walter)

Instead of blowing the individual candles out, we left them burning…we did this to symbolize joining together in marriage while still retaining our individuality.

We ended with something a little bit different…we did a reading of our own. We chose a reading called “Because,” and I don’t remember who it’s by or where it came from…I’m sure Rand knows. We alternated segments of the reading:

Erin:
Because to the depths of me, I long to love one person,
With all my heart, my soul, my mind, my body…

Rand:
Because I need a forever friend to trust with the intimacies of me,
Who won’t hold them against me,
Who loves me when I’m unlikable,
Who sees the small child in me, and
Who looks for the divine potential of me…

Erin:
Because I need to cuddle in the warmth of the night
With someone who thanks God for me,
With someone I feel blessed to hold…

Rand:
Because marriage means opportunity
To grow in love in friendship…

Erin:
Because marriage is a discipline
To be added to a list of achievements…

Rand:
Because marriages do not fail, people fail
When they enter into marriage
Expecting another to make them whole…

Erin:
Because, knowing this,
I promise myself to take full responsibility
For my spiritual, mental and physical wholeness
I create me, I take half of the responsibility for my marriage
Together we create our marriage…

Rand:
Because of this understanding
The possibilities are limitless.

So many people commented on how personal and special the ceremony felt, and this made both of us *very* happy!

(photo by Dave Wheeler)

We did it! Yay! Our thanks to everyone who helped us make it happen, especially Dan and the team at Pearl Street, who were instrumental in making sure it worked logistically. Our readers all did a fantastic job, as did our musicians. My dad’s vocal performance was great as well, and it was incredibly meaningful for me to have him sing at my wedding.

We are truly, truly blessed.

Tags: wedding, erin, rand, ceremony, rumi, because, unity candle

Dave Huth is another one of Rand’s friends from way back, and he is one of the world’s sweetest people. Dave has an incredible talent for visual media, especially video and editing, so we asked him to be our videographer.

He enthusiastically agreed, and even brought along a friend to assist.

I’ve seen some of his work, so I know the finished product he gives us is going to be incredible!

(photo by Debbie)

Dave won the drawing to be one of our witnesses, and he was SO excited. It was very cute!

(photo by Walter)

Here we are with Dave and my friend Holly, our other witness.

In some ways, Dave is the person who took on the biggest job…it’ll take a lot of hours to edit down that raw footage into a great finished product, but Dave doesn’t seem to mind!

Dave, we love you and appreciate all your hard work.

Tags: video, videography, dave huth, friends, wedding

Thomas Woods has been friends with Rand for a very long time. Thomas was also one of the first friends I met when Rand and I started dating–he and his wife invited us over for a barbecue at their place.

When Rand and I discussed doing the iTunes wedding, we knew we’d need someone to act as emcee for the evening if we were going to pull it off. Rand’s first thought was Thomas.

Thomas agreed to take on this role for us, and we are SO grateful. He made sure the music ran smoothly, and he made all the announcements we needed him to make. He even brought his own laptop (supplied with music by us) so that we wouldn’t have to worry about it.

Anyone looking to have an “iPod wedding,” this is the way to do it! We were lucky in that we didn’t have to deal with renting or obtaining sound equipment, as Rand’s band took care of that! The only problem we had with sound had to do with the layout of the room–dancing and dinner were in two separate areas, and as such, it was sometimes difficult for people in the seating area to hear announcements. Overall, though, I have zero complaints about the music.

(Photo by Walter)

In the above photo, Thomas prepares to make the announcement about our marriage license signing.

Thomas also helped to coordinate the karaoke (more on the karaoke later!).

And finally, Thomas also helped us with our wedding invitation website. The majority of our family and friends did not receive a paper invitation…they got an email directing them to our wedding website. Thomas worked with me to post all kinds of useful information on the page, and he created an RSVP form for our guests to fill out. This method saved a lot of time and money, as well as trees!

We greatly appreciate everything Thomas did to help us out. Thanks, Thomas!

Tags: thomaswoods, wedding, web design, invitations, karaoke, ipod wedding, DJ, emcee

Still more thank yous and memories and recaps to come. Stay tuned!

I know I already used this photo from the rehearsal, but I just like it so much!

Anyway, Ron has been a great friend, not just to Rand, but to both of us over the past few years. He and Rand know each other from when Ron used to work at the college where Rand works. We live in the same village, and we get together fairly regularly to eat, watch movies, and just hang out.

One of the things Ron and Rand have in common is music. Ron is a very talented classical guitarist (don’t let him tell you any differently!), and so it seemed like a no-brainer to ask him to play guitar at our wedding.

Except for the processional song, we just trusted Ron to select some music for before the ceremony. Except for “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” I don’t even know what he played!

(also by Debbie)

For my entrance, we decided on “Across the Universe.” I wanted something a little bit different that would sound pretty played on the guitar. Rand loves John Lennon and the Beatles, so we went for it!

(photo by Walter)

I’m not sure who I’m looking at in the above photo, but I do believe that’s my “I’m trying really hard not to cry” face.

During the ceremony, Ron also accompanied my dad, who sang “Because.” We included this song in our ceremony because it’s become something of a tradition in my family–it was used during my grandparents’ wedding, and each of the children and grandchildren have incorporated it in some way.

(photo by Walter)

The song isn’t really meant for guitar, so I greatly appreciate the extra time Ron took to work on an arrangement that would sound good!

Ron also took care of some other post-wedding matters for us, like making sure the tux got back to the store, and bringing our cake top home and keeping it his freezer! We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends.

And finally, here’s a fantastic photo of Ron with his sweet and beautiful girlfriend Melissa:

(photo by debbie)

Tags: ron, wedding, music, classical guitar, erin, rand

Since we dispensed with the idea of a traditional wedding party, I asked Jen to be my “wedding hostess.” The way I envisioned it, this mostly involved things like making sure nothing exploded on the day of the wedding.

Seriously, though…I thought it was a great way to put Jen’s people skills to work. We had a lot of groups of people coming in who didn’t know each other, and Jen knew (or made it a point to know) a pretty good cross-section of these people. She knew who all of our “helpers” were. She’d be the person to direct questions to, so that no one was running to me 5 minutes before the ceremony to ask me something.

As far as I can tell, this worked out fairly well!

Jen was in the suite while I was getting ready. In the photo above (also by Debbie), she’s pinning blue & white ADPi ribbons to my slip. This is a tradition we started…well, I’m not really sure when it started, but whenever one of us gets married, we make sure the bride and all of the sorority sisters in attendance get ribbons. (I think Jen from Cleveland provided the ribbons. Thanks, Jen!)

Basically, over the past several months, Jen has been the one to help me keep sane–particularly in the last couple of weeks leading up to the wedding!

She also took on some more traditional maid-of-honor duties, like throwing me a bachelorette party (which I know I still need to blog the details of!):

(photo from Jen’s camera, taken by a stranger at Cozumel)

And organizing the awesome “virtual shower.”

Here, my friend Vicki helps Jen pin on her corsage.

(photo from Jen, probably taken by Mark)

I can’t begin to express how grateful I am for Jen’s friendship…and for everything that she’s done for me, both over this past year, and since we first met all those years ago as college freshmen. I hope that I can return the favor.

Here, Mark caught us hugging and singing the end of American Pie–another sorority tradition throwback to our college days. I requested the song for karaoke (more on the karaoke to come!) and insisted that it be the last song of the night. It’s one of those sentimental sniffly moments, and I’m so glad this was captured on film!

So, if I hadn’t said it enough…thank you, Jen. I love you dearly.

A (ahem) lovely photo of us from sophomore year. Teehee. I have no idea who took this.

*unless otherwise noted, photos by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Tags: wedding, wedding hostess, allthingsjennifer, jen, erin, adpi, american pie, college

We opted not to hire a professional photographer, for a number of reasons. Rand asked Debbie if she would be our *official* photographer after she took some lovely informal photos of us last year, shortly after we were engaged. We knew she would do a fantastic job. Walter, another friend of ours, has also  been dabbling a bit in photography, so he brought his big fancy camera as well.

Debbie took the above photo during a quiet moment at the rehearsal. I think it’s stunning–it should be in a magazine or something! Debbie has an artist’s eye. She has a way with composition, with capturing people and moments that I’m not sure can be learned.

(photo by Debbie)

Our ringbearer, Rand’s nephew, captured yawning during the ceremony. Is this adorable or what?

(photo by Debbie)

Jen, my dear friend and “wedding hostess” poses for Debbie just before we draw names to sign the marriage license.

Walter stunned us with the sheer volume of photos he took! He had literally hundreds of shots on his camera before the weekend was over, and he’s posted many of them for all to see. This one might be my favorite photo of me ever :

It’s currently my facebook profile photo!

He also got a lot of terrific ceremony shots. I like this one of the kiss in particular:

Rand and I could not be happier with the photographs, especially given the circumstances. We planned a private photo session with Debbie immediately after the ceremony. We wanted to do outdoor shots, so outside we went. We tried to get some photos on the back balcony at Pearl Street, but Debbie was getting some weird shadows. Our event coordinator at the venue had suggested the courtyard across the street at the HSBC center, so we headed over there next.

Debbie managed to snap just a few photos before a mean security guard chased us away. “You can’t take photos here. This is private property.” He even followed us to make sure we left. Gah.

We walked across the street, over to the end of Main Street near the Metro stop, and got some good things there…but then, we felt rain drops. Time to head back to Pearl Street.

Here we are, running from the rain:

Total time Debbie spent photographing us outside: 12 minutes. 12 MINUTES! Can you believe she did all that in 12 minutes?

When we got back inside, we of course got swept into talking and greeting and socializing, so we didn’t really do much posed stuff. There wasn’t much that I wanted, but I do wish we’d taken a group photo with my cousin and Rand’s nephews (our wedding party), and photos with our families. It just all went by so fast!

I don’t regret even a second of it, though. We have stunning photos, and we had a wonderful time.

Thank you again, Debbie and Walter!

Debbie’s flickr photostream. And her wedding photo set.

Walter’s flickr photostream. And his wedding set. Also, reception part I and reception part II.

Tags: photography, walter, debbie, wedding, erin, rand