Our Wedding

Walt and I met at UMKC, in band of course. We also lived in the same apartment building. He was on the tenth floor, and I was on the fifth. We had friends in common, so every weekend we saw each other. He finally asked me out in 2004. We had been walking back from rehearsal to our apartment building when a friend of Walt's joined our chat. That friend lived on my floor, so we had to wait for him to get off the elevator before Walt could ask me. He almost didn't, but I'm glad he did.

Our first date was on 4/4/04. He took me to the restaurant in which he worked at the time (because he got a discount and I could drink wine underage), we saw a scary movie on the Plaza, and walked through Barnes and Noble for a long time. I think we both knew then that we would get married. Walt proposed on Christmas Day, 2004 (the same year). It was quick, but we do not do anything in a small way.

We were so poor (and still are) so we had a lot of help planning the wedding. I made my dress, just like my mom did. She helped a lot, and so did my grandmother. The materials cost me $60. I borrowed the cathedral veil from my mom's cousin (both she and my mom wore the same veil). We had the cake and pictures donated by family members, and another family friend did my flowers at cost. We made all of the food by hand, with A LOT of help. It was mostly Polish food.

First dress fitting

Getting the train hemmed just right, in flip flops again

July 2nd was blistering and humid as a greenhouse. The church had not turned on the air conditioner until we arrived at 2pm to get ready. The ceremony started at 7pm, and it was still really hot, especially once all of the people arrived and filled the tiny church. All of our pictures show our really red faces.

The ceremony itself was a formality. I did not want to do it because of stories I heard about how my dad was acting. But it ended up fine, in the end. I hired a cellist to perform my favorite Bach Cello Suite in G (you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY). Our band director, Dr. Parisi, played piccolo trumpet for us, and the church pianist played my favorite melody from the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini (you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZbvluHcNo).

Flower Girl and Ring Bearer

Christi, Ashley, me, and Rachel

Matt, Pastor Don, Walt, and Kevin

Danny, Stephanie, Kevin, Walt, Bret, Jake, and Derek

We drove away in an old truck and the boys jumped in the back of it.

He pinky-swore that he wouldn't do this. I had cake in my dress and on the bottoms of my shoes. We have trust issues.

After it was over we all drove the Johnson County Civic Center to dance and eat. We ran out of beer, a family member was asked to leave because he was getting mouthy, and my mother complained about how loud the DJ was. I would have rather not done the reception, too, but we have some silly stories to tell now.