Wedding & Reception

Our wedding was held at my hometown parish Christ the King Catholic Church in Richland, WA. I remember seeing many of my friends walking down the same aisle wondering if I would ever have my day, wondering what they were thinking as they walked down the aisle, and wondering how they felt as they said their wedding vows. I can't believe it was actually my turn! Walking down the aisle I thought I would feel nervous or I'd start crying as soon as I saw Nate. Tears of happiness, of course. Instead I was smiling so hard my jaw hurt. :-) It's funny what I remember walking down and what I don't. For instance I vividly remember seeing Steph and Krista (with their husbands and kids) who are some of my sorority sisters, I remember my cousin Mindy mouthing that she thought my dress looked great (she took me out on my first wedding dress shopping trip where I actually tried on a dress), I remember seeing some of my hometown friends (like Jenny, Michael and Emily, and Caryn and Scott), and I remember co-workers (Didi and Randy, Lori, Susan, and Sheri). However, I don't remember seeing my Mom or Grandmothers, Nate's parents or Grandparents, or many other friends and family members. I'm actually a little embarrassed that I don't remember seeing my Mom. (blush) My only thought is that with her in the front row I was so focused on Nate that I didn't turn in her direction. That's my story at least.

When I finally did get to Nate I realized that instead of gazing directly into his eyes the entire walk, I'd instead been smiling and waving at people. It was like my happiness came not only through getting married to Nate, but being surrounded by all the people in my life who bring me joy. I wanted them to experience, or at least see, how blessed I felt (and how great it was) that they were attending my wedding.

Saying our vows to each other.

Everyone says that every wedding has that moment. The one moment that makes a wedding so special. Well, my moment was humor caused by my niece. See Haylee was supposed to be my cute little bell ringer/flower girl who would start the bridal party procession by ringing a bell to signal the start of the wedding. Instead, the day of the wedding Haylee decided that she'd rather be playing in the Child Care room instead of walking down the aisle. After a few tears from being pulled away from the toys it was decided that Haylee would just walk down the aisle with my Mom when my Mom was being seated (by my brother, no less) and there just wouldn't be a flower girl. So then I make my big entrance and the wedding starts. At this time Haylee decided that since she'd been at the alter during the rehearsal it was perfectly fine for her to sit on the alter during the wedding. I didn't mind this as Haylee sat at Katie's (her mom's) feet and just chilled. Well, that worked for a little while. Then Haylee decided that the view was better if she lied down and if she started whine a little. Once that position's novelty wore off Haylee decided that she'd lie down with her feet on the top steps of the alter and her head at the bottom of the alter and her whining would turn louder. At this point Fr. Champeux was asking Nate and I questions (such as do you vow to allow God into your marriage) and we'd reply yes. Haylee decided that this would be the perfect time to start whining so loud she was drowning out Fr. Katie decided she'd had enough as motioned for Bo (Katie's boyfriend) to take Haylee to the Crying Room. The moment was perfect. Just as Fr. asked us the all important question of "Do you vow to loving accept children into your lives?" Bo picked up Haylee and Haylee began to scream at the top of her lungs "MMMOOMMMMMYYYYY!!!!!" Our audience saw the humor and we heard everyone laugh. Of course, Nate and I laughed too before responding with a very loud "YES!".

Our first kiss as husband and wife. Yep, Nate had to be reminded that we were in church.

After we were (finally!) married we stayed after to take pictures together while everyone else headed over to the reception at the Richland Community Center. When Nate and I first started wedding planning I just 'assumed' that we'd see each other beforehand and take pictures as that's what everyone did and it was just logistically easier. Nate had other ideas. He wanted to wait to take pictures until afterward so as to see me the first time walking down the aisle. Looking back, I'm so glad we did this. Not seeing him made the day just a little bit more special. Especially since when I got to the alter Nate's eyes kept bugging out and he just kept repeating "You look so gorgeous", "Wow, you look amazing", and "I love you so much". Hearing those words, especially when I felt just like a beautiful princess, were exactly what I needed to hear.

Once we got to the reception we did something a little different than what I'd seen at other weddings. I was worried about the timing of the ceremony (2:30pm) and when to have dinner. I thought having dinner right away (at around 3:30pm) would be just too early for people. So what to do between the time they arrived, the time we arrived, and the time dinner could reasonably be served. I've seen it done where appetizers are passed and people just chat before dinner but I wasn't really a fan of that. I decided that we should get as many 'photo opportunities' done as early as possible so that the photographer didn't need to hang around for three or four hours at the reception before any real staged photos were taken. So that meant that the dancing needed to start off right away. Nate and I walked into the reception area, were announced as Nate & Teresa Carstens for the first time and we immediately went into our first dance together (Come Away With Me by Nora Jones - honestly, we chose it because it was the only waltz song on the CD the dance instructor gave us that wasn't country!). We'd been taking lessons and had a choreographed dance which I was really thankful for. Instead of just swaying like high schoolers I think we entertained people a little. Nate did a FANTASTIC job. Six weeks prior he had to be taught how to count to music and how to move his feet. At the reception he knew all the steps and didn't miss a turn. I, on the other hand, totally goofed. :-) Oh, well, it made for a fun moment.

Our first dance together as husband and wife.

The next 'staged' thing we did was the Father-Daughter dance. I knew that my Dad didn't really want to be up on stage as the center focus for an entire song so I thought up the idea of doing a Parent's Dance. Basically my Dad and I danced while Nate and my Mom danced (to Forever Young by Rod Stewart) and then half-way through the song I dropped my Dad off and danced with Dave, Nate's Dad. Since Nate's Mom, Linda, had a stroke a few years ago and is wheel-chair bound she decided she didn't want to go out on the dance floor so Nate went over to his Mom and had a one-on-one Mother-Son conversation with her. I thought it worked out great.

Dad and I dancing and Nate and Mom dancing during the Parent's Dance.

Once the two dances ended Nate and I pulled people out on to the dance floor in the hopes to open up dancing to everyone. Once a few couples were out there, Nate and I made our exit for additional non-church pictures. We got some great shots down by the river which I can't wait to see! At this time people started wondering out on the back patio of the reception site and asked to take pictures with us. That was helpful as it got a bunch of pictures taken that we wanted to have taken but didn't require us to move much. :-)

Once these pictures were over it turned out to be dinner time. Since we had three types of snack items on each table (chocolate covered raisins, non perils (mints), and chex mix), plus people had been munching on the many appetizers (Italian pinwheels, ham/asparagus roll-ups, brie and caramel, shrimp, etc) I didn't want to have too big of a dinner. We had a baked potato bar with all the trimmings and a mixed green salad on the side. I was worried people wouldn't think this was enough but I've had quite a few people tell me afterwards that they liked the smaller, but continuous options throughout the night instead of just one big dinner and that being the only food. Nate and I tried to get some down-time to eat (I'd made sure there was a table just for two) but people, as they waited for the food line to get smaller, kept stopping by to say 'hi'. We didn't mind this as we were excited to see people, but it was funny. Take a bite, chew, chew, quickly swallow, smile, hello, chat, take a bite, chew, quickly swallow, etc. I think I got half of a potato down and called it good. Oh, well, everyone said that I wouldn't eat at the reception and they were right!

After dinner seemed mostly done we went over to cut the cake. I LOVED my cake. A friend Jill made the cake and did a FANTASTIC job. Again, people came up to me afterwards to say that not only was the cake pretty but it tasted so yummy. Imagine that. A yummy tasting wedding cake. :-) Another reason I loved my cake was the cake topper. There's a story there. See, my cake topper is a salt and pepper shaker. I have this weird thing (that I like to call manners thank you) where the salt and pepper shaker should always be passed together at the dinner table. The shakers are 'married' and therefore don't get passed by themselves. My friends think it's hilarious to go to a restaurant and move one of the shakers to the other side of the table as soon as we sit down. Last year for a Christmas gag gift Karen and Jessica found magnetic salt and pepper shakes that were painted to look like a Bride and Groom and magnetically kissed. I loved the gift so much that when I started thinking about cake toppers I knew these were the ones.

Nate play-acting at shoving cake into my mouth. It was play-acting because I'd given him 'the look' right beforehand so he knew that my pretty, pretty dress was not to have cake on it. :-)

After the cake cutting Nate's two old roommates from MIT organized a little game for us to play. Basically we each had cards that said "Me" or "Him/Her". We faced opposite of each other and then were asked questions like "Who does the cooking", "Who wants more kids", "Who's the boss of the family" and we rose whatever sign had our answer. I think we agreed on all but one question (who wants more kids) but it was funny to hear the audience laugh at what we'd chosen. I would definitely like to see this game played again!

Playing the game from Blaise and Valerie.

I had to post this. All the technology all in one place. :-)

After the game ended it was time to kick back and party. Nate and I would dance, say hello to people, say good-bye to others, and just thoroughly enjoy ourselves. I guess the perfect moment was when I noticed that Ben, Karen, Andrew, Jessica, Nate, and I were on the dance floor all by ourselves. I was in the midst of best friends, I was married to the man I love, the wedding and reception were one of the greatest moments of my life I'd experienced, and I was just absolutely filled with happiness. How much better can it get than that?!

Well, all nights must end and eventually this one did. I gotta say it was a great day, though. The weather was one of the warmest and sunniest days we've had yet this year, everyone I talked to was filled with joy and laughter, Nate was finally mine (all mine!) and the only thing that went 'wrong' was that we ran out of cups a half hour or so before the reception ended. All in all, an absolutely perfect day to start our lives together.

Nate & Teresa - the very happy couple!

* A special thanks to Laura for posting these pictures on Facebook. Without her this blog wouldn't have happened and I would still not have seen any wedding pictures! Thanks Laura!