Matt and Katie got married this weekend in Cincinnati.

Our entire family was part of the wedding party: Melissa was a bridesmaid, Chris was a groomsman and Everett was the ring bearer. It was a beautiful event, and an honor for each of us to be a part of the wedding. Matt and Katie both seemed calm, confident and happy throughout the entire weekend. On Monday morning they left for the Caribbean for a couple weeks. Congratulations Matt & Katie!!!

We left Wauwatosa on Wednesday evening around 5pm and made it to Indianapolis before stopping for the night at one of our semi-regular La Quinta locations. We woke on Thursday morning at 6:30am to an actual alarm clock (not Everett) that was set at full volume. Afterward, Chris attempted to walk with Everett to Starbucks, and Everett made it clear what an incredible burden it was to walk that far. Rough start. We arrived at Gabby and Grandaddy’s house later in the morning. Family and friends trickled in, and most of the day Thursday and Friday was spent visiting with people, which for Chris was interspersed with the two grant applications he was working on. Trinity came over Friday morning, which ensured that Everett had almost nonstop entertainment.

On Friday afternoon we went to the church for rehearsal. It’s the first time Chris has been to a Catholic church where the pews had cushions on the seats (when we were kids the pews were made of wood or stone with spikes on the seats). Everett’s job was to carry the ring pillow and walk down the isle with Trinity, who was a junior bridesmaid. He did a good job in his role in the ceremony, but he and Trinity both had a lot of difficulty sitting still otherwise (to be fair, Chris still has a very difficult time sitting still in church). On the way to the rehearsal dinner afterward we (Chris & Melissa) were in the front seat of the car, and Everett was in his carseat in the second row, and we had a talk with him about what constitutes good behavior for a wedding, and how this differs from appropriate behavior in other situations. One nice feature of the new car is that the front passengers and rear passengers can listen to different audio sources. So when we were finished talking to Everett we looked in the back seat and found he was watching a movie with headphones on. Good talk.

For his role as a ring bearer and for his upcoming birthday Everett received several gifts at the rehearsal dinner: a legend of animal tracks, a magnifying glass, a lantern, a compass, binoculars and a bug holder. Soon afterward he announced that he was a paleontologist. He went around the room collecting T-rex eyeballs and teeth from the confetti on each table. He also informed us that one of the bowls on our table was filled with T-rex nose hairs, which sounds much less appetizing than grated Parmesan cheese.

The wedding was on Saturday evening. During the day on Saturday the women got ready at Gabby and Grandaddy’s house while the men went to Mark Auer’s house. Around 3:30 we all met at the Centennial Barn for pictures, and then to the church for the big event. During the rehearsal the photographer had pulled Chris aside and said that some ring bearers freeze halfway up the isle once they realize how many people are watching them, and if that happens that I should be prepared to walk down and help Everett finish. Chris replied that he would be very surprised if this happened, and he was right. Everett and Trinity did a great job – they both appeared calm and confident as they walked down the isle together. Honestly, the biggest problem was that Everett was overheating (it was a very warm day both outside and inside the church) and his wool tuxedo didn’t help.

After the ceremony we returned to the Barn for the reception. Melissa did not tear it up on the dance floor, which certainly goes against her nature. Being seven months pregnant can do that to a woman. In contrast, Everett was a wild man. He showed us his spins and got right into the crowd. He got very upset when Chris left the floor and went upstairs. Fortunately, Chris redeemed himself by bringing back some wedding cake.

During the garter toss Matt shot off a confetti cannon. It turned out that the confetti consisted of strips of paper with the phone numbers of single women who were present during the bouquet toss (not sure how he managed to pull this off). The maid of honor was Becca. Everett danced with her off and on all night, and somehow he found the piece of paper with her number on it and held onto it. At around 11pm he told us that he wanted to go home. Before we could leave he found Becca and said “I’m tired and my feet hurt, but I’ll call you on Monday”. On the way home he asked “Can we invite Becca over for a play date? Or can she watch me sometime?” He also wants to get her a birthday present.

Everett woke up Sunday morning and said “We hit it hard last night, and it hit back!” Next he asked “Do we still have Becca’s phone number?”

Here are some photos from the rehearsal dinner, and here are some of the wedding. As always, these are disproportionately of Everett, with a few of other people mixed in. Anyone who comes to this website knows what they are getting into.