Four years ago today. Here are some of my favorite photos from that day.
Our wedding party. We had our friends stand up with us as attendants, rather than "bridesmaids" and "groomsmen". We know it's nontraditional, but it made sense to us to have our friends stand next to us. My attendants: Katy and Chris Korte, Kelly Neudecker, my brother Christopher and my sister Becca as my honor attendant. Shannon's attendants: Paul Lindauer, Jamie Wottowa and Stephanie Elfrink, his sister Laura, and Joe Christ as Shannon's honor attendant.
Our guest book was a large mat for one of our engagment photos. My future sister-in-law Maggie and college friend Becky Reeser were our greeters.
Oh my gosh, I loved the flowers. They were all fresh, excpet for the hydrangeas, which the florist said wouldn't hold up, so we used silk.
I made my garter in honor of Shannon's second love, the St. Louis Cardinals. Jake Czsechin, a lifelong friend of mine and also a Cards fan, caught it at the reception.
We took all the formal photos before the ceremony so we could greet our guests and then move on to the reception. We had some time between pictures and the ceremony, waiting in the basement of the church, which is a museum. I'm fixing Shannon's tie.
Our photographer was awesome. He caught this while waiting in the stairs before the ceremony started. It's my sister's hand, keeping Shannon's wedding ring safe on her thumb.
This is my favorite picture of me ever taken. It was snapped right before I stepped out of the stairwell to take my place between my parents to walk down the aisle.
Walking down the aisle.
My father officated the nuptuals.
One of the things I wanted from the very start was a large group photo of all our guests. Thanks to our friend Christina Bockwinkel-Baker, who organized everyone into rows on the steps, we were able to get this fantastic picture.
Orville (the photographer) grabbed this as we were on our way to the car.
We went to the Govenor's Garden before the reception and took some photos outside.
Our kick-ass reception. We started with our first dance, to "I Will Be Here", by Steven Curtis Chapman, and then we danced with our parents to "The One Who Knows", by Dar Williams.
Everybody danced at our recpetion!
The groom's cake. Go Cards!
Our wedding cake was made by an old TEC friend of ours, Pam Whitney.
The Cerneka Family has a tradition of writing and singing a song for and about the newlweds for each wedding. Ours was to the tune of "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah".
The head table. The dried flower arrangement was made by my grandmother for us.
Some of Shannon's Belleville peeps.
Whee!
Hard to beleive this all happened four years ago! It was a great day, and the fun continues!
