Wedding...10/10/10

So...SURPRISE!  Ryan and I became husband and wife (or wife and husband!) on Sunday, October 10th, 2010 in Galena, IL!  It was just the two of us, and we couldn't be happier with our decision to elope.  We got everything great about a wedding day and avoided everything not-so-great (i.e. stress!).

We arrived at The Goldmoor Inn on Friday afternoon around 4:00 after a stunning fall drive down Highway 52 from Rochester.  We entered our suite ("The Elizabeth") and fell instantly in love!  After a couple of hours, we decided to call down to attend dinner...late.  The staff found a table for us and the food was, as expected, amazing.  Right at sunset we were able to get a picture of the two of us overlooking the Mississippi River.

We woke up early on Saturday for what was to be a full day...and night!  We wanted to get in to downtown Galena for some shopping before meeting with our photographers at noon, but we failed to realize what an "additional 30,000 people" would do to traffic!  Galena was celebrating its "Country Fair" which brings in the masses from all over the region for craft shopping.  So, we decided to drive UP the hill and visit Grant's Home.  We got a few nice pictures and enjoyed a great tour of the home (Vinetta was our guide and she was GREAT!).  After our tour, we headed back to the Goldmoor to meet with Kris and Scott Kelly, the photographers that would take our pictures the next day.  They are so awesome!  After our meeting, we got called down to the Spa for our side-by-side couples massage!  IT. WAS. GLORIOUS!  As my masseur left the room, he reminded me to "enjoy the time the two of us have together, because our wedding day would NOT be about us as soon as guests start to arrive..."  I had to chuckle.  Our wedding day was going to be about US!  After our massages, we sat in the jacuzzi tub for a while before calling a cab to come take us downtown.  We didn't feel like fighting the traffic and finding a parking spot ourselves...so we didn't.  :)

Saturday night couldn't have worked out more perfectly if we had planned it!  We stopped in to the newly opened Galena Brewing Company, sampled some beer, ate some food, and took the tour.  The brewery is just great and the people are fantastic! We were able to get our picture back behind the bar on top of some of the brewing equipment.  After our awesome time at the brewery, we headed down Main Street and stumbled across a small acoustic band setting up at the Cornerstone.  It was still early, so we were the only ones in the bar.  Once people started trickling in, we had such a blast!  We were dancing and chatting with all the well-wishers once everyone learned we were getting married the next day.  The band played us a song (Comes a Time, Neil Young) so we could dance and everyone was just so nice!  We colored a dollar to hang up behind the bar and just had a wonderful "pre-wedding reception" with all the fun people in Galena! 

Sunday was the BIG DAY!  I'm not going to say that every couple should get married the way we did, but it was just perfect!  The bride (and groom!) woke up and maintained a stress-free, non-rushed demeanor all day!  We got to enjoy EACH OTHER on the day we became our own little family.  No one was pushing or pulling us to do anything.  It was complete bliss.  I started getting my hair and make-up done around 10:30 and the photographers (S.Kelly Photography!) showed up around 11:00.  I got to watch my terrible shows on Bravo for an hour (hair/make-up got done in our room!) while getting beautified.  Ryan got kicked out, so had to come back in (we had to coordinate our room exchange so he wouldn't see me!) to get himself ready.  After he got all ready, we did the room switch again so I could get in my dress and get this day going!  Ryan waited at the bottom of the staircase for me and he was stunned when I got half-way down the stairs and told him he could turn around.  There is something so special about that first time a groom sees his bride.  I, of course, started to cry.  After a few minutes of pictures, we went to the location Ryan and the pastor picked out for the ceremony.  It was a beautiful spot behind the dining room overlooking the river.  A rooster crowed a few times pre-ceremony...which was awesome!  Ryan and I walked in together and the short civil ceremony lasted about 10 minutes.  Pastor Dawn was so great and as Ryan and I spoke our vows to each other (we wrote our own!), we had both the pastor AND our photographer crying right along with us.  After the more formal vows and the signing of the marriage license, we were pronounced husband and wife and THAT was the happiest moment of my life to be sure.  After the ceremony, we had the rest of the day to travel around the area and take stunning pictures.  Which we did.  Kris joked that she wouldn't be able to share many of our pictures with other brides because they simply won't be able to get the shots we were able to get.  Again...another reason to just elope!  When we got to Grant's Home for some pictures, our tour guide from the day before came out to greet us and wish us luck on our marriage!  We went in to downtown Galena and received cheers from the crowd as Ryan spun me in the middle of the street.  We also visited the brewery again and received more cheers from the patrons as we posed for some pictures there.  After about 6 hours of pictures (yes, you can get 6 hours of pictures of just the two of you...have I mentioned how great eloping is!?) we had dinner in the Gazebo at the Goldmoor, had some wedding cake, soaked in the jacuzzi with some champagne, and fell asleep.  We were pooped.


Our wedding day was exactly as it should have been:  About US and our marriage.  I wouldn't change a thing about how we chose to get married.  Now...it's time to party!