Big Day

  Hilton Head, South Carolina, United States
Saturday, October 18, 2008

Euchre anyone?

End of an era...today is Steve's wedding day.  The ceremony is not going to be held until 5:30 pm on the beach in front of the resort.  A few of us gathered together to enjoy the last moments with Steve as a free man.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not cooperating because the temperature dropped 20 degrees since yesterday and it is raining.  We went to lunch at Giuseppe's Pizza, which is the self-proclaimed best pizza joint on the island.  I must agree it was good pizza; however I may have been influenced by the multitude of Steelers memorabilia on the walls or the pitchers of beer.  We headed back to the room to play some euchre.  Mike and I have been playing euchre against Steve and Ross for years.  Since this was Steve's special day, Mike and I let them win both matches...actually I was a little rusty and was making some bonehead plays that had Mike scratching his head.

Steve has been very calm on his Big Day; however, Randy (Steve's cousin and Best Man) is showing some strain worrying about his Best Man speech...in Randy's words "it is not a speech it is a toast".  As far as I can tell, the Groom's only duty on the Wedding Day is to show up...somewhat sober.  Steve would occasionally call Katie to see how are things going and to offer any help.  Usually, Steve became the target of Katie's anxiety as she tried to execute that perfect wedding plan.  Steve did well allowing Katie to vent and trying to support her as best as he can.  Karen, Steve's sister, explained it best when she said that "we (women) are pissed that you guys are doing nothing on the wedding day but drinking, golfing and playing cards; however we will not let you do anything to help".  I also liked what Mike said about the situation, "logic leaves your (Steve's) world at 5:30".

Steve and the groomsmen

Katie and her father

Mike's and my contribution to the wedding plans was to allow the band to change and rehearse in our room.  Kim, the lead singer of the band, is Katie's jogging partner and they drove all the way from Charlotte (4 hours) this afternoon.  Letting out the room, put Mike and I behind schedule in getting dressed for the wedding.  Mike had to use another room while I used our room to shower/shave.  As we were getting in the elevator, we meet up with the entire wedding party (sans Steve).  Allowing the party to use the elevator, I quickly ran down the five flights of stairs hoping to get to the beach before the wedding started.  Even with the detour of going to the other wedding's section, I made it to the right section of beach in time to watch the wedding party procession.  I was wondering how the bridesmaid were going to handle walking through the sand in high heels.  As they marched in I saw that they were wearing stylish but practical sandals.  Katie's Matron of Honor was her sister, Paige.  The other Bridesmaid included Karen (Steve's sister), Lauren and Shannon (Steve's nieces), Bailey (Katie's niece) and the Flower Girl, Mackenzie (Katie's niece).  Before the ceremony, I saw Shannon and Bailey jumping around with excitement...no doubt they are already formulating what they will want during their big day many years in the future.

"I do"

At the trestle, Steve was accompanied by Randy and Ross.  The ceremony was fairly quick with a prayer from Reverend Neil, a reading from Proverbs by Laura (Katie's friend), the exchange of vows and the exchange of rings.  Everyone marched off the beach to the pavilion where the reception will be held.  The party remained on the beach to take photos, while everyone else enjoyed cheese, crackers, cocktail shrimps along with a few cocktails.  Fortunately for the pictures, the clouds cleared and the sun made a brief appearance before setting.