you did what at your wedding?
After my anniversary post I got lots of questions about the surprise wedding reception activities we had at our wedding. Specifically ya’ll want some details… well here’s the story (and I apologize, I’m not a fast story teller so grab a cold beverage and settle in).
The first thing you need to know about me (well, hopefully you do know this since you read this wonderfully insightful collection of musings I’ve put together. 
) is that I’m not a huge fan of excess or anything that is overly girly. Now don’t get me wrong. I like a good piece of seriously decadent cheese cake and I like pink but I’m not for $10,000 wedding gowns, receptions at the swankiest hotel in town and diamond studded wedding cakes. I’m for simplicity.
When we decided to get hitched Chris pitched the idea of a back yard barbecue. Though the idea intrigued me and after the whole wedding hoopla was over I really saw the beauty of that idea, dang hind sight, I knew that I wanted a fairly normal wedding scenario I just wanted it to be simple. And I wasn’t going to be spending a year planning it. No need to drag this thing out.
We looked around and found the PERFECT spot. There was an old plantation home in the area that had been turned into a restaurant and they specialized in outdoor weddings. Jackpot. Even better when they said that they could take care of the cake and the catering. Margarita fountain, anyone?
Now we were down to little details. My dress was taken care of – my awesome mother in law made it. Bridesmaid dresses were ordered, tuxes were selected, music was to be provided by Chris, he also made us the coolest wedding invitations ever, the cake was designed and we were ready to go.
Oh yeah. Honeymoon. Where were we going to go? If you know Chris and I in person and as a couple you would probably have noticed one thing about us… we can’t make a decision to save our lives. Well, at least not one that we try to plan ahead of time. We make very decisive in the moment decisions but ask us to plan a head and we fail. Big time.
We’d been tossing around ideas for a while and just couldn’t nail down a destination. Chris’s parents had given us two flight vouchers to any where in the US. Endless options. We’d narrowed it down to Orlando, San Diego, and Phoenix.
Then Chris’s mom had a bright idea. Let the wedding guests choose.
Say what? It’ll will be fun. At the reception let the wedding guests vote on where you will go. Say what???
In the end we went with it. After that it was all a surpise. We weren’t allowed to know how or when this little even would go down. Chris’s mom was planning it all out.
Then it was our wedding day.
After a few rogue sprinkles that caused a minor amount of panicking the ceremony went off without a hitch. During the receiving line the wedding seating was transformed into reception seating by the awesome wait staff. Dinner was delicious and then it was time for toasts and the evening’s surprise activity.
Brad, the best man, gave a rousing speech involving the Jen situation I have alluded to before. Rose, the matron of honor, gave a very sweet speech and then it was time for our surprise.
Chris’s mom took the mike and led us over to the eating area. She asked us to kindly have a seat while our family members presented our travel destination choices for our honey moon.
Orlando… sun, sand, Disney, Epcot, Universal Studios theme park… definitely an excellent option.
Phoenix… sun, desert, shopping, relaxing, photographers paradise… a very good choice.
San Diego… sun, sand, Legoland, Disney Jr., San Diego zoo… also excellent.
Warrensburg… 2 star hotels, Pine St., dorms, 35 minutes away. WAIT A MINUTE.
It appeared our loving parents and wedding party decided a 4th destination was called for. Warrensburg. The town where we met and went to college. I can still hear a bit of Brad’s speech in my head. Here’s a little photographic evidence of the event:
Imagine if you will that Brad is nodding with his all knowing salesman face on. Warrensburg is the place we should go.
I can honestly say I have never laughed as hard as I did during that speech.
And our guests enjoyed it too because when they were asked to pick a destination, much to our horror, it became obvious that if we really went with their choice we would be handing the plane tickets back over and driving to the ‘Burg.
Thankfully they came to their senses and settled on San Diego as a better choice and we enjoyed a fun 6 days in the sun.
And since I know you will ask… here’s a shot of the wedding party:
Do you have any fun wedding stories?
Tags: honeymoons, wedding reception, weddings
photographic evidence, the days of my life | 
Jen | May 7, 2009
By sm4k, May 7, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
That was a lot of fun, and that picture of Brad and Jen pitching Warrensburg is one of my favorites from your wedding.
sm4ks last blog post..Sword of A Thousand Truths lives!
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By Writer Dad, May 7, 2009 @ 2:11 pm
San Diego is MUCH better. : > )
Writer Dads last blog post..A Mother’s Day Poem
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By Donna, May 7, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
THAT is a great story… Xx
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By Alison, May 8, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Great story Jen! Really glad you got to go to San Diego instead of Warrensburg!!! Wanna see some of my story? Check out my blog! I wrote about my wedding for TTIC! Look at Part 2. We had a medieval wedding!
Alisons last blog post..Poetic License
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By Devilish Southern Belle, May 10, 2009 @ 12:49 am
I love your wedding story! I have two. My first one was a bit uh….overwhelming. Maybe I will blog about it someday. The second, while pretty much perfect, was uneventful. It was just the two of us, and we got married on an historic riverboat!
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By Rose, May 10, 2009 @ 1:51 pm
Your wedding was indeed unforgettable!! I loved how we got to choose your honeymoon destination.
I wish I had some “fun” wedding stories –we both remember my wedding day filled with a lot of haphazard moments! Thank God you were there to save the hair, urgh, I mean the day! Hee Hee
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By Brad, May 12, 2009 @ 3:43 pm
BACK TO THE ‘BURG
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Brad Reply:
May 12th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
That’s what we had the crowd chanting, in full force. There were people standing on chairs. “BACK. TO. THE ‘BURG!”
It was a really great wedding.
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