It has already been a year since our wedding. Here is a little about our journey to get there:
After Tony proposed, one of my first questions was “how long do you want the engagement to be?” I was thinking at least 12-18 months, we had already been dating for four years and there certainly wasn’t any rush. Tony quickly replied, “this summer.” “As in eight to ten months from now?!” “Yeah!” The next question was about bridesmaids & groomsmen, I asked Tony how many he thought he would want on his side, “five.” “Really?! Okay.” And so it was. We brained stormed the wedding party, guest list and agreed that we both wanted to get married on the Oregon Coast on our way back from our engagement weekend at the coast. Off to a good start!
The rest of planning the wedding was amusing. Tony and I spent nights together on our couch with glasses of red wine and plates of fancy cheese & fruit. I would ask him what flowers he liked better, and Tony would reply, "I don't really care." I would ask if he liked the groomsman shirts, "sure". “Okay, which ones do you like better,” "either would be fine." He sure was playing a huge role in the wedding planning :) However, when it came to the location of the wedding, we both knew right away that The Lodge was the place. A friend had recommended it as a location, and when Tony and I looked it up online, we knew it was the perfect spot. Rustic, causal, and quiet. Perfect. And everything else just seemed to fall into place, as it was meant to be. Bridesmaids, groomsman, housing for our families, food, centerpieces.
The Vision
We wanted to spend the entire weekend with our friends and family and make sure that everyone had lodging so it wasn’t a huge expense for family to be with us. Tony especially is not a big wedding person, and I felt that a four hour event with 150 people didn’t leave much time to see everyone. Knowing that we had The Lodge rented for the entire weekend made it the perfect place to hang out and spend time with everyone. We invited all of our family & friends to join us for the rehearsal dinner Friday, the wedding Saturday afternoon and brunch Sunday morning.
Because our wedding was at The Lodge rather than a hotel, it meant asking a lot of family and friends to help get everything together with the set-up and tear down of everything. That included all the food, drinks, tables, chairs, linens, plates, utensils and so on. Our family and friends had no idea what they were getting themselves into. We are forever grateful to them.
Centerpieces
I asked Tony if he would make me some really basic square vases out of metal for the centerpieces. He took the idea and turned on his artistic power and created outstanding personalized vases. Tony spent nights in the shop cutting and welding the metal vases while I worked on invitations and then the flowers that would go inside the vases. We both enjoyed our time together, getting everything ready for the wedding with our own personal touches. Finally, Tony had found his niche in the whole wedding planning and a new a passion and hobby.
Music
Picking music was another fun night. I played popular music from my iTunes, and Tony shook his head. Tony played heavy metal from his, and I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Somehow we found common ground around music from the 80's, Kenny Wayne Shepherd's I Found Love, and Jimmy Buffett's Banana Wind.
Four years prior, Kristen’s dad Don Monette had done some impromptu MC’ing for us at our graduation dinner. Both Tony & I knew that he would do a great job at our wedding and be a perfect mix with our both our families and friends. When I asked if he would be willing to drive up to Seaside from Grants Pass for our wedding, his first response was that travel would be too expensive. He wrote us back within the week and offered to cut his travel expenses in half to make it work for everyone. Don & his wife came up and spent the weekend with us
Food
Tony and I had planned a simple meal, and asked Bud and some of his friends' to prepare it. We met with my parents' friends Scott & Susan and quickly learned that our simple meal had suddenly turned in to some amazing and exquisite foods. Bud was still going to prepare his infamous tri-tip, but Susan & Scott were going to make all the sides, which included an amazing and unforgettable artichoke pie. Before we left their house, they described their wedding the year before. They had used a small gong as part of their wedding ceremony & vows. Before we left, they offered to let us use the gong in the wedding, Tony and I looked at each other and said thanks, but no thanks. But we kept looking at each other with intrigue. Hmmm, a gong would be kind of cool. How often do you see a gong used at a wedding?!
My mom and step dad did all of the shopping and food preparation for the entire weekend. They bought food to feed 80 Friday night, 30 for Saturday brunch, 160 for the wedding dinner, and breakfast for 60 Sunday morning. They hired and recruited lots of helping hands, and we couldn’t have done any of it without all of their help. The food was beyond memorable. Neither of us enjoys waiting in lines at buffets, so we decided to serve all the food family style to the tables. Scott & Susan kept the food coming out all night, and no one knew what would come out of the kitchen next. Just when we thought it was done, Scott starting making a late night snack of elephant ears!
Unity Gong
We took Scott & Susan’s idea, and used a gong for our wedding. Not a small gong, no... we went for the large gong, a 34" vintage chau gong that we found online. Instead of using a traditional unity candle or unity sand, we opted for the unity gong. Our pastor Joel incorporated Marriage, Family, and Work into the three circles of the gong during his message. We also decided to use it as our guest book, so all of our family & friends would be a part of the wedding ceremony, and later we could display the gong in our home.
Photographer
I immediately fell in love with my high school friend Becky’s wedding photos. When I asked her who her photographer was, I knew that I wanted Christy Pelland to be our photographer also. Tony also loved her photos, but didn’t quite understand why photographers cost so much until we got our photos back and we both knew it was worth every penny. Christy & Becky did an amazing job, they both came out Friday evening for the rehearsal dinner and spent all day with us Saturday for the wedding. We even used Christy’s Zesty Red Sauce recipe for our rehearsal dinner Friday evening. Christy helped with lots of small over looked details making simple quick fixes and made everyone feel so comfortable. Our groomsman may have complained while they walked through the sand or when they had to put their beers down for the photographs, but they sure didn’t mind smiling for Christy when it came time.
Our wedding day was just one of the first of many adventures in our lifetime together.
Special thanks:
To Mom & Bud for purchasing all the food, hiring help, set up, clean up, and doing it for four days of the wedding weekend. For giving us the beach house for the week to use for family & friends. For the countless little things you both did for us.
To the wedding party for all your help before the wedding setting up, preparing and cleaning up after, I can’t possibly thank you enough for all you guys did. To Adam, for your help getting everything to Seaside, lending us the trailer and being the right hand man to the mother of the bride, all without the help of your better half. To Terry, for your inspiration for our wedding vows, and your keeping the mother of the bride relaxed.
To Jim for your help planning the wedding, meeting with different wedding venues and being the first to congratulate us. To Char for all your help over the weekend setting up tables, arranging vases, keeping The Lodge picked up and for keeping the groomsmen in line. To George & Connie for bringing extra tables. To Derek for cooking brunch on Saturday for the wedding party & your numerous trips to the store for last minute items. To Marcia & Charlie Gibson owners of Pheasant Court Winery & the Wine Vault in Philomath, Oregon for helping select and order cases of wine. To the Wine Vault for hosting an amazing wine tasting for our girls night out. To our handsome ushers Josh, Stefan & Jeremy. To the ladies that came and helped put together wedding invitations. To Kristin for putting together paper flowers and making the slideshow of photos for Tony & I. To Karen & Eric for their beach house for the weekend for the Fisher family to stay in. To Jennifer for relaxing massages for the bridesmaids. To Gayle helping with the guest book and greeting people. To Kristen, Jen, Sabrina & Shawna for the great girls night out and bachelorette party.
To Madeleine Cay & Ky for the wonderful bridal shower in Seaside, Kristin & Kelly for the shower in Salt Lake, and Kristen, Kim & Shawna for the bridal shower in Corvallis. To Jeb & Jen of Murphy’s Lounge for letting us borrow the Keg-erator. Wish you could’ve been there to celebrate with us! To Dina for your help with the flower girls dresses, for creating my veil and helping with the head piece. To Jennifer for your help with the flower girl accessories and sandals & for meeting us in Portland for a girls days out. To Cameron & Seth of Viral Studios for your wedding videography and DVD. To the Basketcase & Debbie Nelson for our bridal party flowers. To Aunt Mary for the ‘something borrowed’ pearls, for Great Grandma’s headpiece that she wore in her wedding in 1926, and for the use of your back yard to accommodate additional lodging. To Sam & Sabrina for your help with the little things; ironing, brunch, shuttling, refilling mimosas. To April for coming over weekly to keep us on track with planning the wedding, taking time off work to be there the entire weekend to help and make sure things got done.
To my brother Gary & friend Gayle and the rest of the crew that made the beer/wine run to restock our reserves after they ran low. To Kim for coming up from Grants Pass and Katie for your help doing wedding hair. To Christy Pelland & Becky for coming down from Tacoma to capture and photograph our wedding. To Don Monette & his wife for coming up from Grants Pass to be a part of our weekend and for the great music. To the kitchen crew Scott, Susan, Twila, Bonnie, & Robin who worked countless hours behind the scenes preparing food and cleaning up. To Russ for bringing your BBQ up from Corvallis and helping cook Bud’s tri tip. To Joel White for your wonderful sermon and incorporating the gong and our blended family into our wedding. To your wife Casey for helping organize the bridal party before the ceremony. To Zach for working the late night shift of shuttling people to their vehicles. To Tim & Shawna for your vehicle & kegerator and everything else you did. To Jen & Mark for helping set up and invite making.
(I know I have forgotten so many here, so consider this just a rough draft.)
And last but not least, to all our family and friends for making the trip to be a part of our special day at the coast. Tony & I felt so blessed that you were there to share it with us and let’s face it the weather turned out to be okay!
With Love,
Holly & Tony Fisher (6.12.10)
P.S. Sorry about the sunburns you left with.
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