Our Big Day

Whew! Andy and I definitely had an exhausting weekend and are ready to get going on our honeymoon. We were planning on leaving Wednesday but we are thinking about heading out tomorrow instead. I don't even know if I have the strength left to do a full wedding recap, but I'll try.

After a somewhat hectic Thursday night and Friday morning (bachelor party boys greatly interfered with my prep time!), I headed to Ft. Scott, car loaded down with more wedding decorations, clothing, and toiletry items than any one person should ever be in charge of at one time. I arrived at the Liberty Theatre about 2:30, and my maid of honor, Amy, helped me to set out all our guest table centerpieces, as well as arranging the head table and the cake table decorations.

A bit later the rest of my family, my bridesmaids, and Andy's family came over to finish up with the final touches. Then we all set out down the block for the rehearsal at the church.


The rehearsal went very smoothly, although Andy was about as nervous as a person could be!

I don't think he was having cold feet, though, just ready to finally be married!

Afterwards we had dinner, which was delish. It was barbecued pork loin, baked beans, potato salad and yummy rolls, catered by Sugarfoot and Peaches. Maureen, Andy's mom, did an awesome job with the decorations, too.


After hanging out for a bit, everyone else went home while Amy and I spent the night at bridesmaid Amanda's house in Pittsburg. They of course got roped into doing the last-minute wedding task of folding programs, but at least we all had a glass of wine to make the experience slightly less tedious.


In the morning the three of us ran into Wal-Mart for a few supplies. It seemed like a good photo opportunity, except that some man behind us thought we were snapping his picture. Whoops!


I was a little worried about the rain that morning, but after we got settled into our room at the Lyons Mansion Bed & Breakfast all I saw were pretty blue skies. Then I was worried that it was going to be terribly hot and humid - and it was. But that sort of comes with the territory for a July wedding.

Nevertheless, it was nice and cool inside "Preecia's Velvet Hideaway" and the accompanying sitting room where Kim Stewart beautified us ladies.



And I could not have loved my hair more, even if it was made of pure gold! She did an awesome job, and my do didn't move once all night. I was a little bummed that I had to cover it up with a veil (loved my handmade veil, too, though - ah, the difficult decisions of a bride).

I had butterflies in my stomach all morning, but they started going C-R-A-Z-Y about 4:30, when Megan Dittmer, the female half of our team of wedding photographers, arrived. That meant it was time to put on the dress! Amy helped slip it over my head, Mom zipped me up, Amanda hooked on my jewelry, Loren slid the garter up my leg, and Hannah fastened my shoes. At last, I was ready to roll!


Somehow we managed to get me and my poofiness down the stairs and out the back of the mansion.

Then we got started on photos of me and the girls.



Before I knew it, everyone was back in the car and on their way to the church. I couldn't believe it was really happening! One by one, my mom went in, then my maid of honor, bridesmaids, flower girl, and then...it was my turn!

Wagner's "Bridal Chorus" from the opera Lohengrin played as I put one foot in front of the other and made my way down the aisle, locking eyes with Andy first and then trying to absorb the happy faces of all our friends and family. It's difficult to describe a moment so special.


Rex, the pastor that Andy grew up with, welcomed everyone and said the opening prayer, and then Andy's sister Joanna read a special passage from the Bible. Everyone joined in one of my favorite hymns called "The Love of Christ is Rich and Free", which represented how Andy and I feel about marriage and its connection to our relationship with God. Rex spoke about all of the things that meant the very most to us at that moment, and then it was time to exchange the vows. Such a powerful experience.


We had a few foibles when it came to the exchange of rings. Andy couldn't quite get mine over the knuckle, and for some reason when it was my turn I got flustered and reached for his right hand instead of his left. Thankfully those are easy things to laugh about!


We lit our unity candle and took a moment to pray together as Olivia sang "The Wedding Song (There is Love)". And then, at last, all of our guests were introduced to the new Mr. and Mrs. Biery!



We let everyone exit, then came back outside amidst cheers and rampant birdseed-throwing (most of which seemed to make its way down my dress!).


Andy and I climbed into his parents' adorable Mini Coop and drove around town for a minute, then we came back inside for more group shots.

Our photographers also captured some amazing portraits of us as a couple.


And then it was party time!


The reception description, however, will have to wait for another day, when the Mrs. has yet more time and energy.

Personal Note

I need to acknowledge that the past few weeks have been a very difficult time for me and my family due to the death of my grandmother. While I don't feel comfortable blogging about such intensely personal matters, I would like everyone to know how blessed I have been by their thoughtful words and prayers.

Showered With Love

We are getting married in four - count 'em, four! - days. Mind-boggling.

At the moment I am choosing not to dwell on that so as to avoid having my brain implode, and instead will focus on how we have been wonderfully blessed to get a multitude of home-making items from my two bridal showers (one in Scammon and one at work), as well as folks who have mailed us gifts.

I've had quite a bit of fun with this stage of pre-wedding parties. I mean, what's not to like? Food, friends, family, flowers...not to mention other delightful things that start with less alliterative letters.


I do get present-opening-in-front-of-an-audience anxiety, though, which I've had to work through. But as Andy says, that's not the worst kind of anxiety a person could have, by any means!

Amanda and Tracie were wonderful at putting together the family-oriented party in SEK.


As you might have guessed, I had a nice big plateful of veggies, crackers, dip, fruit, cream cheese mints and, of course, cake.


I couldn't resist the strawberry poke cake or punch at my work shower, either.



Don't worry, I didn't eat the whole thing - had to leave some for my work buddies!


I love all of the kitchen stuff that we've got. You can count on me doing a lot of baking once the wedding craziness is over.


I'm excited to get our house ready for the public eye, too, which is why decorative items also come in handy. We even received ourselves in abstract wooden form, which will look very nice in the living room.


And now that we've got these things strewn all about the house, my job is mostly to unpack them, and then make sure Andy doesn't throw away the boxes of everything that hasn't been tried yet, as he is wont to do.


Everyone's generosity has been amazing, and we are very very thankful for that.

The Day is Fast Approaching!‏

I was somewhat awe-stricken yesterday to realize our wedding was only 11 days away. I had been using the phrase "two weeks" to describe our countdown, which was exciting enough but still allowed just a bit of space between me and the date, when all of a sudden July 25th crept up on me! It is now significantly less than two weeks away!!!

I can't even describe how exciting and nerve-wracking that realization is. We are going to be married in no time at all. It's fantastic and slightly overwhelmingly. And despite all these thoughts and feelings running through my head, I still have to get on with normal life, not to mention finishing up wedding planning.

We had a little snag this week when we discovered a miscommunication between ourselves and the owners of the church. We had been given the impression we were free to use the back rooms of the church, and that they would be available the day before the wedding, and so had planned to have the rehearsal dinner there. Well, come to find out, there actually is a significant charge associated with using that room. Luckily, Andy was able to wheedle them into cutting the price in half. It wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world to have to relocate the dinner, but it just added unnecessary stress at this point.

We are also having some minor difficulty in finding good outdoor photo spots. Andy wanted to take some with his groomsmen on the grounds of the fort, but since it is technically a national park, you have to fill out a form and pay a fee for permission to do this. This may be a bit more of a hassle than we are willing to work through at the moment. We do have plenty of back-up spots that should be fine, but I like to have all these details worked out before the last moment and, truly, this is getting pretty darn close to the last moment!

On the bright side, most of our other details are happily settled. I have a bit of work to do on some of our centerpieces, but our florist, caterer, baker, dj, venue coordinator and bartenders are all good to go.

My main fear now is forgetting one of the trillion things that I am responsible for getting to the wedding. Of course, I made a list, but I have a feeling that I am going to be running around like a headless chicken on Friday, cramming stuff into my car pell-mell only seconds before I have to head to Ft. Scott, so let's just cross our fingers that everything that should get in there, does, and that when I go to take it out, it's all still in one piece.