Their entire story in
the words of the Bride:
How
we Met:
Well, I
cannot tell you how Patrick felt before we met or how his life
really was, but when we met I was at a point in my life that
I was beginning
to be content with ME. I liked being independent and I had recently
ended a
long term relationship that I wasn¹t happy in. I thought
that I wanted to
just be SINGLE. At this time I was actively dating (more than
one guy) and
having a lot of fun. I attended dance lessons at a local bar
each Wednesday
night for a few months and that is where I met Patrick. I had
never seen him
there before, but after a lesson one night he came up to me.
I will
never forget him walking up to me, a glass of beer in one hand
and a
pitcher in the other, (though he was not drunk) and he asked
if I wanted to
dance. I just laughed thinking, yeah, that outta be easy with
all that in
his hand. Well, we danced, and I remember thinking that I was
actually
impressed by his dancing, though I never would have admitted
this. Not
thirty seconds into our conversation, he tells me that he likes
me. . I am
thinking, with that much beer, he probably likes everyone.
He ended
up not being like that., he walked me out to my truck after
a few
dances and gave me a simple kiss on the cheek as I got in. That
was very
pleasant. Well, he started showing up EVERY Wednesday, we would
dance and
talk. We went on our first "date" three weeks later.
Actually it was a
weekend away to a Bull-a rama. After that, well, we were basically
inseparable.
We
got engaged:
On what
seemed to be a typical evening for us, just 6 weeks after we
started
dating, we decided to take a drive up to Hyalite Canyon, which
houses a
beautiful waterfall not far from our house, Patrick had never
been there
before. As we approached the road that leads to the trail head
we had to
stop because there was too much snow to drive through. I had
been there
before and as far as I could remember, the trail head wasn¹t
far from where
we stopped the car. It was only 5:00 pm and though it got dark
early this
time of year, we figured we could make it up and back before
It got dark.
Well, apparently I am not very good at gauging distances. After
walking
almost 2 miles we approached the trail head, only to see that
the Falls were
another 3/4 of a mile up the trail! What the heck, we had come
this far. So
we continued on. I though for sure this guy was never going
to ask me out
again. But he was such a great sport, had we not laughed and
joked around as
much as we did going up, we probably would have made it there
a lot faster.
When we
arrived at the falls, the sun was just creeping down behind
the
mountains and we sat just for a couple minutes before I suggested
to him
that we should head back, since there are quite a few mountain
lions in that
area, (another surprise to him). I turned to pick up my jacket,
which I had
shed when we first got there and as I turned around to go back
down the
trail I nearly bumped into Patrick, down on one knee with a
ring box out.
His only words were " Not until you tell me you will marry
me".
I laughed,
he had to be kidding, I hardly knew him. And I had just drug
him
up a 2 hour hike to see a waterfall that was frozen solid. I
soon saw though
that he wasn¹t kidding, all I could do was tell him to
get off his knees and
I gave him a great big hug, I don¹t think I ever answered
him, but I didn¹t
have to, he already knew.
Planning the "Event":
Ever since
I was a little girl I had dreamed of a fairytale wedding,
planning them for all of my Barbie¹s. But here I was planning
MY event. We
originally set the date for like 17 months in the future, It
was early
spring and a summer wedding the next year sounded wonderful,
outdoors, lots
of flowers, it was perfect. 3 months into our engagement we
found that we
were less than motivated to plan an event that would happen
over a year
later. All the coordinators told us that everything (dress style,
color
preferences, etc) would change by then and we would probably
be much more
sure of our ideas if we waited to start planning until closer
to the date.
So we waited a whole month. We couldn¹t take it any longer,
we were engaged
and we wanted to PLAN! So we re-thought the date and decided
that 9 months
away was much better, which put us with a January/ February
wedding, Winter
yes, but wasn¹t that part of the majesty of Montana?
Patrick,
being the romantic that he is, instantly asked when Valentines
Day
was. It was a Friday. He said it gave us (and all our guests)
a day off of
work, so after telling our parents we moved it up, it was official.
Immediately
we booked the church and the reception, luckily we have the
same
ideas and like the same things so finding a location was easy.
Also, we
attended church together regularly and who better to marry us
than the great
young pastor who entertained (yes at church) us week after week.
Luckily he
was free (not free - available, we came to see that nothing
was free) We had
always heard that the planning was the hardest part, but other
than being
broke, everything happened without a hitch, Things fell into
place, all the
things we wanted (DJ, location, Caterer, chair and table rentals)
were
available.
A month
before the event our parents and families really pitched in
(Secretly, I think the reason they were hesitant to help, was
that none of
them believed that 2 independent people like Patrick and I would
actually go
through with this).
The
week of:
We started
our leave from work the Wednesday before, and until then, never
realized how much we had to do until work was out of our minds.
We ran
around getting last minute stuff and greeting family and friends
as they
came to town. (Of course, we hadn¹t had snow all winter,
but two days before
the wedding it dumped down) Wednesday night we decided to have
our bachelor/
bachelorette party. Yes, we had them together. We are each such
good friends
with all the attendants from both sides and our friends are
OUR friends, not
his or mine. So we decided to all party together, Just so happens
that we
went back to the bar we met at 47 weeks earlier! As always when
we are
together, we had a blast, and we were still able to do all the
dumb, normal
bachelor/ bachelorette things you do! (body shots, last night
check list,
etc)
The day
before the wedding we spent sleeping in, getting a massage,
avoiding
the phone and generally trying to relax. Patrick had his tux
fitting with
all the men in the wedding. (I hear this was quite the funny
event, by many
people, but I will leave that for Patrick to tell.)
We had
rehearsal at the church and a classy (ha,ha) meal of pizza and
beer
following at a local "tiki-torch" pizza place (as
Patrick would call it).
Following the dinner we gathered with our friends and hung out
at the hotel
that was housing the guests, hot tubbing, playing pool, drinking
and
reminiscing, before Patrick and I split up for a night away
from each other.
Our
Day!
When I
woke up the morning of our wedding I could hardly believe it
was
here. Though I was stressed the night before, I woke up very
relaxed, very
early, but very relaxed. My bridesmaids and I had hair appointments
at 8:00
am, after our hair appointments, we proceeded to Perkins for
a breakfast (we
didn¹t want anyone passing out at the ceremony.) We then
hit the reception
sight where everyone was busy decorating, It looked SO great,
much better
than I could have ever imagined. My mother was busily decorating
her
masterpiece of a cake she had made for us. Aunts, uncles, friends
and
attendants were busy setting up tables and decorations. We didn¹t
stay
long, my bridesmaids didn¹t want me to run into Patrick.
So we left and
went to the bridal shop to pick up my dress, then headed to
the church to
get dressed.
I thought
we had arrived early, but it turned out that it was perfect
timing
to accommodate that last minute run to Victoria¹s Secret
for the forgotten
undergarments. I had pictures first and I felt awesome. My bridesmaids
looked so beautiful and everyone was so relaxed including myself.
After
photos it was only a short wait while Patrick did pictures and
guests
started arriving. I was peaking out of the girls dressing room,
so that I
could see the Pastor cue my father and I to walk up, and I was
so worried
about walking at the right time that I forgot my bouquet.(the
gorgeous
bouquet that my new mother in law had hand made, great way to
start off with
the in-laws)
My husband-to-be
looked incredible and everyone disappeared when I saw him.
Standing at the front of the church, I was so calm and for no
other reason
than the confidence I had in who was standing next to me. As
with
everything else in the last ten months, the ceremony was perfect.
We walked
together to the reception and visited with our family, had a
wonderful meal, cut the cake, were toasted by our friends, threw
the garter
and bouquet and we were off in a limo to a bar! It was time
to Party!
I managed
to not cry at all that day, with the exception of when Patrick
sang "Hero" to me at our reception and when we reentered
the limo, headed to
our hotel room, after the bar. It was then that I sobbed, out
of pure
happiness that all my dreams were coming true, I had met and
married the man
of my dreams..(And we were on our way to Las Vegas.)
So that
is how we became Mr. & Mrs. McVey
The Morning after brunch:
Well, we
woke up at 5:00 on the 15th to find that we had left the fireplace
on in our honeymoon suite, The room was an uncomfortable 105
degrees! We
were roasting! We got up and opened the windows and turned on
the air
conditioner. What a great way to start our life as a married
couple. We were
just glad we didn¹t burn the place downS.
Since we
were unable to fall back asleep in our bed soaked of sweat,
we
decided to get ready for the day. We had planned a late brunch
to
accommodate our sleeping in, but that was already ruined. We
decided we
would pack our stuff up and head to our house to start unloading
stuff
before brunch. However, we soon realized that our bestman had
our car keys.
(Patrick had given them to him for safe keeping the day before
when they
dropped the car off at the hotel). We frantically tried to call
him as well
as the rest of our family, but we were unsuccessful. We decided
it wasn¹t a
far walk to the hotel that housed the family, so we set off
over there, No
coats (they were in the car) and Patrick in his white tux shoes
(he had
forgotten to pack regular shoes with the clothes).
Anyway,
we found my parents. They gave us a ride to our house to get
our
spare key and we returned to our car to find that indeed, our
bestman had
left the keys for usSLOCKED INSIDE THE CAR.
At 11:00
we headed to the Holiday Inn and had a wonderful meal with my
parents, aunts, uncles and siblings, Patrick¹s father and
our attendants.
The brunch was almost more fun than the wedding! We definitely
shared A LOT
of laughs. After we ate we proceeded to open all of our gifts.
Again, it was
a great time.
Following
the gift opening we packed up the car, said goodbye to friends
and
family as they left town and we headed home for a nap and some
much needed
relaxation!
The Honeymoon: (Yay!)
Finally
February 16, we were off! During the whole planning process,
when
things got hard or frustrating, we kept telling ourselves that
it would all
be worth it when we woke in sunny Las Vegas and we knew it was
all over.
Nothing can describe the feeling of relief that we did experience
when we
woke up on the 17th and it was done, no more planning, no more
expense, and
it was amazing, it went off without a hitch! Now it was time
to party.
Of course
when we got to Vegas we didn¹t want to sit and relax. We
literally
dropped our luggage in our room and hit the strip. On the way
out of the
hotel we grabbed a 1/2 liter (yes, Liter) Margarita to quench
our thirst! We
spent the day sight seeing and familiarizing. The next three
days we
proceeded to do the same, Eating wonderful meals including an
evening at the
Top of the World Restaurant in the Stratosphere, (My first experience
at a 5
star restaurant.) The food was great, raw, but great. We also
gorged
ourselves at the Rio Buffet. Never had we experience so much,
and such a
variety of food in one place! And of course, we succeeded in
finding a
Mcdonalds.
Between
finding all the great deals and sitting through a 2 hour sales
pitch
for a timeshare, we were able to see 6 shows! Since we weren¹t
even there
for 6 days we just packed them in, running (literally, at times)
from one to
another, We saw the "V" a variety show, The "Tournament
of Kings" Dinner
Show, "Skintight", (adults only), and many free shows
such as the Treasure
Island Pirate battle, the Bellagio Water show and the Rio Masquerade.
We spent
late evenings relaxing in the hotel lounge, listening to jazz
and
dancing.
The day
we flew out, we were exhausted! We managed to do most of the
things
we wanted, and we didn¹t gamble a cent! We arrived home
to snow, expected,
but quite depressing after running around in t-shirts for a
week.
So that
is it! Now it is just married life. Depressing? Absolutely not,
each
day it a new adventure with us. We thought that once the honeymoon
was
over, that was itS We were wrong, That was just the beginningSS.
