There is little to elaborate about the wedding ceremony. The details can be found in the Interactive Program. By clicking on the links there you will be able to read the service presented by Marti Stewart, the readings presented by Dave and Keith, and you can also download MP3's of the music from the ceremony by clicking on the links to the songs in the interactive program. The songs are about 1 Megabyte each and the sound quality is poor because it was taken from the video of the ceremony. It does, however, give a sense of the entire ceremony. To see photographs of the ceremony from various sources, goto the Wedding Ceremony Photo Album . I hope some people find this interesting and enjoy reviewing our wedding.

To comment briefly, the weather before the ceremony was very gloomy and it looked like rain for most of the morning. About an hour before the scedualed start, the clouds began to clear and the sun perfected the setting we had chosen for our wedding. We did not have any serious backup plan if the weather had become unbearable. The risk payed off, however, as it was the perfect setting and day for a wedding. No one fainted from overheating, and everyone was dry. A mild breeze kept the mosquitoes down.

During the ceremony most people stood despite the chairs we had arranged for the elderly and others who may have needed them. The ceremony lasted only 30 minutes so I don't think anyone minded standing. It also helped that it was not too warm.

Both Stacey and I had tears welling in our eyes during each others vows. We chose not to say them over the sound system because they were to each other, not the audience. We wanted to focus on each other. As we greated the people through the greeting line it was nice to see that many were touched by the wedding, even though it was not traditional in its presentation. You can read our vows by going to the interactive program and clicking on the Vows link.

The greeting line after the ceremony was an idea that we got from Dave and Sara Mitchell's wedding. It was the only real opportunity we had the entire weekend to ensure we greated everyone and thanked them for coming.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding ceremony video is when River is wandering around as Marty is presenting us for our vows, and he bursts into a run and does a complete circle around Stacey and I, and after his loop he stops and looks at the crowd, not even worried that about 150 people were looking right at him. We chose to let him run around because we did not want to make him feel left out while we were performing the ceremony, and we also did not want him to feel restricted and make him stay by us. It worked out beautifully.

Donna Cooper and her brother did an excellent job singing "Always", but the same can not be said for the keyboard player. Missing half the notes and playing in the wrong key was not deserving of the payment he received, especially considering that money was much more deserved by Donna and her brother. Also, Stacey was not at all expecting a duet for that song, but had rather expected only Donna to perform both parts. Donna was a few minutes late because her brother had felw in from out of town for the event and they drove straight from the airport to the ceremony. Thanks Donna. That was wonderful.