The days before the wedding
The wedding was to be held at 1 pm at Camp Hickory Hill. The ceremony would be outdoors at the amphitheatre, with the reception inside the dining hall.
A week and a half before the wedding, the forecast looked perfect. Then a few days later, it started to look like it might rain at around 2pm. The plan had been for the dining hall to be the backup ceremony location in case of rain, but we hadn’t prepared anything for that yet, hoping that we wouldn’t need to. There was still hope that maybe the rain would hold off until 2 and we could still get the outdoor ceremony in before the rain, but we needed to prepare for it all to be indoors.
By Tuesday, it was looking more likely that everything would need to be inside the dining hall. We were disappointed to not get our planned outdoor ceremony, but it was time to get moving on the indoor plans. Dan ordered white backdrop curtains to put up behind us, and Kirren looked for clear umbrellas so we could still take photos outside even if it was raining. She found one style of umbrella on Amazon that said it would arrive on Thursday, but when she put several in her cart, it now said they would be arriving on Saturday. When she only had one in her cart, it said Thursday again, so she ended up making seven separate orders of single clear umbrellas.
Thursday came, but the umbrellas did not. Tracking info said maybe Friday, maybe Saturday, which would be too late, as we were heading to camp to set up on Friday afternoon. Besides the umbrellas, there was another shipping problem we were worrying about. Kirren had ordered cream cheese mints for the reception from a seller on Etsy. She had dreamed for years of having cream cheese mints at her wedding. Of the 4 containers she had ordered, a single one had shown up on Thursday. The tracking info said the rest might show up in the mail on Friday, but we didn’t know if they would before we left for camp, so Courtney, Dan’s sister, who would be coming over to pick up Kirren’s car full of wedding stuff, would wait around for the mail to come in case the mints arrived.
Thursday was the start of Dan’s time off of work for the wedding, and much of the day was spent finishing packing and loading up Kirren’s car. That evening, Kirren’s parents and sister arrived with their camper trailer. They dropped off some of Kirren’s things that hadn’t fit in the truck when she moved from Colorado, and they took the bride and bridesmaid dresses that had been brought here ahead of time. Kirren’s sister, Kyleigh, was sick, and we were all hoping she would feel well enough to be the Maid of Honor in the wedding.
Friday morning: wedding setup day
The forecast for Saturday afternoon had now moved the rain a little earlier, to around 1 pm, so now an outdoor ceremony was extremely unlikely. Amazon said the umbrellas wouldn’t arrive until Saturday. The next best option would be to make a quick run to Target to buy the ones they had, which weren’t quite what we had wanted, but would do the job.
Dan:
I got in my car to go to Target and found that the battery was very weak and barely started the car. Despite the battery testing bad for well over a year, it had never had any problems, even in winter, until that week. Normally, I would’ve taken the car to work to get a battery at a discount, but there wasn’t time, so before going to Target, I stopped at an auto parts store and bought a new battery to install in the parking lot. After buying the umbrellas, filling my car with gas, and buying some ice, I returned to the apartment to finish packing the car. My sister, Susan, stopped by to pick up the last few bins of wedding items that wouldn’t fit in either of our cars.
Just as we were getting in the car to head to camp, the mail truck pulls up, and the driver gets out with a box. The mints arrived just in time. Off to camp! After stops at McDonald’s for lunch and Tim Horton’s for coffee, we arrived at camp to start setting up. Jason, one of the groomsmen, had already arrived, so we started setting up the tables and chairs as we waited for the rest of Dan’s family to arrive with tablecloths, chair covers, and other decor. With the rain forecast, it was decided we wouldn’t bother with any kind of setup at the amphitheatre and just focus on getting the dining hall ready for both the ceremony and reception.
Dan’s parents arrived, and he tasked his dad with stringing up ropes between each side of the dining hall to hang Christmas lights on. As he got each rope up, Jason and PJ, the wedding coordinator, put the lights up on the ropes. Kirren’s parents arrived and unloaded all the water and glass bottled pop for the reception, before parking their trailer down in the driveway of the duplex where the bridesmaids would be getting ready. More extended family and wedding party members slowly trickled in, got settled in their accommodations, and helped in setting up the dining hall.
Tim, Dan’s brother, arrived with audio and video equipment, followed shortly by Courtney, Dan’s sister-in-law, with Kirren’s car, and then it was all hands on deck. Kirren’s car had all the tablecloths, chair covers, and the frame for the backdrop, so there was a lot to get done. Tim and Dan worked on setting up the backdrop, Kirren worked on decorating the arbor Dan had built, and the others (including Donnelle – Kirren’s cousin, Ralinda – Kirren’s aunt, Elia – Dan’s Best Man’s wife, Susan – Dan’s sister, and many others) worked on unpacking over 100 vases and filling them with flowers Kirren had made or dried greenery and baby’s breath as well as putting over 100 chair covers on. People also set up side tables with a card/gift table, a board game table, a table with a display about our relationship, and a table featuring the wedding photos of our family members, including some of great-grandparents.
Dan:
Besides a few small details, everything was ready at 6 for the rehearsal. After figuring out how we wanted the wedding party to stand on the stage, we had to figure out how fast to walk down the aisle. The song I had recorded for the processional was a bit long, and would’ve worked great if the ceremony had been in the amphitheatre, which had a much longer distance to walk than the dining hall. After figuring out a pace that would work, we ran through the ceremony. Luke, one of the groomsmen, was going to be leading a hymn during the ceremony, but hadn’t realized he needed to bring his keyboard, so sound check for that would have to be Saturday morning when his wife arrived with the keyboard. Kyleigh, the maid of honor, was still sick and staying away in the camper trailer. Despite these issues, the rehearsal went well. Kirren’s cousin Alex was recruited to run the sound system, as the person I would most want to run sound was Tim, who was a groomsman. As with many wedding rehearsals, the “you may now kiss the bride” was skipped over as some couples don’t kiss before the wedding. We weren’t having a first kiss wedding, though we hadn’t made that known, and it was somewhat revealed when, during the second runthrough, on our way out in the recessional and doing a dip kiss, I forgot not to actually kiss her.
After the rehearsal we had a dinner of chicken sandwiches and fries. Our table ended up with an assortment of wedding party members, as well as Eric Cohen, which made for a good time, with lots of puns and jokes.
Dan:
When I finished my dinner and took my tray to the dishroom, I found Luke and Sam Richbart, the officiant and camp director, washing the dishes. I always like to do the dishes at camp, so I hopped in to help for a few minutes as well, which the head cook got a kick out of.
The rest of Friday evening was open, with the only planned activity being a bonfire at the amphitheatre with s’mores available. Dan Boe, the best man, worked on building a fire, while Dan, Kirren, Tim, and some others put the last few finishing touches on the dining hall. Kyleigh, still sick but feeling a little better, came up to visit, then we went down to the duplex to open her wedding presents. After that, the two of us went and sat by the bonfire for a while, and Kirren got to get to know some of the groomsmen better.
It was getting late, so Kirren headed down to the duplex to sleep, while Dan was staying in the cottage named Ruth.
Saturday morning: wedding day!
Kirren’s uncle Delroy cooked breakfast for everyone on the porch of the dining hall. Kyleigh was feeling better, so it looked like everything was going to great, despite the rain forecast. At 9 it was time for Kirren to head back to the duplex to start getting ready, while Dan and the groomsmen had a bit more time to kill, and headed up to Cabin 7.
Dan:
Unlike the girls, most of whom had hair and makeup sessions, the guys didn’t have that much to do to get ready besides changing into our suits, so we had some free time. A couple of the guys had brought some games to play, though there were too many options and barely even enough time to play one game. We ended up playing “The Game”, which is a cooperative card game. Sam Drew broke out the root beer, and Dan Boe was playing music I’d produced in the background. There were a few raindrops seen, which confirmed that not setting up for the outdoor ceremony was a good choice. As the time drew near that Dan Boe and I needed to be ready for the first look, we all started getting dressed. I wear ties so seldom that I always have to look up a video to remember how to tie one, so Jason went ahead and tied mine.
Kirren:
Meanwhile, in the duplex it was a blur. All of the bridesmaids had opted to have their hair professionally styled and most of them also opted for professional makeup, so we had one makeup artist and 2 hair stylists set up at various stations around the duplex. I had decided to wear my hair mostly down with curls and lots of little flowers throughout. Susan supplied the music for getting ready and she decided upon a Disney themed playlist. Originally we had planned that the living room would be where I would get into my dress with the help of my mom and Kyleigh, and Hannah, our photographer, would take pictures, but Sam, the camp director and Hannah’s father had been staying in the other side of the duplex and agreed to vacate so I could get into my dress over there without all the chaos. Once I was in my dress it was time to head to the first look location.
Dan:
We had to be at the first look location several minutes in advance, so we stopped by the dining hall for a snack, grabbed a couple umbrellas, and drove a Gator down to the end of the zipline. Dan and I sat and talked for a bit, until Hannah, the photographer, showed up. She figured out the right location for me to stand for the first look, and told me to stay there and not look around, as Kirren’s arrival was imminent.
I could hear Kirren arrive in a golf cart with Emma, Kirren’s cousin and one of the bridesmaids. Hannah got her in position and got ready to take photos. Kirren came up behind me and gave me a hug from behind, then turned me around for my first look at her wedding dress. I was surprised at the length of the train, mostly because it was planned to be an outdoor wedding in the woods. Even the short walk into the woods for the first look had covered the bottom of the dress with leaves and sticks.
One concern about having an outdoor wedding was mosquitos, as their bites make Kirren swell up a lot. She hadn’t remembered to put on some bug spray before the first look, so Emma was sent back to the duplex to grab it from the emergency kit. It was too late to prevent a couple bites, but it was still needed. We moved out of the woods to take some photos in the clearing by the pond, and a few minutes later, raindrops began to fall. We quickly got under the pond pavilion, took a few more photos, and then it was time to head up to the dining hall for the ceremony.
We took our little convoy of Gators and golf cart through the rain to the porch of the dining hall, where the wedding party had assembled. Somebody had had the smart idea of moving half the tables into the grass so there would be more room for us out there. The ceremony start time was approaching quickly, so we got ready for the processional.
Dan:
I didn’t have a chance to overthink anything, because without signaling that I was ready for the ceremony to begin, I heard the music start and I needed to begin my walk up to the stage.
Kirren:
Everyone was assembled outside the dining hall, and I had some iced coffee as Susan and Courtney adjusted my hair and Kyleigh pulled sticks and leaves out of my dress train. I noticed that my dad was missing his boutonniere. My Uncle grabbed my dad’s truck and quickly drove back down to the duplex to retrieve it from the camper so we could stick it in his pocket. As I went to put it into his pocket I found that it was still sewn shut – despite the fact that it was a several decades-old suit and had been worn many times. I pulled my seam ripper out of the emergency kit and quickly removed the threads so I could slide it in. Soon it was our turn to go in. As I walked over the threshold I noticed that something was tugging on my dress. The doors had been propped open with a few bricks as door stoppers and my dress train had decided to grab one of the bricks and take it for a ride. My dad quickly stepped in and moved it off of my dress and we went in. It was happening so fast and it was such a big moment that I forgot to remind myself to smile as we walked down the aisle.
The ceremony was simple: We entered one by one as Dan’s recording of “I See The Light” from Tangled played. After a few words by the officiant, we all sang How Great Thou Art, led by Luke Duttweiler. We then repeated the vows and gave each other the rings. After being pronounced husband and wife, we walked back up the aisle to a rock version of “I See The Light”. The dip kiss went perfectly, and we exited onto the porch, followed by the rest of the wedding party.
With the light rain falling off and on, the majority of the family photos had to be taken on the roofed porch, but there was just enough time without rain to get the larger family photos out on the grass where there was more room. Hannah got everyone through the photos quickly and efficiently, getting people in to the reception as quickly as possible.
We entered the reception, each member of the wedding party being introduced to the onlookers, and went to our seats. The food for the reception was a large spread of charcuterie: meats, cheeses, crackers, vegetables, fruit. Glass bottle soda, lemonade, water, and coffee were available, and cupcakes instead of a large wedding cake. After eating some food ourselves, we started making our rounds to visit the guests at every table, before having the formal cutting of the small wedding cake.
Instead of speeches by only the best man and maid of honor, we had an open mic time when anybody could come up and say a few words if they wanted.
After some more visiting with the guests, it was time for the big exit. Dan’s car was parked at the end of the sidewalk in front of the dining hall, and guests lined the sidewalk with bubbles to blow. As we walked through the cloud of bubbles, we stopped to do another dip kiss, and Dan slipped a little on Kirren’s dress, but didn’t fall over. We got in the car and drove off, but instead of actually leaving camp, we pulled into the duplex driveway, hid the car beside the camper, and went into the duplex to wait for the guests to leave. After a half hour, we made our way back up to the dining hall to collect gifts and say goodbye to everyone. We were surprised that almost everything had already been cleaned up. We headed home, stopping at an ice cream shop for a treat, still in our wedding clothes.
The Honeymoon
The original plan: Flying on Delta from Rochester to LaGuardia to Portland, Maine.
We were dropped off at the airport on Monday morning with plenty of time before we were set to depart. At the front of the line for security we found out that our flight had been cancelled (Kirren never received a text or email indicating any change) and that we had been rebooked on a flight leaving instead at 4pm and arriving in Maine at midnight.
We decided to wait, and explored all of the Rochester airport. As we wandered around, the new flight kept getting delayed and delayed due to weather in New York City. But we had a long layover in LaGuardia so still had plenty of time to make our connection.
Then as Kirren was opening up the app to check where our plane was, she saw that our new flight had been canceled (again no notification). The new new flight was leaving tomorrow at 5pm. She talked to a Delta agent and got a couple options: keep that 5pm tomorrow flight, leave Buffalo at 10am tomorrow (and maybe get reimbursement for an Uber, the agent didn’t know), or switch to a United flight still that night through DC arriving at midnight as well.
We chose the 3rd option, and had an uneventful flight to DC. However, once we arrived in DC she was notified that our flight from DC to Maine had been cancelled & the soonest flight out direct to Maine didn’t leave DC until 5pm the next day.
Kirren talked to United and they were able to get us on a flight leaving at 6am the next morning to Newark, and then from Newark to Maine, arriving at 5pm. United said they would not cover any hotel or food costs because the cancellation was due to weather, but said we should still see if Delta would cover anything.
We booked a hotel with an airport shuttle nearby and took a short nap before arriving back at the airport at 3:30am. We went to get our corrected boarding passes and found out that the United desks didn’t even open until 4am.
Once the self-serve kiosks opened we attempted to get our boarding passes but the kiosks couldn’t find our reservations. Kirren talked to a United agent via chat (there were no United agents in person there yet) who looked it up and couldn’t find our reservation and said we needed to talk to a Delta agent as United couldn’t help us. (And of course the Delta desk was on the opposite side of the airport.)
The line at the Delta desk was very long so we waited a while and then the Delta agent said they didn’t show we were booked on the rebooked United flight at all and the best they could do was get us on a flight leaving there at 5pm today.
Meanwhile, Kirren was still on the United live chat, but she had been disconnected from the first United chat person and reconnected to a new person who said “Yeah, you’re definitely on those flights, but we can’t check you in online. You need to go to the United desk in person.”
So we told the Delta person “thank you,” and that we might come back to see her to get rebooked (but hopefully not), and went all the way back across the airport and waited in a shorter line that somehow took longer at the United desk. After half an hour, we were helped and they were able to find Kirren’s boarding passes. However, they couldn’t find Dan’s because somehow someone apparently split the reservations and we were not given his new reservation number.
The United agent called the Delta customer service and finally got his reservation and printed his boarding passes and from there we ran to security (where his bag had to be inspected due to his camera film), and then ran to the shuttle to our correct concourse, and then ran to our gate – we got on the plane with 5 minutes to spare. But we never got a chance to eat breakfast, refill our water bottles past security, or use the bathroom. As soon as we stepped on the plane Kirren asked the flight attendant for some water & she took pity on us and gave us a cup from the tray she was about to serve first class.
We landed in Newark and then flew to Maine where we finally landed at 2pm. What should have been 7 hours of travel turned into 28 hours. It would have been a lot faster if we had just driven instead of flown.
We headed out of Portland, on US Route 1, northeast towards Wiscasset. In Yarmouth, we stopped at the offices of Garmin (formerly DeLorme) to see Eartha, the largest revolving globe in the world. Continuing on, we stopped at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. While passing through Bath, we stopped for some groceries, and ate at a local diner, the Galley Restaurant. From there we arrived at our rental cottage, just across the Sheepscot River from Wiscasset, and settled in for the night.
After being awoken by mysterious smoke alarms at 5am, we slept in, had breakfast on the deck of the cottage, and then checked out a local pottery store. We walked around Wiscasset, looking at the historic buildings, and checking out a few shops, before heading off to the beach. Popham Beach is a ways south of Bath. We had hoped to go in the water a bit, but it was too cold, with wind and lots of waves, so we just walked and sat for a while. On our way back up to Bath, we checked out the Maine Maritime Museum, which included surviving buildings of a former shipyard that built large sailing vessels. There was so much more stuff than what we had time to see. After exploring Bath for a bit, (including a toy store where the proprietor knew the small town Kirren grew up in because she used to live nearby), we met Dan’s uncle Jim at Kennebec Tavern for dinner, and Dan ate his first lobster which Kirren tried as well.
The next day, we had coffee and walked around a bookstore in Damariscotta, then drove to the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. It was very windy and the ocean waves were bigger than the day before. We got to climb up inside the lighthouse and see the view from inside. Following lunch, we went to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which covers 300 acres. After walking through some of their forest trails, and seeing a few giant trolls, we drove to Boothbay Harbor where we had dinner and ice cream.
It was now Friday, and the end of the honeymoon. Especially compared to the trip to Maine, traveling home to New York had zero issues, with an easy flight to LaGuardia, and then on to Rochester.