(June 13, 2004)
On Suday, June 13th, 2004 the day finally came for our wedding. After over a week of nothing but rain, overcast skys, and unseasonably cool days, the day was sunny, dry, and warm. We couldn't have gotten a better day if we'd ordered it ourselves.
As much fun as the day was, it wasn't easy getting there. Almost all the decorations were designed by Susan and she did a great job. Beginning at The Little White Schoolhouse Museum, which was not much more than a big, empty hall when we started. Susan designed the seat decorations, all of the flower arrangements, many of which she made herself, and the arch that we got married under. She picked out the planters and made all of the window and outdoor decorations. She also made virtually all of the decorations for the reception (centerpieces and such)at The Landings Restaurant at the Fox Bend Golf Course Coutry Club.. The list goes on.
For my part, I laid out the seating and designed and built a sign in podium and eight pedistals for the flowers. I recorded all of the music that wasn't done live and set up the sound system for the music and our microphones. I also designed the whole wedding program and printed out all the pages for over 100 copies. On the night before the wedding Daniel, my best man, helped me staple them all together into booklets. Some Bachelor Party, huh?
When we had the rehearsal, I had basically two rules for everyone involved. We didn't want the need to arise for any emergency vehicles to show up at the wedding or reception (fire, ambulance, police, etc). And we didn't want to end up on "America's Funniest Home Videos". We avoided the first but almost had an opportunity for the second a couple of times.
Two different times Justin, the ring bearer, dropped the rings. The first time was out side the hall and the rings came very close to falling under the porch. The second time was during the ceremony and when he recovered them he turned to face the guests, smiled, and took a bow before passing the rings off to the Maid of Honor and Best Man.
Susan and I got through the ceremony without messing up our lines. That should have been easy since we wrote the vows and the ceremony. We also wrote the Rose Ceremony and yet we passed the roses at the wrong time and the guests got a chuckle when the right time came and we had to pass them back.
The best part came in the form of a picture that I won't post on this site. The ceremony ended up about 7 minutes earlier than I expected so when we got outside the horse drawn carriage that I ordered as a surprise for Susan surprised me instead. It wasn't there! I didn't realize we were early but he got there on time. The picture of the look on my face isn't something you'd expect to see on a man coming out of his own wedding.
| Best Man | Daniel James |
| Maid of Honor | Sarah Isel |
| Groom's Man | Gregory Pete Stasinos |
| Matrin of Honor | Crystal Morton |
| Usher | Jason Stasinos |
| Usherette | Rebecca Stasinos |
| Ring Bearer | Justin Rusher |
| Father of the Bride | Leroy Rogers |
| Mother of the Bride | Shirley Rogers |
| Lighting the Unity Candle | Helen Stasinos and Shirley Rogers |
| Officiant | Robert Moll |
| Pienist | Stephen Moll |
| Coordinator | Ann Moll |
| and of course | |
| Bride | Susan Isel-Stasinos |
| Groom | David Stasinos |
The Chapel
First of all a lot of thanks has to be given to the staff at
The Little White Schoolhouse Museum in Oswego, which served us as a wedding chapel. It was built in 1854 as a church. The style is refered to as a "Greek Revival" building. For it's last 50 years before becoming a historical site it served as a school house, which, I suppose, is where it gets its name.
They helped to clean up the main room, let us come in a day early to move things in and start setting up, and even fixed the bell pull so that we could ring the bell at the wedding. We were permitted to come in whenever we needed to to take pictures, take measurements, and make plans.
The Photographer
We, quite by accident, found Gregg at InSync Photography studio in Montgomery Illinois. Gregg went far beyond our contract and did a truly outstanding job. The last thing you want at a wedding is for the photographer to steal the show. Gregg took tons of great pictures and nobody was very much aware of him being there. I posted some of the pictures he took at a relatively low resolution. The scan doesn't do the pictures justice so don't judge his work from my scans. I would recommend him to anyone.
The Restaurant
Angie, the manager of The Landing Restaurang at the Fox Bend Golf Course Coutry Club made planning the reception as easy as could be. She supplied menus, of course, but also let us make substitutions from the menu. She helped us with the lay out of the restaurant and her staff handled putting up the decorations that we made. She covered the tables in our colors and even supplied extra space for dancing. Not to mention, the food gave new meaning to the word excellent!
If you don't want your wedding to be a good time for your guests, if you don't want to get what you agreed on when you booked, if you don't want your play list to be played, if you don't want your itinerary to be followed, if you don't want your names and the names of your wedding party to be remembered at the time they are to be announced then book them for your wedding.
I debated mentioning them here at all but two things changed my mind. The first was when I called to vioce my dissatisfaction I was screemed at and hung up on by the owner. Before getting my money he was the nicest, most reasonable and understanding person you'd ever want to do business with but when he sent a substitute for the substitute for the DJ he promised and everything went dreadfully wrong he became Mr. Hyde. He called me a lier and accused me of just trying to shake him down, something that anyone who knows me would laugh at.
The second thing that made me decide to write this was when I talked to the people at the Landing they told me that the same DJ had done other weddings there and they ALL had similar complaints. I wish that everyone involved in our wedding deserved high praises, after all it's a day that doesn't come with second chances, but that, sad to say, just isn't the case.
