January 29th, 2011

Here is how Nick remembers the days leading up to our wedding:

We first heard of Jim Cerone through Ann, who attended a wedding for which he was the master of ceremonies.  That may be a funny way to describe someone who is essentially a disc jockey, but he really was much more than that.  After meeting with him a couple of times in Carmel, we were at complete ease that our reception, with him running the show, would proceed without a hitch.  We joked from the beginning that he was the “ultimate professional”, and that he would drop us as clients if we did not seem up to his standards.  We described to him the exact feel we wanted, stating “our goal is a 1940’s ball – I want to be able to hear the graininess of each recording”.  So while we had a perfect idea of what type of song we wanted as our “first dance”, selecting which one specifically proved a more challenging issue.  Louis Armstrong’s “Kiss to build a dream on”, Glenn Miller’s “How high the moon”, and Benny Goodman’s “Smoke gets in your eyes” were all in the conversation, but eventually went with the latter because the words seemed most appropriate.

The week before our wedding, you traveled to Purdue early in order to meet some last minute appointments and also to finalize all the plans.  You drove my car to Quincy, stayed the night at Ann’s house and took over a load of trees with her the next morning.  When I got home from work on Thursday, I discovered that you printed out pictures of yourself and placed them strategically around the house, so that I wouldn’t feel lonely.  That weekend, Purdue hosted Michigan State for ESPN’s Gameday crew.  It was a night game, probably one of the biggest basketball games ever at Mackey, and I was so full of energy because I didn’t have my little lady to play with.  I thought about going to Buffalo Wild Wings, which was our Des Moines place to watch Purdue basketball, but I felt weird being there all alone.  I also didn’t want to impose my desire to watch the basketball game on Matt and Jenny Johnson, so I ended up watching it in a bar alone, frequently texting people who had the decided advantage of watching it with sound.  I worked that whole next week like normal and caught a ride with Matt and Jenny to Quincy on Thursday night.  That night, I took advantage of a nice washer and dryer (something unfortunately lacking in our Des Moines apartment) and watched the MSU game with sound, which made it much more enjoyable.   

My grandparents picked me up the next morning to drive the final leg to Purdue.  On the way, Scott texted my grandma and asked if I was nervous.  I said “No, Purdue plays really well at home”.  This story was relayed to several other people throughout the weekend.  My grandparents have developed specific routines to make the 4.5 hour drive from Quincy to West Lafayette easier.  One of these routines is stopping in Champaign, and I was hungry anyway so I didn’t mind.  I suggested Chick-fil-a, but my grandparents informed me that if I ate there, I would be stricken with a type of food poisoning that would do nothing short of ruin the weekend, and probably the next few weeks as well.  So we settled on the food court in the mall, which gave me the pleasure of knowing that I wouldn’t have to spend most of the time at the reception near the toilet.  We arrived at the Union around 2:00 and I quickly realized how much fun this weekend would be.  My dad met us in the lobby and we immediately ran into Gary and Jeane Allen, which made me acknowledge that it was a very strange feeling to recognize Quincy people strolling around the Union. 

I dropped my bags and tuxedo in my grandparent’s room and made the short walk to University Church to help decorate.  Ann had thought of a lot of the ideas for decorating the church and had the help of both our entire families to turn those ideas into a reality.  This small army of helpers was busy tying twigs to the pews, moving the location of the piano and microphones, and making sure the candles were just right.  I had apparently just missed seeing you, as Jill and Katie were the first to arrive and you grabbed something to eat with them.  David was the first to alert me he was in town, and then you called me for an update, as we hadn’t spoken much throughout the day.  Once Ann felt the decorations were adequate, I went to see David, who was getting ready in his room.  I chatted only a small amount, then excused myself to get ready for the Rehearsal.  I was precisely on time until I ran into Nula, whose conversations are never brief.  The only reason I was able to pry myself away is because Matt Phillips came around the corner and inquired why I would attend my own wedding rehearsal in jeans and a Purdue sweatshirt.  I finally found the room in which I would sleep that night, and invited all the groomsmen to join me while I got dressed.  We finally meandered over to the Church at 5:00.  The rehearsal presented nothing of note, which I would guess is good as far as rehearsals are concerned, and the almost 60 in attendance were herded to the 2^nd floor of the Union for dinner.  You gave a touching speech about how you had gotten to know each of your bridesmaids, but it also was not without comedy – the funniest line was “If it wasn’t for Nick, I wouldn’t know the difference between concrete and asphalt.”  I also spoke, which included the story of how we met and stressed how lucky and grateful we were to have everybody in attendance.  I backed this up in my own typical way by stating the fact that the average person in the room had traveled just under 300 miles to be there.  We then passed out gifts to our parents, to Ann, and to the wedding party.  After a few of the required pictures, it was decided that the next logical step in the night was to head to Harry’s.  Even my mom went, who decided it was finally time to end her streak of having never stepped foot in The Chocolate Shop.  She wanted proof that she had indeed accomplished this feat, so she bought a T-shirt.  Unfortunately it was only after she paid that it was realized the back said “Helping people get laid since 1919”.  It seemed the entire upstairs was filled with people associated with the Miller-Hendrickson wedding, young and old alike.  In fact, the first people I noticed when I first walked in the door was that pesky Gary and Jeane Allen again.  You decided you wanted to end your night with quiet reminiscing with your bridesmaids, while I followed my friends to Brother’s.  I didn’t stay long, however, and made a quick stop by your room to wish you good-night.

I awoke at around 7:00 the next morning and was greeted by cold but clear darkness when I glanced outside.  For an instant I wanted to walk around the campus solitarily, but the actual weather was much colder than it had looked through the window.  I decided I was content with strolling around the Union one last time as an unmarried man.  I studied the campus map in the Grand Hall and then read a discarded Exponent. I was making my way back to my room when I saw Vance doing a project for his MBA, but he seemed eager to have an excuse to not focus on the project.  After talking with him awhile, I changed and met up with Ann and my dad to help carry decorations from her car to the ballroom.  Matt and Jenny showed up at 9:00, so they helped lay out Ann’s large collection of milk glass on each table.  Then David and Aimee showed up, and all six of us built the photobooth.  This small amount of labor caused the first hunger pangs to appear, so we drove to Wily to eat breakfast. It was unfortunately closed, so we settled on XXX.  It was apparently a popular spot, with even a sighting of Coach Hope.  We drove back to the Union and hurriedly changed into clothes for the basketball game.  All the groomsmen met at 11:00 to take pictures with the photographer, with Frank and Matt dragging a little behind everybody else, as their night apparently was much more exciting than what the others had experienced.  We went to the Bean Cellar and hung out while Chris ate some lunch and Kevin Monohan snapped some pictures.   

At 12:30 we went upstairs to meet Scott and all 8 of us tried to turn my Escape into a clown car.  Scott, Matt Phillips, David and I sat in seats given to my grandparents by the John Purdue Club.  Frank and Vance sat in my grandparent’s seats and Chris and Matt Johnson sat in the seats that I owned that season.  Purdue beat Minnesota in a somewhat uneventful game, and we left with about 4 minutes to go.  We hurried back to the Union, quickly changed into our formal wear, and met up with the photographers at 3:30.  We took some shots around the Union, with Frank chipping in with advice whenever he deemed it necessary.  We made our way over to the church and all the groomsmen ushered the guests to their seats except Vance, who stayed with me.  I ushered my parents and your mom in, and then waited at the side while the Glee Club sang “This is the Moment”.  We were very lucky to have them perform, and I think everyone was blown away.  I don’t ever remember being nervous but I was emotional when you were walking down the aisle.  You looked beautiful!  What I didn’t like was I noticed many people out of the corner of my eye craning their necks around for a peak at how I was reacting to seeing you.  A part of me suddenly just wanted to marry you without people watching our every move.  The walk seemed to take forever and when it mercifully ended I reached out my hand to your dad.  He gave a very quick shake.  For as long as your walk down the aisle seemed, the rest of the ceremony seemed as short.  My grandpa read a passage from 2^nd Corinthians, the Glee Club sang “Praise to the Lord”, and Pastor Morwell referred to us as “almost criminally skinny” in the message portion of the service.  After we were pronounced man and wife, we walked down the aisle and shared a good hug, something we hadn’t been able to do for over a week, and while I was thinking it was nice have a few seconds completely alone to hug my best friend, Kevin actually captured a good picture of the moment.  We made our way back to the front of the church and escorted rows out, which everybody agreed saved a lot of time.  As the rest of the night progressed, time seemed to accelerate.  We took unimaginative pictures of my family in the church, pictures of the wedding party outside the church and in Pappy’s, then unimaginative but at least cozy looking pictures of your family in the Union.  

As we were waiting to be introduced by Jim Cerone, Chris asked “Who is that handsomely debonair man?”  Our “Master of the Master of Ceremonies” would prove to be a hit throughout the night.  After each person in the wedding party was announced, everybody was told to stand and wave the flags (handmade by Ann) in salute to “Nick and Katie Miller”.  We were seated at the head table and were greeted by all the beginning strains to “Be Our Guest”.  After initially thinking it was a weird choice for the first song of the evening, it seemed like an army of waiters appeared and served the head table in grand fashion. After dinner we made the rounds to each table to thank all the guests for making the long trip in the middle of winter.  While the night flew by, we still had enough time to hit the dance floor.  One time you were dancing to “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, turned around and suddenly realized that you happened to be dancing with my dad.  Both of you apparently realized the awkwardness, so you slowly turned away again.  The last song of the night was Billy Joel’s “Pianoman”.  Somehow a circle was naturally formed, into which you were thrown in the middle by Zach Martina.  Ms. Dooley immediately ran and said “Get in there with your wife!” as she pulled me towards you.  The rest of the song was spent with us dancing in the center surrounded by virtually everyone that we cared about.