Yep, still married.
Nope, nothing changed.
A big thanks to our friends who gave us two weeks to "become acquainted." Um, okay.
So, this page will stay up, and most likely be kept in an archival state. We certainly hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have.
And the final cost thing is done, over to the right there. Hey, considering, I think we did pretty well.
Minds out of the gutter, please.
Instead of recapping what so many have said before, I will share a couple things that not a lot of people knew. Or said, anyway.
I am a very lucky man. Very lucky. Not only am I surrounded by people that wish me the best and with whom I'll get old with, I am married to the woman of my dreams. And she's only my second girlfriend ever. How about THAT for luck?
-I was never nervous. Never. While the ladies were getting ready, though, I was very anxious to get started.
-Being at the Vodka Moxie show twelve hours before the wedding. I did miss "my song", though.
-Paul and Andy are two great guys who I'd, well, go to the store with. To hell with "going to war." They kept me grounded and laughing the whole time.
-The Jaguar we rented so sweet beyond words.
-Never underestimate the power of "Woo-Hah!".
-Because I'm a geek, I did everything possible to get pictures up. On my wedding night, no less.
-Believe it or not, my wedding night was spent with twenty friends, talking smack and enjoying our State Suite, which is bigger than our apartment. And, if I may teeter on the brink of TMI, we went to sleep after we kicked everyone out. That's it.
-As soon as we clean our apartment, we will have a Movie Night so others can enjoy the big-ass TV. :)
i paid a visit to nice lady yesterday after work. when i spoke with her on tuesday night, she told me that the best she'd be able to offer in terms of restitution would be 1/3 of what we paid, plus the $15 delivery charge. troy and i talked about it and decided that if we couldn't get more, we'd be ok. and that's what we got. i know some of you will be disappointed b/c i didn't go in with guns blazing, but here's why i didn't:
1) if the flowers had been late *and* weren't what i ordered, then i would've thrown a larger fit until i got all of my money back.
2) given the owner's behavior, i actually had very low expectations for any type of refund, so getting some money back is like an added bonus.
3) the flowers weren't that expensive to begin with. they were pretty low on the priority list. now, if something had happened with the reception or anything hotel-related...grrr.
4) as someone wisely pointed out to me on saturday, if this was the only thing that went wrong on my wedding day, then i should consider myself very lucky. and i do. so that's that.
(note: this is kinda long. if you heard about the flowers and about how i was going to respond, then you should get a kick out of this.)
"August 5, 2003
(insert name of owner here)
(name of florist here)
(some location downtown)
VIA FACSIMILE: 312-555-5555
Dear (owner):
Over the past two months, I have been working with (really nice lady who works at your shop) to design and deliver the flowers for my 11:00 a.m. wedding on August 2nd. (Nice lady) has been nothing but gracious and helpful throughout this process, and I wish to commend her for her attention to detail and ensuring that I received everything I asked for. The flowers were wonderful and exceeded my expectations.
However, I must write to you to share my extreme dissatisfaction with the level of service I received on Saturday, August 2nd. (Nice lady) and I agreed that my flowers would be delivered to the Hyatt Regency Chicago between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. I have attached a copy of my order receipt that shows the name, address, and phone number of the hotel, along with the delivery date and time. I last spoke with (nice lady) on Thursday, July 31, to settle the bill, confirm last minute details, and pick up the silk petals I’d requested.
My maids of honor and I waited at the Hyatt Regency until approximately 10:15 a.m. on Saturday. I began calling the hotel concierge at 8:15 a.m. to inquire about the delivery – it never arrived. Numerous attempts were made by both the concierge and myself to reach someone at the shop, but the shop was closed and there was no answering machine or voicemail system activated.
After leaving notice with the concierge to have the delivery person call me on my cell phone and have the flowers brought directly to the church, my maids of honor and I left the hotel. We decided to stop by the flower shop on the off chance that maybe there was a problem with the delivery. The shop was closed. The security personnel at the building were nice enough to look up your contact information, in the hopes of finding out where the flowers were. When one of my maids of honor called your home, your wife told her that you’d delivered the flowers. We explained the situation as best we could. We then called the hotel concierge and the church to confirm that the flowers were not at either of those locations.
It was during this process that you arrived at the shop, carrying two shopping bags. My maids of honor confirmed that these were indeed the missing flowers, took possession of them, and left the building at approximately 10:45 a.m. While en route to the ceremony, I discovered that the shopping bags only contained the boutonnieres and corsages, and not the bouquets. We then made a return trip to the shop, only to have you give us large centerpieces. We explained that there were no centerpieces on the order, and after some detective work, you found the bouquets in the walk-in refrigerator. We left, all flowers in hand, at 11:00 a.m.
Thanks to these two unnecessary trips to your shop, my wedding started 90 minutes late. There are no words available to me to express my feelings throughout this ordeal. I can think of a multitude of ways to spend the hours before my wedding, and chasing after my flowers certainly does not make the list.
It is with all of this in mind that I am writing to request a refund in the amount of $yyy.yy, which reflects the original total of $xxx.xx minus the $zz.zz cost of the rose petals that were already in my possession. If this matter is not resolved to my satisfaction in a timely matter, I will have no choice but to share this story with my credit card company and the Better Business Bureau. I can be reached at (my phone # here) or via email at (my email address here). I look forward to hearing from you by the end of the week with an acceptable resolution.
Respectfully,
(me)"
i got home last night and there were two voicemails from the aforementioned nice lady, asking me to call her at the shop or at her home. it took two voicemails b/c she was so flustered by what happened that she couldn't remember her home phone. i'm not kidding...the first message actually said that she'd have to call back once she caught her breath.
so i talked to her last night and she apologized profusely. which made me feel bad for like 1.5 seconds b/c as i told her, it's not her fault. she did her job: she designed and arranged everything. it's the owner (who was also the delivery guy on saturday) that dropped the ball. apparently he and his wife are so upset that they don't want to talk to me, so nice lady is stuck in the middle. which sucks for her b/c she knows that they screwed up, but in the interest of the business and her job, she knows she can't do more than what they tell her in terms of restitution. i'm going to the shop after work today to see what the final amount will be. if the owner's smart, he won't be there. i can suck it up and be civil to nice lady, but there's no telling what will happen if he shows up.
i'm following jim's lead and typing stuff i remember in stream-of-consciousness form. in no particular order:
--picking up chichi at o'hare
--worst.hotel.room.view.ever.
--watching the hotel channel and pointing and giggling whenever the crystal ballroom aired
--"my brain hurts." (me at numerous points throughout the past week)
--kelly giving me her cold from 3,000 miles away and it disappearing on saturday
--kim and i realizing that "it's finally thursday!"
--"hot and ready $5.00" (i really hope that picture comes out well)
--hey arnold urban games (so NOT endorsed by urbantherapy)
--the "cool" car vs. the "conservative" car
--"too many!"
--singing "the gambler"
--"eulalia, will you buy me cigarettes?" (jim every 15 minutes on thursday night)
--me happy because i only lost $20 at blackjack. i started with $30 and made it last for almost 2 hours
--jim's tremendous blackjack hand
--"why are you staying on 13, lady?" (me and laz)
--laz agreeing to buy me liquor for the weekend b/c he won so much
--troy and i up on thursday night finding church-appropriate music
--realizing that we don't own a copy of the wedding march
--i can't find the placecards...but that was b/c i'd given them to chichi for safekeeping
--whaddya mean (insert name here) missed their flight?
--andy driving a blue jaguar full of minorities to the southside on a friday night
--white castle
--tremendous, done and done, fanfuckintastic
--mmm...chipotle
--the rehearsal that wouldn't start
--me not swearing at nathan when he called at 1am on friday
--"dude, you're getting married tomorrow!" (anna)
--mmm...butter cookie
--kim really hating traffic and stupid cabdrivers
--realizing that i REALLY miss my west coast friends
--loudest.ringer.ever.
--where are my flowers?
--no, seriously, where the hell are my flowers?
--the hotel concierge being really nice about the whole lack of flowers thing
--erica's aunt making the wise suggestion of us going to the florist
--chichi and erica saving the day b/c i was too mad to speak
--them holding me back when i lunged at the owner/delivery guy
--mom welcoming everyone to the family and my friend lori promptly putting in an order for cake
--where's the tylenol?
--"divorce is not an option."
--worldly possessions
--cornbread. ain't nuthin' wrong with that.
--y'all can't manage to say "we do" in unison?
--greg refraining from making me laugh while walking down the aisle
--marc being the bestest b/c i totally forgot he was there a majority of the time
--and for making me look good
--and for snapping shots of me laughing so people know that i'm not always sticking out my tongue
--jumping the broom and not falling (although the pic proves that i came pretty close)
--everyone crying but us, apparently
--quickest.reception.ever.
--inadvertently abandoning troy during the first dance
--the groom on the cake topper not being true to scale
--"dude, you're married now!" (anna again)
--"who's next?" (pretty much everyone)
--"this is bigger than our apartment!" (us walking into our suite)
--andy's 7-minute salute
--chichi commanding everyone to use the reception cameras
--"shouldn't you be having sex?" (kelly every half hour on saturday night)
--tim and the wall
--"it's good to be queen!" (me all weekend, basically)
--mmm...tequila
--"dude, we have a doorbell!" (me)
--brushing my teeth while drunk
--dancing jim
--collapsing laz
--swearing nathan
--drunken chichi
--the look on laz's face when he came back to the church only to realize that the ceremony was over
--"i'm not having sex: i'll drink the rum!" (kelly)
--45 minutes
--being coherent at 9:30 am on sunday
--"i wore a burgundy dress and the fiery pits of hell didn't consume me!" (me talking to maya on saturday)
--my family not embarrasing me, aside from james' outburst at the reception during someone's toast
--the chicken story (it really is true, folks)
--no football? ok, let's go bowling
--stop raining already!
--funniest.cab.ride.ever.
--mmm...leona's.
--sex and the city
--"no, nothing's changed." (me and troy)
--inappropriate giggling and smirking during the ceremony
--"you're not gonna announce the kiss?"
--christopher walken
--pictures. lots and lots of pictures.
--breakfast with sesame street
--"you had a push-up?" (me to andy on sunday night)
--"whaddya mean you're leaving? boo!" (me to pretty much anyone who left at any point during the weekend)
--james leaving us the best welcome home voicemail
--"dude, we're legal now. heh." (us to each other)
--"my kingdom for a toaster and a can opener!" (me last night while making dinner)
--woo-hah!
--all that stress about music and only four people used the dancefloor
--everyone thinks we're drunks b/c we now have like 5 sets of wineglasses
--averaging like 4 hours of sleep the past 5 days