Congratulations to my college friend/teammate Ian Carrera and Jill Ouellette. They were engaged last Friday. My single friends are dropping like flies. Ian came up big and proposed on a live radio show (Jay Severin’s Radio Show). Ian and Jill are both sales reps for 96.9 FM Talk in Boston. I wish the both of you all the happiness in the World and am positive you will get sick of hearing the questions: Have you set a date? …and once you have a wedding date set… Where are you registered? You can listen to a recording of the radio broadcast by following this link.
It was a great weekend here in Chicago. The weather was absolutely perfect. FINALLY! Most of the weekend has been spent working on the Website. I am getting a lot of pressure to get it done so people can see more wedding photos.
On Saturday, we had a great time at Sara’s birthday party and meet some new people. At the party, we were introduced as the newlyweds who just got married two weeks ago. It seems like the wedding was months ago. Now, everyone asks about the honeymoon. Before, it was date of the wedding. It’s a vicious cycle. I am sure it won’t be too long before the kids question gets asked. I am getting used to wearing my wedding ring. For the first time on Saturday, I was looking for it to put on after getting out of the shower. After a few minutes of looking for it, I realized it was on my hand. That’s the latest. Talk to you all later.
On Sunday, June 15th, 2003, we woke up at 5:30 am to bike Lake Shore drive in Chicago. It was a 15 mile bike ride that started and finished in Grant Park. Claire had a great time using the bike Greg had gotten her for Christmas. We were both happy they chose to invest in padded bike shorts for the ride. This summer we plan to ride our bikes a lot more and look forward to doing my rides like Bike the Drive. Click here to see all the photos from our bike ride.
Unfortunately after the ceremony our memories are a little hazy, but here are the things that we remember:
We lined up with our parents for the receiving line in the Main Hall. It was so wonderful to finally see and speak with everyone that had come to celebrate with us. We got to see friends and family members that had come from as far away as Europe to share the day with us, and in some cases friends that we had not seen in several years. At least one relative who will remain nameless came through the line twice because he was too choked up to speak the first time around.
The very first thing that I remember from the morning of the wedding was my dear friend Liz saying that the alarm hadn’t gone off and we’d overslept- just what every bride wants to hear on her wedding day. The five of us who had spent the night together (Jill, Meg, Liz, Nicole, and me) rushed around to get ready, grab a bite to eat, and get to the salon to get our hair done. We raced over the Mt. Hope Bridge and were only about 10 minutes late for our appointments at the salon, which was no small feat for 5 women sharing one bathroom. The next mini-crisis came when we arrived at the hair salon to find that there was only one person to do everyone’s hair (that’s one bride, five bridesmaids, my Mom and Greg’s Mom). We made the most of our time by painting our nails while we waited. From the salon, we headed to get some lunch at a nearby bagel shop. It was wonderful to relax a little with the bridesmaids and our Moms at the bagel shop. We sat around and had some laughs. If I hadn’t been wearing a veil and tiara, it could have been any other day!
The sky was getting pretty dark at this point and the wind was picking up, so I had a feeling that the ceremony was going to have to be moved outside. I was a little disappointed, as the grounds of Glen Manor are beautiful when everything is in bloom. However, the one piece of wedding day advice I really tried to take to heart was to not let any minor glitches upset the day and to keep some perspective on why this whole day was taking place. I knew that rain or shine, I was still going to end the day married to a wonderful man, and after I thought about that a little, the rain didn’t seem to matter.
We picked up a few things at the Marriot and then headed to Glen Manor. I was a little panicked at this point because we were running behind schedule and arrived at Glen Manor just as the groomsmen were scheduled to arrive. Luckily the groomsmen were running late too and weren’t there either. I ran upstairs with my dress and set up camp in the bridesmaids’ dressing room. We had a long narrow room with a large table, bathroom, and windows facing the river. It’s a good thing we had such a large room, as one bride, five bridesmaids, two mothers, and a ceremony reader take up lots of room with make-up, dresses, and industrial strength garment steamers. It was still too early to get ready but I was very antsy, so Sandra (bridesmaid and one of Greg’s sister) located a radio and got the music going. I danced around while my responsible bridesmaid, Jennifer (also Greg’s sister) began steaming the bridesmaids dresses. (You thought I was kidding about the industrial strength garment steamer?) My sister and Maid of Honor, Jill, made sure that I stayed nice and calm. We had a few minutes to just chat, look out at the river, and discuss how insane it was that I was getting married . Eventually it was time to get ready and Liz (my friend from college, who performed a reading during the ceremony) applied my make-up while the other bridesmaids got ready. Once I was in my slip, Meg (also a friend from college) pinned a penny that Greg’s Mom had given to me for good luck to my slip- it had a blue crochet covering, so technically it was something new and blue. Now came the very delicate process of getting the bride into the dress. Luckily, Nicole (my roommate from high-school) is a seasoned bridesmaid pro and managed to get me into the dress without disturbing my hair and/ or make-up. I was ready to go!
Now that I was dressed a few people stopped in to see me, including my five year old cousin Allison, who thought I looked “just like a princess”. My Mom had been doing pretty well up till this point but when my grandmothers stopped in to see “Claire Coffey for the last time”, she lost it. The bridesmaids decided that we needed some more music to lighten the situation, so in my final minutes as Claire Coffey I danced around to The Fugees “Killing Me Softly” with all of my best friends.
Finally, we got the go ahead that it was time to start the ceremony. As the bridesmaids lined up in the hallway, my Dad and I stood on the stairs and listened to the harp and flute music. Once the bridesmaids were in the ballroom and my song began, Dad and I started our walk down the hallway towards the ballroom. I could see Greg from the very end of the hallway, but he wasn’t looking at me. As my Dad and I entered the ballroom, Greg looked up and I could see the tears in his eyes. In the four years I’ve known Greg, I had never seen him even get choked up. My Dad presented me to the officiate and as I stepped forward to begin the ceremony, I leaned over to give Greg a kiss. It was just a reflex- for the last four years, when I see Greg for the first time I give him a kiss. It startled me when he jumped away from me like I had cooties, but everyone giggled and it broke the tension.
Once the ceremony started, I remember trying not to laugh, trying not to cry, and most of all, being so happy! See Claire’s Wedding Photos.
Get some popcorn and a large soda. This is about as long as a feature film. I sat down and started typing, typed some more, got something to eat, and then typed some more. I hope you enjoy my recollection of the days events. The names have not been changed to protect the guilty.
The Morning
My wedding day started about 5:30 in the morning. I was woken by a groomsman who was snoring (very loudly) in the other bed in my hotel room. After telling him to roll over several times, I knew it was a lost cause. I was up and I was not going to be able to go back to sleep with all the days events weighing on my mind. I decided to go downstairs to the hotel lobby to get a cup of coffee and let my groomsman sleep.
I was anxious to go downstairs and check the weather report for the day on the TV. The day before the weather had been perfect for an outdoor ceremony but it was not supposed to last for Saturday. As I watched the local news on the television in the hotel lobby, my heart sank as they forecasted the rain to start around 4 pm in the afternoon. I will give you two guesses about when our ceremony was scheduled to start but you probably only need one. Even though Claire and I would have loved to have our ceremony outside in the garden and the water in the background, I was determined not to let the weather ruin my day.
As I sat in the hotel lobby, I could only think about how excited I was to get married and how I couldn’t believe I was not nervous. Chris Ransom (groomsmen) then walked down still in the clothes that he’d worn the night before. In his defense, he was planning to drive back to Boston on Friday night after the rehearsal dinner and then come back down on Saturday for the wedding. He wanted to know what I was doing up so early and I also wondered the same of him. Chris was going back to Boston with Dean (groomsman) to pick up Ian (college friend/teammate of ours) who he had already promised a ride down to the wedding. The only thing I could think of was… I hope he makes it back in time for the wedding. But then I had to remind myself that Chris was the only groomsman to make it to the rehearsal on-time. This made me feel a lot better about him making a run up to Boston.
After another coffee, I was greeted by my cousin Gordon and his little son Marcus. Marcus is a year old and Gordon brought him down to the lobby so he wouldn’t wake up his mother (Sheri) and sister (Alexandra). It was very nice to have some company and play with little Marcus. The last time I saw him he couldn’t even sit up by himself and now he was walking. He is such a cute kid. Gordon asked if I was ready for the big day and I answered with “We’ve been planning this day for the last 5 months, of course I am ready.” After some play time with Marcus, I decided it was time to go up to the room and see if I could go back to sleep. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day. Anyone who knows me knows that even regular days I need a nap.
After laying in bed for a little bit, I again knew it was a lost cause. There were just too many things going through my mind. I got up (for the second time), showered, and officially got my day underway. After getting ready, I decided to get paper and a big bottle of water from the 7-eleven down the road. This was not such a bad idea after all the adult beverages the night before with the wedding party. Pulling into the hotel parking lot, I could see my immediate family having breakfast in the hotel and decided to join them. It was very nice to spend some quiet time with them before the days events got into full swing.
I also ran into several other relatives while I was in the breakfast area. I am very fortunate that all of my extended family is very close. Every one of my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins (with the exception of one) made the journey to Newport for our wedding. Some came from as far away as London, England. Not many people are as lucky as I am. There was one conversation that I remember having that morning with my cousin Jon. I remember his wedding and him getting a little emotional. Jon told me it was ok to get emotional (one or two tears) but it was not acceptable to cry. I would remember his advice but more on that later.
Lunch
I would spend the next couple of hours reading the paper in my room (very exciting) and checking the hourly forecast on-line. At noon, my groomsmen started to meet me in the room and we waited for Chris to return from Boston with Ian and Dean. They eventually made it (to my relief) and we headed off to Newport Creamery for lunch. After ordering a big burger and fries, I wonder if this was going to sit well in my stomach. Too late now. Up until this point, this day did not feel anymore special than any other day. This could have been somebody else’s wedding day was they way I felt. It wasn’t until I looked at my watch and told myself that I was getting married in three hours that it started to hit me. Now, I was starting to get a little nervous.
Getting Ready at the Glen Manor House
After lunch (around 2:00 pm), it was time to head to the Glen Manor House to get ready. It was starting to drizzle at this point and all hope of having the ceremony outside was gone. When we arrived at the Glen, the place was hopping. I saw Joanne, our wedding planner, putting some of the flowers arrangements (which her mother did for us with the exception of the bouquets) around the Glen. Staff were running around setting up chairs and making deliveries. It was quite a sight and I couldn’t get over how beautiful everything was despite the rain. Katie (The Glen coordinator who organized the ceremony) directed us up to our dressing room. We walked up the stairs with one of the groomsmen running point to make sure I did not see Claire, her dress, or even worse Claire in her dress. Our dressing room was right across the hall from hers and it was hard for me to believe that I was going to marry the girl in the room across the hall in about an hour and a half.
The first incident while getting dressed was with Dean’s vest. One of his vest buttons popped off. Luckily, I had an emergency sewing kit in my toiletries bag. Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to be prepared for anything and everything. My father is the one I can thank for this he would always tell me to keep a little hotel sewing kit in my toiletries bag and to have a handkerchief. It was a proud moment when he was there and I had the sewing kit.
The next incident and comic relief (funny after the incident was solved) would be supplied by Brian Coyle. As Brian dressed in the middle of the room, he turns to everyone and says, “Hey guys… Why does my shirt look different than all of yours?”. Everyone was laughing except for me. All I could think was… “What are we going to do now? There was a Tux shop across from the hotel.” Then some yelled out, “You have it on inside out.” and more laughter ensued and I sighed with relief. Brian checked his shirt and sure enough… it WASN’T inside out. The tux shop had sent him with the wrong style shirt. But my father was prepared, just as he had preached over and over to me growing up. Emergency sewing kits, handkerchiefs, and tuxedo shirts???… Sure enough, he had an extra tux shirt and it was almost the exact style as the ones we rented and it fit Brian. Way to go Dad!
After getting ready, we headed downstairs to look around and get out of the little room. Of course, the groom gets the smaller room to get ready in but at least it had it’s own bathroom. We got our new instructions from Frank (the officiant) on how the ceremony was going to work inside and our boutonnières from Katie. It was now 3:00 and the guests would be arriving soon.
So, I headed back upstairs to try to relax until it was game time. For awhile it was just me in the room we got ready in, and now I was starting to get nervous. I don’t know what I was nervous about. I guess anxious is probably a better word. From the room I could look out and see guests arrive below just before they entered the Glen. Eventually, my father came up and we made small talk. Then Frank came up to go over some last minute details and to get my father to sign the wedding certificate as a witness. Bill also came in, after seeing Claire, and signed the certificate as the second witness. Eventually it was just the three (my father, Claire’s father, and me) of us and we waited until Katie would come to get us when it was time to start.
The Ceremony
As Jacob (my best man), Frank, and I waited outside to enter the ballroom, I really started to get anxious. Jacob tried making small talk and joking with me but truthfully I can’t remember one thing he said to me (nothing personal, Jacob). I could feel my heart beating faster and the temperature rising. All I could think about was seeing Claire walk down that aisle. It had been a long time since I had been this anxious about anything.
Frank looked at me and said it was time to go in and take our places. As the harp and flute started to play the processional music “Canon in D”, I could feel all my emotions getting stronger and stronger with each bar of music played. Once I saw my sisters walking down the aisle, I could feel my bottom lip starting to quiver. Now, all I could hear in my head was my cousin Jon from earlier in the day…”It’s OK to get a little emotional but no crying.” I kept repeating this to myself over and over to try to hold it together.
Finally, it came time for Claire to walk down the aisle. Just before this happened Frank threw a curve ball at me. He whispered to me that I had two choices. I could look down the aisle, through the ballroom doors, and down the hall and watch her walk all the way down to the ballroom from the stairs or I could wait until she got to the ballroom doors at the beginning of the aisle. I was so anxious I answered his question with “Yes.” He smiled and gave a quick laugh and told me I had to pick one or the other. I decided to wait until she got to the beginning of the aisle. Heck, I had already waited most of the day, what was a few more minutes. Frank instructed me to look at him or the bridesmaids and he would tell me when to turn and look down the aisle. As I waited for him to give me the OK, I caught a glimpse of my sister, Sandra, who told me to take a deep breath.
I always hear people on TV talk about when they first saw their Bride in her wedding gown. Before the wedding, I thought to myself that must be a nice feeling but didn’t quite understand what the big deal was about not seeing the Bride before the ceremony. I am realistic about most things and thought it would be great to take pictures before ceremony and get it out of the way. However, Claire insisted on waiting and she was the Bride. What the Bride wants she gets. When I turned and saw Claire in her dress, I knew what everyone on TV was talking about. I was very glad that she had insisted on me not seeing her until the ceremony. Just writing about it I still get chills up my spine. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Truthfully, most of the ceremony is a blur. So, I will wrap up with some random things I remember from the ceremony.
As I went to take Claire’s hand from Bill, she leaned over to kiss me and I had to back away. We were not to that point in the ceremony.
I didn’t know what to do with my hands while I was standing up there. Behind my back or down at my side.
I couldn’t look at Claire’s eyes for too long or I would feel my eyes start to well. So, I had to look at her lips the whole time. I remember thinking to myself… “There is no way you are going to be able to just stare at her lips for 30 min.”
I was glad I had a handkerchief to give to Claire to wipe her tears.
I didn’t know my right from my left hand and which one the ring should go on. I had practiced putting the ring on her hand but never getting the ring put on mine. When it came time to present my hand, I put out the wrong one. Even after Frank told me my left hand, I just turned my right hand over. Finally, Claire just grabbed my left hand.
After we were married and we turned to walk down the aisle, I wanted to bolt down the aisle with Claire by my side. I have no idea why that was but Frank told us before at the rehearsal it always happens. Frank stopped us from doing this and whispered to me, “Greg, what’s the hurry? Are you anxious to get to the bar or something.”
These were the days events that I remember from our wedding day up until the end of the ceremony. I will cherish them for the rest of my life and hope you enjoyed reading them. See Greg’s Wedding Pictures.
By the looks of things at the rehearsal, it looked as if the weather was going to be perfect. The sun was out and the flowers smelled great. We rehearsed the ceremony outside once all of the wedding party arrived.
Lee and Anna (parents of the groom) drove up from Long Island that morning and arrived on time. Candy (mother of the bride) and Claire made it on time. Meg driving down from southern Mass and Chris driving from Boston also manage to get to the Glen when they were supposed to. If you asked any of the grooms men who would show up on time, Chris would have been the long shot. At 2:00, the count stood at: 1 of 2 required persons (no groom), 3 of 4 parents, 1 of 5 bridesmaids (no maid of honor), and 1 of 5 groomsmen (no best man). Everyone else was late. Things were getting off to a great start.
Greg and Bill (father of the bride) were late getting back from picking up tux adjustments. Jason was late due to flight arrangements. In his defense, he had no control over the airlines. The car carrying Jennifer, Sandra, and Jill coming from Boston had to make a non-scheduled stop to pick up Liz. Liz’s car broke down on the way to Newport and thankfully they were able to pick her up. So, I guess that means that car was off the hook for being late. Nicole was late (no excuses… just late). But to nobody’s surprise, Jacob (best man) got lost and had Dean with him and was the last to arrive. It would be one thing to say he got lost coming from New York but he was already in Newport at Navy Base. It took him 1 hour to go 5 miles. However, at least he made it. Brian got ’stuck in traffic’ (we’ve all heard that one before) leaving NYC and didn’t get to Newport until 3:30 pm.
After the rehearsal, it was time to check into hotels and get ready for the rehearsal dinner at Aidan’s in Newport. Aidan’s is an Irish pub in downtown Newport that was a favorite place for Greg and Claire. After Aidan’s, the wedding party went to the Garden in downtown Newport to hang out and catch up. We shot some pool, the bridesmaids behaved themselves, the groomsmen did shots (thanks Jason), Chris lost his car, and Dean got a bruise on his forehead. Good times… good times… See the Rehearsal Pictures.
We visited Paris in December of 2002 with our good friend from work Jason and his friend Kristine. It was just a long weekend but we had a blast. Despite the fact that it was colder there then back in Chicago. Click here to see all the photos from our trip. Click here to see the pictures from Paris.
In November, 2002 we took a trip to jolly ole England. We stayed with Claire’s friend Sally at her flat in Crouch End. We saw the sites- Big Ben, Tower of London, Millennium Eye, and Westminster Abbey. We also had an opportunity to catch up with other American/ English friends in London, and catch a taping of the TV show where Sally is a production assistant on Have I Got News for You, for all our Brit readers. Oh, and we also agreed to spend the rest of our lives together…… Click here to see the proposal pictures.
Many of my family and friends have asked about how I proposed to Claire. I have broken the story into three parts (Intro, The Plan, The Big Day) and because it’s so long. I just starting writing and this is what came out. The date I proposed to Claire was Monday, Nov. 4, 2002. Or go strait to the Proposal Pictures. Enjoy…
Unknown to Claire, I started looking at rings about 4 months ago. After weeks of research, I found where I wanted to purchase the ring and what I wanted to get. I ended up getting the ring online from Blue Nile ( http://www.bluenile.com ). The site was great and I would recommend it to anyone who was looking for a diamond. Since everyone asks, here is the basic info on the diamond: 1.50 carats, Round Brilliant Cut, and in a 6 prong platinum Tiffany setting.
Buying the ring was only one half of the proposal. The other half was coming up with some romantic and original plan to pop the question. As I discovered, that would be twice as hard as picking out the ring. After hearing all the cleaver ways friends or friends of friends had proposed, I was convinced of two things. One: The more you plan everything out, the more opportunity there is for things to go wrong. Two: All of the good romantic ideas had been already taken.
Since we had already planned our vacation to London, I thought for sure I could think of a unique and romantic way to propose overseas. The idea of proposing at a castle came to my head because I always refer to Claire as my princess. I had been pushing the castle idea to her in disguise. I told Claire one of the major things I wanted to do while in England was to visit an old beautiful castle. The original plan was to take a day trip from London to the white cliffs of Dover and ask the question at the castle there. That way if the castle was not that great, I could propose at the white cliffs. Claire had mentioned my castle desire to Sally (Claire’s friend who we stayed with while in London) and she recommended we check out Warwick Castle ( http://www.warwick-castle.co.uk ). Once I looked at the pictures on the website, I knew that this was the place. THANKS SALLY! Now, I could start planning how I was going to pop the big question.
The first part of the plan was to pick the day we would go to the Castle. I figured I should do it as early in the trip as possible. I feared I would not be able to enjoy the trip worrying about asking Claire to marry me. We arrived in London on Friday and did things with Sally during the weekend. This left Monday as the first possible day.
Next, I had to decide when and where at Warwick Castle I should ask Claire to marry me. After looking at the website, it was very obvious to me. I wanted to propose by the river with the castle in the background. This way, it would be both private and beautiful. I just hoped it was not too muddy when I got down on one knee. I planed the proposal to happen towards the end of our day. This way I could build up my courage and scope the Castle out for any other good places.
The final part of my plan was to go back to London that night and stay at a very nice hotel instead of at Sally’s. (It’s nothing personal Sally. We loved your place.) I made a reservation at the Renaissance Chauncey Court Hotel in downtown London ( http://www.marriott.com/dpp/PropertyPage.asp?MarshaCode=LONCC ). The only draw back in making the reservation in advance was that it had to be done Monday regardless of weather.
Not wanting to plan too much, I went with a fairly simple plan. Go to Warwick Castle on Monday. Pray for good weather. Towards the end of the day, walk down by the river and propose. Return to London and stay the night at a nice hotel. I did not want to plan what to say or how to bring up the question. I would just go with the flow.
There was no plan for if she did not say “Yes”. As the English would say, I would have been ‘buggered’.
Nervous about the day to come, I woke up before the alarm went off. My eyes opened to see blue skies outside the skylight and a big sigh of relief was released. That was a very good sign since it had been either raining or very cloudy since we had stepped off the plane on Friday. It was off to the tube and then Paddington Station where we had to catch the train to Warwick. Claire couldn’t understand why I was taking so many pictures like this one of her reading on the train . She had no idea of my master plan and that I was trying to document the day.
Once we arrived in the town of Warwick and Warwick Castle around noon, I was very happy with the location I had picked. It was everything I had expected and hoped for. While exploring the Castle, I started to get very excited as I took pictures from the Castle ( pic1 , pic2 , pic3 , and pic4 ) of the area I wanted to pop the question.
From the top of the Tower, the views were breathtaking ( pic5 and pic6 ). For a brief moment, I almost thought about abandoning my plan of asking the question by the river. We were at the top, and there was nobody else on the tower. I was debating asking and my heart was beating about a thousand beats per minute. Just then some other people arrived at the top of the tower and I thought it would be better to wait until later in the day by the river.
As the day passed, we explored the Castle and I counted down the minutes until it would be time to propose to Claire. The moment finally arrived at the end of the day. We walked over the bridge to the island where I was going to ask the question. I saw this big Oak Tree and thought that would be a good place. As we got closer to the tree, I was so nervous I could hardly speak or smile . Claire took of picture of me and of the Castle . I had to stall to gather my confidence and suggested we walk around on the island a little. As we started to walk, I spotted a bench and thought it was the perfect. I told Claire, “Look over there, that bench has our name on it.” Claire didn’t think anything of the bench because she knows how lazy I am. We walked over to the bench we sat down. The view from the bench was great. There was no small talk because I was so nervous. If I stalled anymore, it might never get done.
Claire and I have this way of telling each other we love one another. Someone asks the other, “Have I told you that I love you today?” The response is always “No.” and is followed by “I love you.” So, here is how I popped the question.
| Me: Have I told you today that I love you? |
| Claire: No. |
| Me: I love you. |
| Me (getting on one knee in front of Claire who is sitting on the bench): Have I asked you today to marry me? |
| Claire: (no response) |
| Me (getting the ring out of my pocket): Claire… will you marry me? |
| Claire: Yes. |
She was very surprised to say the least. The ring was so heavy she needed two hands to hold it up. Just kidding . I was very happy and relieved after she said yes. The smile on my face was a little bigger than the one in the picture taken earlier by the oak tree . Unfortunately, there was nobody around to take a picture of us on our bench so we had to do it ourselves . That was the only thing that didn’t go my way that day. We did manage to take a picture of us together on the bridge with the timer.
We went back to London and met Sally at the hotel to celebrate the good news with a drink. The hotel was very very nice. We were even personally shown to our room and all the amenities were pointed out to us. In all our travels that has never happened before. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.
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