It happened. It actually happened! Saturday, October 7th was by far the best day of my life.
I married my best friend.
I'm replaying the events in my mind. The gifts have been opened, the decorations are put away and Mike has left for San Fran. I can take a moment by myself to reflect on the events of the weekend.
After a trying week Saturday came. Jeni and I met Lorna at the downtown salon where we got our hair and makeup done. We were greeted with mimosas and fresh fruit. My excitement mounted when Mike called later that morning sounding happy...until he wholloped his noggin on something while we were on the phone. I was so pleased with how everything came out when we left the salon; I was feeling really good about the day.
With hair and makeup done and veil in place, we arrived home famished (after nearly 3 hours in a salon a girl gets hungry!) where, as Rau tradition, my dad and I wolfed down sandwiches over the sink.
Katy arrived and helped Jen and I load the car with the bags and dresses. We were all set to go when I looked over at my bike sadly hanging by its rear wheel from the ceiling. It was too much for me to bear. "I'm riding my bike to the church!" Dad's look pleaded "oh no. Not now. Not this time” but Jen being the friend she is quickly interjected with "Sweet! I'll meet you there!"
I jumped on the bike and with my pant legs rolled up and veil blowing behind; flip-flop clad feet pedaled Allie Rau away from the house for the last time.
We dressed, Kate and Jen cried, my heart raced, I tried to tell jokes to keep them from making me cry. I was just remembering the punchline to the one about the duck and the proctologist as I heard the music start.
The harpsichord sounded beautiful, and it paired so well with the girls walking down the aisle. From my limited view I could see the flower girls quickly catching up to the last bridesmaid right before Mike ushered his niece to her parents.
The Organ boomed, a camera light flashed, Dad grabbed my arm and smiling said, "let's go!" Away we went. This was it!! God it was beautiful! So many people, walking to the candelabra in the middle of the church, the flowers, the smiles, I tried to take as much as I could in but the only thing I really truly saw was Mike. I saw Mike and his smile. His eyes danced, his confidence in what we were both there to do emanated from him. There was no doubt in my mind that this was exactly the right thing that we were to do at exactly this time. My God he's amazing! My God he looked GREAT in that tux!!!
We said our vows to each other; we were pronounced husband and wife. We are to be forever known as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Burch. I couldn't have been prouder as we marched down the aisle to Handle's A La Hornpipe followed by the rest of the wedding party. Mike and I then turned back and excused each guest by row, which I am so glad we did. Since the night goes so fast, it was a very nice way for us to meet each other's extended friends and family.
When all of the guests had been excused, given UM/State flags (due to the "big game" that was on) and were outside of the church, Mike and I paraded out the doors, and down the steps to the other lady in his life, his white '89 Iroc convertible. I piled in and heaped my dress in the empty spaces around me while Mike shut the door. He started her up and we took off down Tuscola Rd. on the single most beautifully warm clear Michigan fall day. Veil blowing in the wind, engine humming and Mike and I simply glowing at each other, there was no one else in the world at that point. We had done it. We were together, and it was better than either of us could have ever dreamed.
Pictures, filming, gathering and bustling took awhile, but we then loaded on the trolley and headed to the Lutheran Home to see Grandpa Dolfi and my friend Greg's Grandpa Ruppel who both live there. The wedding had been broadcasted on the church's cable channel so they could watch it live since neither could attend.
Looping through town a couple of times we finally ended up at the Bavarian Inn Motor Lodge for our reception.
Mike and I had photos taken at the riverbank, and Jen and I quickly donned cycling shoes for some sillier shots.
We went inside and quickly took inventory of what was required for the night. DRAT! It seems as if the ONLY COPY of the song we practiced dancing to was 30 minutes away! We roped a volunteer and off he went. (yeah, we owe him bigtime!)
The DJ announced the wedding party as they entered. I peered into the room just as Mr. and Mrs. Michael Burch were exuberantly introduced. The lights were dimmed, people were standing, and candlelight was dancing off of the tall centerpieces where from the top, burgundy and red flower arrangements exploded like fireworks.
Mike and I triumphantly strode into the room and to our sweetheart table as Van Halen's "Love Comes Walking In" filled the room. Mike then pulled one of the ultimate surprises with the video he had prepared. He had done a mockup of VH1's "Behind the Music" called "Allie and Mike: Behind the Hookup" with my brother-in-law reading the copy, his cameraman from work shooting and editing the video, my family being full-on interviewed, and Mike doing some on-camera narrations of his own. It showed the both of us growing up, some key events in our lives and a lot of the wonderful things we've done since we've been together. I was fine up until this point. The tears came, and they came fast.
Katy, Brian and my dad had extremely thoughtful, funny and truthful toasts. Brian's actually made me sweat a little when he mentioned the infamous "2nd Date", but then pulled it back with a fine diversion to what Mike and I really went there to do that night at the climbing gym.
Dinner was simply delicious, well organized, and quickly served. We had four stations, and when Mike and I got up to eat, it was the queue for everyone else to do the same. It worked out SO well because the lines weren't long and no one had to wait for every other table to be excused. Everyone had plenty to eat and plenty to drink.
Thankfully our CD arrived and Mike and I waltzed to Otis Redding's "That's How Much I Love You". I think we did a marvelous job! (Mike and I had been taking lessons which were very fun and I think paid off extremely well)
My dad and I then danced a well-traveled Foxtrot to Frank Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel so Young". We covered most of the dance floor with that one. ;o)
While Mike and his mother danced to their song I quickly ran to grab the garter and a little surprise of my own.
The DJ announced the bouquet and garter toss. The girls lined up, I wound up and let go my best backwards curve ball. Field reporters later told me that the gal who caught it had no doubt that it was hers from the get go. I just hope the trampled 5 year olds won't take it too hard. ;-) (Hey, I've been there too)
It was now time for Mike to "do the deed". He put on a great show by slowly dancing around my chair finally kneeling down in front of me and reaching into the bottom layers of my dress. He fluffed around a bit grinning while he pretended to wrestle with yards upon yards of crinoline, but the real surprise was when he grabbed a hold of my calf and ankle with both hands. His smile immediately gave way to a perplexed mouth and furrowed eyebrows until he realized what he was holding. My garter was holding up hockey socks! God, the look on his face was priceless!!! He made quick work of the sock and the garter though. ;-)
The last staged event of the night was the "sie leben hoch", a little German/Frankenmuth wedding tradition. We were hoisted up in the air on lawn chairs by the groomsmen and ushers (who shook the holy hell out of us) while the rest of our guests shouted the lyrics.
(a concern of a groomsmen was later noted; "Um, a lot of those people don't seem to need the lyrics sheet")
My Grandma Rau, the oldest living member of the Rau Clan at 96 was brought over to complete my transformation from a "bride" to a "wife". She took my veil and placed a baby bonnet type thing on my head, from which was attached a ribbon that was directly attached via pacifier to a nightcap placed on Mike's head. Yeah, admittedly we looked pretty damned silly. Well, up we went as the fella's hoisted us one more time, but then started moving to the bar. We were set down, beer was poured and the song changed its tune.
"Here's to [brother mike/ sister allie], sister allie, sister allie.
Here's to sister allie who's with us tonight.
She’s…
At this point the lyrics were significantly different to those we had sung in Austria with Mike's hockey buddies.
We obligatorily chugged our Blue Moon beer and both of us about barfed, so we quickly went on to more dancing and mingling.
The night did go quickly, but not as quickly as everyone said that it would. I thought that it was just right. I found myself outside in the lobby quite a bit talking to our guests and thanking them for coming, but I guess it hit me when I saw floral arrangements being carried out and making their way out the doors.
“Is the party over???? Awwweee”
We were ready for bed. We gathered our things and started off down the hall where our bridal suite awaited. We arrived at the door, Mike opened it, carried me over the threshold and we were directly accosted by a one thousand degree wave of heat. We had been hit. On top of the heat wave that greeted us, a trial-size packet of Asroglide peeked out from the pages of a bible that was propped up in the middle of our bed.
Upon further investigation we found:
The mattress and box springs flipped
A clock under the bed (silly me, I thought that might have been from a prior guest but thankfully took it out)
Light bulbs unscrewed in the bathroom
ALL of the TP and tissues gone
The water turned off to the toilet (discovered after a nearly disastrous flush)
Random sample packets of “personal lube”, stay-erect, and “sweetened blow” all over the place
One bottle of raspberry vodka (a story which I will never ever tell)
We were pleased with our findings and decided that not much else could have been done so it was time for bed. Both of us were on the cusp of REM sleep when it happened.
A succession of angry beeps demanded that we rise and find the offending devise…, which appeared to be coming from the TV stand/dresser. Half asleep we tore it apart when I heard Mike sleepily grumble …bnddddafffgggggngTV. I yanked the monstrosity of a television aside while Mike fished. He extruded a small black object, which appeared to have numbers on it in a circular pattern. He chucked that little beeping bastard across the room, all was quiet and we went back to sleep. We later found more of these little “sound bombs” as they went off in 45-minute increments from under the sofa and other various locations. Couple that with the regular alarm clock being set and a thoughtful 5:30am wakeup call, our night was longer than expected.
Sunday was spent with close friends and family opening some gifts and chatting. Monday was racing to the airport, running errands and packing for California.
Between the events of Monday, and during the waning light of the last warm fall day, my husband took me for a motorcycle ride. This is the first time I had ever ridden with him. We rode down a winding rural road draped in a canopy of colorful hardwoods smelling the crisp autumn air and the cider and fresh doughnuts of the local cider mill we passed. We rode home, Mike’s wife made pork chops and for the first time dinner was served at the Burch household.
Mike and I had such an incredible time. We had friends come in from all over the country, and for that we are extremely thankful. We both talked about how lucky we are to have all of these wonderful people in our lives, and that’s really what made our wedding so special. Flowers are pretty, but temporary, music is gone as quickly as it came, the ceremony is finite. Our vows, our family and our friends are those things that carry us through the days and years. That’s what is truly important, and that’s why it meant so much to us that everyone who could come, did.
