The Wedding

Hello United States!

At this moment Katie and I are about to begin the second day of our honeymoon in Fiji! But with the internet being our only link to back home, we thought we would start a little blog to keep all of you interested parties updated on our goings-on. Neither of us has any considerable experience in the blogosphere, so we ask your forgiveness in advance for the inevitable typos, grammatical insults, and downright boring entries. But lest we give up the enterprise altogether, I'm sure anyone who decides to read the blog can cope with a few imperfections :)

First, although the main purpose of this blog will be given to detailing our honeymoon experience, let's give a quick recap of the Bloodworth/Stilwell wedding. Katie and I were extremely lucky to have close to 550 guests come witness the event! The modestly sized church in Benton for the ceremony was packed to full capacity, with friends in attendance from California all the way to NYC.

Because Katie has been in so many weddings over the years, we decided that it would be best to keep our wedding party as small as possible rather than risk hurting feelings. So, Katie's sister Leslie served as the maid of honor while my brother Chris was my best man. You can't ask for a better wedding party than that anyway! During the ceremony, I think it's worth p

ointing out that Katie and I discovered that both of our families, including ourselves, ar

e comprised of a bunch of big criers. Parents were crying, siblings were crying, Katie and I were crying, even the preacher was crying;

near-hysterics were exhibited by several, and I'm pretty sure my stomach has never been in as many knots as when the doors at the end of the aisle opened and Katie began the walk down it with her father. I assure everyone that these were all "happy" tears! It was definitely a moving experience for all of us :)

After the ceremony, Katie and I left the church in an old refurbished truck that looked like it would have been perfectly at home in a parking lot full of Ford Model-Ts. The sea of folks taking part in the send-off then speedily made their way to reception in Little Rock where the real party began!

Here we have a writer switch...

We arrived at the reception and snuck into a quiet room for a few moments of thoughtful reflection and a chance to stuff our faces with delicious food from the reception. This was a good thing because we did not once lay eyes on the spread

provided for our guests. While in these private moments, we took the opportunity to hurriedly review our first dance for which we spent countless hours and dollars preparing. Our dear friend, Craig, came in to give us some last minute pointers; and at last, we were ready to be presented to our guests.

The band, Keia (based in Memphis), introduced us and then began to play our first dance song. "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You". There was a small catch. We had rehearsed the Frankie Valli version and Keia sang the be

autiful, but unexpected, Lauryn Hill version. Let me take a second to explain that the rhythm of these two versions is NOT the same. Russell and I fumbled through the first 30 seconds discussing our game plan under our breath. We tried to count it out and change the rhythm and it didn't work. Finally, Russell said, "Just go with me" and we rocked it with some improvisation :)

Next came the father-daughter dance. My dad does the waltz and only the waltz. Luckily, he does a really good waltz. I tend to stumble when unrehearsed, so dad just picked me up and swung me around the floor giving me few opportunities to put my feet on the floor. This was a good thing. We. looked. good.

This was followed by cutting the cake. The bite of cake we exchanged was scrumptious (Thanks Lisa's Cake Boutique), and, sadly, the only bite of cake we tasted. Along with the wedding cake were numerous cakes that my grandmothers and family friends put their heart and soul into. Everyone was impressed. We heard they were fabulous!

The night continued with chatting and introductions followed by dancing with friends. Russell did a romantic rendition of "No Diggity" that brought the house down. We ended the night with to-go boxes of sliders and fries and a ride back to the Capital Hotel. Along the way, after running into some late-night traffic, we spent some time with the classy cruisers of downtown Little Rock. We've never seen so many spinners :)

ALL IN ALL, IT WAS A PERFECT EVENING! A BEGINNING TO A PERFECT LIFE TOGETHER.