[//Nathan]

Our wedding plans have just gotten a huge kick in the pants - Jen's sister and mother are helping us plan the wedding, and they're giving us a much needed push. So in the next few weeks, we want to send out invitations. We want those invited to receive their invitations by 15 March, no later, sooner OK.

If you know you will be there or really want to be there and think you can make it tell us you will be there. If something comes up, we won't hold it against you, but those of you who really want to be there will be placed first priority for receiving invites, after our families.

If there is any chance you can make it, but it isn't the biggest priority tell us you may be there. You will be placed second priority, after family, and after those who are putting forth a conscious effort to attend. Again, if you don't make it, no worries.

If you know you can't make it, but you want an invite anyway, tell us you just want an invite. You will be placed third priority, after those who have a chance of making it. I know some of you would just like an invitation just so you can say you knew us, whatever honor that holds.

We will print enough for everyone - maybe 10-15 over "just in case".

But for all who will be getting an invitation, regardless of your priority placement, we need a mailing address. You can either:

1) PM it to //Nathan here on the IPS community boards.
2) Email it to one of us: Nathan is darkreality@gmail.com and Jen is jo_mankind2000@yahoo.com
3) Message it to one of us at Myspace - I'm myspace.com/darkreality79, and I don't know her URL - but she's Jen, #1 in my Top 8 Friends list.

Jen and I will be posting this at the boards we visit.

Remember, if we don't get your address, we can't get an invite out to you. Even if you think we have your address, send it again just to be sure.

And for your planning information, the RSVP date will probably be 7 June 2006, a month to the day before the wedding date.

IPS have an address posted on the main site... We will send one invitation up to IPS. Anyone from the US Office who wants to show up will be more than welcome - though if you could let us know by the RSVP date exactly how many of you are coming, it would be appreciated. As for the UK (Matt et al) I doubt you'd be able to make it, but we can get you an invite... Is there a UK office? (And if you did make it, hey, that'd be awesome.)


Here's some details: (not finalized, only plans)

* The wedding will be early afternoon at the waterfront in Washington, NC. We'll reserve a picnic area but the actual ceremony will be outside of that, near the water. Jen and I will exchange vows a few feet from the water. No food served here, but we may have bottled water out.

* Following the wedding, we will all head to Chocowinity, about 8 miles away, and the actual town noted in our address (though we're between Chocowinity and Grimesland). We're looking at a banquet hall at the Lemon Tree Inn, at the corner of Highways 17 and 33, next to a most excellent diner called Woogies. At the reception, we'll serve lunch (baked Ziti and Swedish meatballs, is the plan) with various seafood/deli meat/veggie party trays, with water and sodas, maybe beer/liquor to drink. We'll have a DJ/karaoke setup.

* The colors are green and blue. They're my favorite colors, and favorites of Jen's as well, but there's a deeper meaning. Since we met online, we both crossed the (blue) sky several times, and then I drove across the (green) land for a week once to be together - and also that all that sky and land couldn't hold us apart. I think traveling will be a recurring theme in our relationship, as our kids are going to want to visit family back home. And I LOVE to drive.

* The cake will be a three-tiered cake, each tier having two chocolate layers with orange creme or raspberry jelly filling, iced over with vanilla frosting, and adorned with green and blue roses and forget-me-nots (why the actual type of flower mattered is beyond my understanding as a man). I have heard that, given a picture, there are services online where you can get a custom bride/groom statue for the cake... We will most certainly be doing that if possible. (And don't be surprised to see the [Disturbed logos] Mean Smiley Face and Believe logos somewhere on the cake - despite how we (mostly me) feel about Disturbed now, we did meet on their site, and they deserve props for that.)

* There will be a second reception on Saturday (the day after) for the "younger crowd" (read: anyone who wants to party with us). We'll celebrate our wedding night the old fashioned way, but we won't actually start our honeymoon until after.

Of course, those points aren't finalized yet, it's just stuff we're talking about at this point. I'll keep y'all posted, let you know what solidifies. We want to make this a weekend to remember, and for those of you who may be coming a good distance to get here, we want to make it worth your while.

[LostBoy]

WOW! I thought you were younger.

But anyway congratulations and I hope you have a beautiful and safe wedding!

[DragonFire0729]

Hope you all have a great time

[Brandon C]

Have a good time at your wedding, and may God bless you and your marriage to make it as best as possible.

In Christ,
Brandon

[John]

You're inviting people from IPB?

[Matt Marshall]

I would love an invitation (just to say i was invited) though i can't really say i know you, so it's hardly fair on others. If i knew you a little better and I was a bit older, I would love to have came.

It sounds like your enjoying planning the weding enough already! I'll take this opportunity to wish you luck on the day, maybe take a few pictures for us to see! Obviously your looking forward to this more than anything (or the honeymoon afterwards ), so congratulations!

[//Nathan]

LostBoy, on Feb 15 2006, 08:04 PM, said:

WOW! I thought you were younger.

But anyway congratulations and I hope you have a beautiful and safe wedding!

How old did you think I was? Or how young? I don't think I said in the post, but I'm 26. But in those years, I've learned that simply counting the number of times the earth has gone around the sun with you on it is hardly a measure of one's worth.

Brandon C, on Feb 15 2006, 10:55 PM, said:

Have a good time at your wedding, and may God bless you and your marriage to make it as best as possible.

In Christ,
Brandon

Neither of us are very religious, but we appreciate any kind of blessing, mortal or divine.

John, on Feb 16 2006, 05:36 AM, said:

You're inviting people from IPB?

IPS, yes. We met on the now-defunct Disturbed board (running an outdated platform now going by the name of Groupee) but once I learned the difference between forum platforms, I put up an IPB, and we planned our first face-to-face meeting, as well as my move to NC, on an IPB, so in a passive sense, we owe a little debt of gratitude to IPS. That's why, though they didn't work out well for me as a host, I still have enormous respect for them in general. If that made any sense.

Matt Marshall, on Feb 16 2006, 05:56 AM, said:

I would love an invitation (just to say i was invited) though i can't really say i know you, so it's hardly fair on others. If i knew you a little better and I was a bit older, I would love to have came.

It sounds like your enjoying planning the weding enough already! I'll take this opportunity to wish you luck on the day, maybe take a few pictures for us to see! Obviously your looking forward to this more than anything (or the honeymoon afterwards ), so congratulations!

Well, if you want an invite, we can send one out to you - just PM me your address or an address at which you can receive mail (if you're worried about giving out your address - I understand that) and we'll put you in the third priority - which means you'll most likely get an invite anyway. If you want one, that is. Getting invited to a wedding doesn't mean you're expected to come - calling and reserving (RSVP) means you're expected to come. My mother in California isn't going to be able to make it, but we are most certainly sending her an invitation.

[Brandon C]

No problem, Nathan.

I forsee the longest post / topic from Nathan ever after he returns from his wedding and posts about it. It will be filled with text and pictures.

[DragonFire0729]

That post will be classified more as a novel, I would wager.

[//Nathan]

Ugh... it was so much easier to do long posts with pictures when I had DSL. (The "ugh" is at my dialup connection.) But yeah, I'm sure a few pictures will find their way up here. But to my credit, at least they won't be taken by me. I'm of half a mind to do the photos and the video myself, as well as some of the cooking.

[DragonFire0729]

How do you film your own vows?

[LostBoy]

SciFS Mod, on Feb 17 2006, 01:13 PM, said:

How do you film your own vows?

He's just that good!

[//Nathan]

With a tripod. Which I don't have yet, but that's beside the point.

OK everyone... bride, move a bit to the left... OK, you're in the frame... I stand next to her... am I in the frame? OK... go back, set the thing to record in 5 seconds, get in position, exchange vows... touch it all up later on the computer. I haven't got a capture card either, but that's also beside the point.

[DragonFire0729]

Im sure you could do it

[Barn]

//Nathan, on Feb 17 2006, 08:15 PM, said:

With a tripod. Which I don't have yet, but that's beside the point.

OK everyone... bride, move a bit to the left... OK, you're in the frame... I stand next to her... am I in the frame? OK... go back, set the thing to record in 5 seconds, get in position, exchange vows... touch it all up later on the computer. I haven't got a capture card either, but that's also beside the point.

I'm sure it's possible but you'll probably enjoy your day more if you haven't got something else to worry about.

[//Nathan]

Oh yeah... I was completely joking about that, based on amateur photography as something of a hobby of mine (and cooking, mentioned in post #10).

Usually I like to be behind the camera and maintain that healthy relationship, but also I've never danced really - Jen and I have sorta danced in our place to music, but we really didn't know what we were doing. So when we dance at the wedding... that will certainly be a sight to see, if an embarassing one to watch on the replay - one part of the wedding video our future kids WON'T see.

[DjZvEr]

Who ever goes to the wedding needs to video tape it non edited so we can see it all, lol.

[Steve]

DjZvEr, on Feb 18 2006, 07:49 PM, said:

Who ever goes to the wedding needs to video tape it non edited so we can see it all, lol.

Excuse the pun Nathan.... but you sir are Disturbed!


All the best mate, on both of yours special day.