Excerpts From The Journals of Vicky Sawyer, TGAW
Carolyn and Clint's Wedding
11/13/1999
...
Here's an idea I had for Carolyn's wedding that was rejected. While shopping for cake toppers, I saw a bunch of little beer can toppers. I thought we should buy a seperate groom and bride. Have the bride standing up and the groom laying on the cake icing with all the beer cans around him. No one liked that idea. I wonder why.
2/1/2000
A while ago-- maybe a week or so, Carolyn asked me to do the toast at her wedding. Clint isn't choosing a best man because he doesn't want to play favorites. Anyway, I accepted. I have so many ideas-- I really need to focus on just 1 so I have a concise & minimally boring toast.
Isn't it funny that I, still trying to master the workings of love, am chosen to toast theirs?
Well here are some ideas
...
Welcome Clint To Family
discuss how Clint already feels like a family member. he'd attend 6 PM suppers at Elizabeth Turnock's house (especially on taco night) the only one who didn't really care for him was Thomas. Thomas was my grandmother's old beagle. All Clint would have to do was look @ Thomas & he'd start throwing a fit.
Even though now that this marriage is official I am really no relation to them, the L. family already feels like mine. They've given me such laughter and great memories the past few years - carpooling to Va Tech, Mr. L. always reprimanding me for calling him Mr. L., pig roasts, Christmas parties, Mrs. L.'s taco dip-- Man, it's a good thing we're about to eat. I'm making myself pretty hungry for tacos.
Likewise, I think a lot of you, though not "official family" feel part of it. So I ask you all-- even surrogate extended families to join me in saying "Welcome to the Family"
Does this idea fit w/Vonnegut stressing the importance of extended family?
Untitled
My mother, our mother, has a story about me and Carolyn when we were young. I'd say, "Carolyn let's play Cinderella. I'll be Cinderella and you'll be Prince Charming." and Carolyn'd say, "OK!" "Carolyn, let's play Yogi Bear. I'll be Yogi Bear and you'll be BoBo." Carolyn'd say, "OK!"
No matter what, I'd pick the choice roles for myself and give Carolyn what was left over, who was always gracious to receive them.
Well today, Carolyn, you are the star of the show and I'm the supporting cast member. You are the bride and I am grateful to be your bridesmaid and grateful to do this toast.
Dukes of Hazzard
A little later in life Carolyn, Jay and I used to religiously watch the show The Dukes of Hazzard. One day I said, "Beau's my favorite. He's so cute." and Carolyn said-- "He's my favorite too!" I said, "You don't like him. You have brown hair, you have to like Luke the best." And for some reason that logic convinced her! Carolyn lusted for Luke Duke for the remainder of the series.
Well today, Carolyn has picked for herself her own man. And you know what? I think he's a lot better than Luke Duke. I think you made a wonderful choice for yourself.
Carolyn and Clint Adaptability
Marriage, so I'm told, is a tough task-- with a lot of twists and changes and obstacles to overcome. A lot of toast givers take this opportunity to wish the bride and groom good luck towards these challenges that face them as a couple. I really don't feel the need to wish Carolyn and Clint luck. I have no doubt in my mind that they will succeed.
For those of you who haven't gotten a chance to closely observe Carolyn and Clint, there is one thing you really need to know about them.
They are adaptable.
They have done things that not even glamourized relationships on TV can accomplish. They have conquered the long distance relationship-- not once but twice. First for two years when Carolyn was finishing high school and Clint was attending Virginia Tech. Then later after Clint graduated and working in this area, Carolyn spent another year in Blacksburg finishing her degree. They have the same amount of success in close quarters, even when living together. So they can succeed together... and they can succeed apart. No matter what, they succeed.
Evolution-wise- the organisms who can adapt to changing environments are the ones who survive. When it comes to the changes and challenges and hurdles of marriage, Carolyn and Clint are well-equipped.
[Margin Notes: "Personally I've always though Clint was a mutuation" I think that was supposed to be a compliment-- mutation brings forth evolution. "It's funny-- as stubborn as Clint is--he's flexible"]
Clint as Romantic
Angels with one wing a piece. Clint sending flowers to Carolyn on his birthday.
Fighting
My mother often brags that the reason Carolyn & Clint are so successful is because she and my Dad and Becky and Vic taught them how to fight. I don't know how I missed that class and I don't know if that's its success, but whatever you're doing-- keep on doing it, cause you're doing something right.
Reenactment of the First Kiss [This has got to be my lamest idea]
Say When Carolyn asked me to do this she said, "Don't you embarass us, or we'll get mad!" I thought about it and as rarely as Clint gets mad, I decided to risk it. Tell the story of their first kiss and shuffle a deck of cards on the dance floor.
2/10/2000
Today was Carolyn and Clint's wedding. They had it in the game room of their house. It was a lovely venue for a ceremony. The whole room was wood--wood flooring, wood walls. Couches and chairs lined the lengthwise walls so the room was very open. Wedding decorations were hung from the ceiling as well as a headless baby doll. The "altar" was in front of multiple windows with horizontal blinds and a Rugrats poster reading "Potty On!" hanging in front. A glass and wood table sat on the front with three vases of flowers we've received in membrance of Lip. When I was holding Carolyn's bouquet while she and Clint held hands and repeated vows- I had such a remarkable view. I could the back of Clint's head and body. Just over his shoulder I could see Carolyn's eyes- full of love, full of trust, full of happiness looking into his. It was beautiful. I took a photograph, but I don't think it will capture the essence of the moment.
...
2/11/2000 - Supplement from Email to Jason Pitt
...
Carolyn and Clint dated for 8 years (3 years were a long distance relationship!)exactly today. I think they first decided to get married was a little over a year ago. They bought a house and were having a house warming party. My father's mother (still living grandmother) came to the party and said, "I bought you a gift, but I will give it to you when you get married." I think that comment is what started the momentum towards marriage. In essence it already felt like Clint was family... and it felt like Clint's family was family to me. They have been unofficial life partners for quite sometime, this just makes it official.
...
[M]y father and I took my sister out to get her fingernails done for her wedding. We went to a beauty salon and my father walked up to the desk and said, "Three nails please." You could see the attendant counting silently as she looked at my dad, looked at me, looked at my sister and then back at my dad, "You... you want your nails done too?" She was completely baffled which is quite odd because their business cards read "Professional nails for ladies and gentlemen". Anyway, my sister got these fake nail extensions and my father and I got manicures (complete with a spa soak and a hand massage). My father's nails are shiny and beautiful now. He keeps showing them off. This is actually the second time he has gotten a manicure. He loves them.
Here is another quick Dad story. We were walking through an office supply store when a phone obviously intended for the store employees to communicate with each other starts ringing. My sister and I ignored it as typical customers should... My father however, walked over to the phone and picked it up:
Lowell: Hello?..... Well, I'm sure they do. Most office stores do.......No....No, I'm a customer here.......Hold on, I'll find out (cups hand over phone) Vicky, run up front and see how much it costs to send a local fax.
So rather than having an actual employee pursue the answer, I retrieved the information and gave it to my father. I did someone else's job and didn't see a dime.
...
2/8/2000 - Supplement from Email to Jason Pitt
...
Anyway, the memorial service is tomorrow. Carolyn's wedding the next day.. A day off and then the reception. Busy week. Carolyn and Clint selected one of my grandmother's favorite Glen Miller songs as their first dance for the reception. Also, Carolyn's dress is a non-traditional blue velvet. My grandmother when she was wed decades ago, also wore blue velvet. It will be a nice tribute.
...
2/19/2000 - Supplement from Email to Jason Pitt
Damn.. I think I just sent an incomplete message or something. Well if I didn't, it was discussing insomnia the night before my sister's reception last week due to nerves regarding the toast.
Anyway, once I got showered and dressed I did feel much better. However, when people were eating the buffet, I started to get nervous again. In fact, people who didn't even know I was doing the toast would walk up and say, "Are you nervous about something? You look nervous!"
...
My toast wasn't the only tribute to my grandmother. My other grandparents did the blessing before the buffet and said, "And may grandma Lib be looking down from heaven..." Then when Carolyn and Clint were doing their first dance (they picked one of my Grandmother's favorite songs to dance to) Clint's Mom shouted "For Libby! For Libby!" in the beginning. She had to do that because that DJ was so damn dumb.
That DJ messed up a lot.... At one time, he was playing two songs at once.... and he didn't even notice... a guest had to tell him. Also, he forgot the critical "the bride and groom ask you to join them in their first dance." Carolyn and Clint were deathly terrified of having to dance by themselves, so they wanted other people to dance their first dance with them. But because the DJ never said what he was supposed to, everyone left Carolyn and Clint up there alone. Also, he played the "Electric Slide"..TWICE. One time was fun in a nostalgic way. The second time was just.... plain pitiful. Finally, after the first dance the DJ read this fake email that was supposedly from Carolyn. It was talking about how happy she was to be married and how much the DJ rocks her world. Carolyn never wrote such an email. It was pathetic.
Despite his flaws, I'm glad the DJ was there. He made sure everything ran smoothly. He was pretty nice, but annoyingly he quickly learned my name, so whenever he put on a fad song, he'd say into the microphone, "Vicky get up here and dance the electric slide/macarana/etc" Other people who maintained their anonyminity were not be pressured to be affiliated with the likes of Ricky Martin.
Nonetheless, the reception was awesome and an unbridled success. The historic mansion it was held in was so gorgeous and family and friends really meshed with each other. It was an awesome day...and yet when it was all over, you weren't left unsatisfied or disappointed that there wasn't more. It was just awesome.
Carolyn and Clint have been honeymooning in Las Vegas this past week.
...
Show This Page Without Border For Printing
| 