We lived within two miles of each other growing up in Arizona, but never met until high school. Even though we didn’t know each other as kids, a lot of our childhood memories were made in the same zip code. We played in the same ball crawls, colored on the same children’s menus, and got dropped off at the same malls. We might’ve even bumped into each other at some point or passed each other in a parking lot, but we were none the wiser. So, knowing our entire lives were spent building relationships in the same town, we knew that we didn’t have a choice: we were having a big wedding. And, really, we didn’t want it any other way. We both have very large families, and when you combine them with all of the friends we made along the way, it made our invitation list longer than Santa’s. Our number of guests ended up being just about double the national average, and every RSVP card that came back with a yes just made us that much more excited.
Well, our nerdy plan worked! Our guests danced the night away until the lights came back on, but we weren’t ready for the night to be over and neither were our families and friends. So, we made a stop on the way to our hotel at Buffalo Wild Wings, partly because it was close to home for everyone, and partly because it was the only place big enough and empty enough on a Friday night to accommodate 60 people! On our drive over, Amy asked if she should change into more comfortable clothes. “No way!” Jordan told her, “Tonight’s your night to be a princess, and the clock hasn’t struck midnight yet.” When we arrived, we went from table to table hugging our closest friends in the world and recapping an amazing day and night together. We took a lot of point-and-shoot photos at each table, which we still treasure to this day. (We got married before most people had smart phones with good cameras, which just shows you how old we’re really getting!) Our photographers were technically off the clock when the reception ended, so we invited them to come to our after party as guests to celebrate with us.
They did, and they brought their cameras, too. At some point, one of them got a vision for one last photo to encapsulate the fun of the night, asked the bartender for permission, and helped Jordan hoist Amy onto the bar top in her white dress. All of our friends went wild cheering for the newest husband and wife in town, and it was the perfect way to end the night. Dancing on a bar top. This was the very last photo taken of us on our wedding night. It hangs in a frame just outside our bedroom door as a constant reminder of just how fun life can be when you’re spontaneous with the person you love.
Photo Credit: David Blakeman
Want to catch up on The Pink Slip Files? You can read them all right here:
Intro: What Are the Pink Slip Files?
No. 1: Failing Pre-Marital Class & Otter DNA
No. 2: Sink or Swim
No. 3: Turning Off the Lights
No. 4: Leave a Message at the Tone
No. 5: Chocolates, Mystery Shows & Honeymooning
No. 6: Cutting Coupons & Wal-Mart Jeans
No. 7: Paper Chains of Memories
No. 8: Dancing on Bar Tops
No. 9: Man’s Best (Feline) Friend
No. 10: Confessions of a Waffle Fry
No. 11: What’s So Important About Shoelaces?
No. 12: Breaking Records… Like It’s 1924
No. 13: Why We’re Not as Classy as We Thought
No. 14: A Letter to My Only Starbucks Lover
No. 15: The Night We Killed Someone (Kind Of)
No. 16: Lord, It’s a Fire!
No. 17: 6 Words We Never Thought We’d Google
No. 18: How Jordan Convinced Amy… To Take Her Clothes Off. Every Time We Walk in the Door
