August 2004, Minneapolis, Minnesota! Getting ready for Aaron and Michelle's Wedding!
Josh and I avoided the gift registry. We built something a married couple could actually USE.
That's right. A floating-arm trebuchet. Like a catapult, but with more flinging power.
We built it in Tor and Jess' basement in the days before the wedding. But we didn't have any appropriate ammunition...
...So we went to historic Fort Snelling to try and get some musket balls.
We tried playing good cop/bad cop with the guard holding the musket at the door, but he admitted that they don't let him fire his gun. He had no musket balls.
We tried Sutter's Store (#7), but the historical reenactor shopkeeper wouldn't break character. He would only let us pay for things with muskrat or beaver pelts.
We considered assaulting the Fort head-on and just taking what we needed. After all, the guards didn't actually have any bullets in their guns...
Finally we haggled with the local "fur trader." He wouldn't break character either, insisting we pay him in pelts for his musket balls. So I told him that Josh was a representative of the Northwest Trading Company and that he might be able to get him a job with them. He reluctantly agreed to give us a handfull of musket balls in exchange.
TAKE THAT, HISTORICAL REENACTORS!
It's the morning of the wedding!
Josh and Justin iron shirts at the Foss home.
Justin helps Aaron's nephew Ben get ready for the big day.
Pictures before the ceremony.
Aaron is feeling lighter than air. He's dancing around like Gene Kelly.
The beautiful Bridesmaids wait patientlyfor the ceremony to begin.
The Groomsmen, on the other hand, really know how to pass the time.
Aaron's Dad pulls up in his classic '66 Mustang convertable. In my entire life, including 18 years of knowing Aaron, this is only the second time I have seen this beautiful car uncovered.
And so the ceremony begins.
The Groomsmen wait in the wings as the music starts.
This is the last picture ever taken of Aaron as a bachelor.
It was a beautiful ceremony.
They're married! Everybody's happy!
Tor hangs out with my mom afterwards.
Man, that is one beautiful car... Also, there's some people that just got married in the background. Couldn't crop them out.
Off to the reception!
Aaron and Michelle show up with Justin at the wheel.
What a happy couple!
Wow. What a beautiful, beautiful car.
Aaron has to go back to the church to get a cd he forgot, and he and Justin offer me a ride.
I am in love with convertables.
Reception! Take a look at this CAKE!!
You might recognize it as the walled city of Minis Tirith from New Line Cinema's Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
As you can see, the cake decorator put an enormous amount of effort into the details.
Each level of the castle has been modeled exactly.
Even the stone archway was built in.
A pretty awesome cake - A feat of cakemaking brilliance.
Now let's eat it!
The first dance. To Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World."
Then the party REALLY gets started.
When Aaron met Michelle, she was 25 feet tall and 16 feet thick. It took two solid years of huggin' to squeeze her down to normal size.
I will survive.
Dancin' the night away.
And dancing. And dancing. And dancing.
Tor and his brother Lars.
Let no man stand between Aaron and his Bride.
It's that time of the night. The Groom tosses the garter to one fateful bachelor.
Guess who's next?