(Also posted on my blog)

April 20, 2008

I’m baaack. And I have a wife now. ( reading, typing and saying that still knocks me on my ass) It was a phenomenal week, and there are pictures to come soon. Most will be on our mywedding.com site.

But let me share the expiernce with you, and it started days before we exchanged vows. Not sure if you heard about it, but recently American Airlines decided they should ground some flights. Just so happens they grounded the model of plane we were scheduled to depart for Dallas on April 10th. So my dad calls the airline at 3pm on the 9th, and they said all things were a go. Good news right? Yes, but then 6pm came. When my now mother-in law called and said they heard the flight was cancelled. Needless to say, panic set in. Turns out, the flight was cancelled. Um, ********* comes to mind. The next 4 hours were spent trying to get a hold of someone at the airlines.

Finally that happens, and we’re faced with new decisions. How do we get to Dallas? Our flight out of Dallas leaves at noon, and it’s now 11pm. American has offered us a flight out of Springfield Missouri, just 3 ½ hours away. To make things even more complicated, there’s 7 of us on the flight. The plan is to rent a mini van and leave for Springfield at 1:30am. Then there’s a new hurdle, the car rental place at Kansas City International Airport closes at 12, and it’s 11:40. My dad is en route, but probably wont make it. I call, and of course there is no direct line, so I tell the operator for the company our story. She contacts the office and shares the story with them, and they stay open till 1am just for us.

That’s the type of customer service you see re-created in a commercial, I had no idea that stuff really happened. So at 1:30 we all meet at the airport, so we can have our cars there when we get home, and head out. The ride wasn’t completely uneventful, although I slept through most of it, just to be woken the few times my dad started to dose and ran on the edge of the highway. Had I been awake, I probably would have needed to change my boxers.

We made it though, but I won’t lie. The bride, as well as myself, were a bit nervous about what the week held for us after this start. And I’ll tell you about that later.

April 21, 2008

So we finally made it to Mexico, and as Porqchop said, Frontier is the way to go. The flight from KC to Cancun is as long as our drive from KC to Springfield. Do you have any idea how sick that made us feel? And we had no clue Springfield even had an airport. We take our bus from the airport to the hotel, and after finally checking in we see the ocean.

Just a gorgeous beach. But we’re still a little worried, because we read some not so favorable reviews. We trust my folks, but having a group of 24, we knew some could run into various issues. And they did. A stank room and no A/C, that doesn’t spell fun. But the issues were pretty much solved, and fairly quickly. We found ‘Chop and some other friends almost immediately, re-enforcing our confidence in choosing to get married at a smaller resort.

The next couple of days were spent lounging on the beach and by the pool, playing with the kid (who did an amazing job of warming up to everyone and getting over her shyness, as well as soaking in all the attention as the only child in the group). And then it was Game Time.

Saturday came, and off went Mrs. Hirp to get her hair done. I went to my folks room to get dressed, then hit the pool bar to get a beer for the nerves. Not nervous about getting married, just the attention. And by this time, the attention wasn’t just from our friends and family. We had become celebs of sorts around the resort. Thanks in large part to my mother, who announced we were getting married to every single person she saw. I heard plenty of “good lucks” and a few “don’t do it” cracks. This just added to the experience, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have happened had we been married in KC.

Then everyone finds there way to the spot on the beach where we were to take the giant leap. And they waited, and then waited a little more. Shit, the bride is running late. I said running LATE, not away. Turns out there were some communication problems with the hair stylist. So we started maybe 2 minutes late, and my mother was already crying. Hell, she was crying the day before at the rehearsal. And I don’t mean getting misty, she was crying. It was great. It helped that we had my brother, who was also marrying us, sing her favorite song “Sunrise, Sunset” which guarantees tears like the water in Mexico guarantees tears from the other end. Then we learned how hard it can be to walk gracefully in sand, luckily we were barefoot.

In no time I was standing in front of our family and friends repeating the vows we wrote. We must admit the reading about marriage wasn’t ours; we stole it from Paul Newman. Hey, if you’re gonna borrow (steal) from someone, there’s lesser man to borrow from.

And just like that, I was married. Suddenly everything changed, yet remarkably it stayed the same. Game over.

April 18th, 2008

We did it, and we're back. I'll update more soon, but for now I just wanted to get a few pics on here. More to come, and a link to the entire album is coming soon along with some stories and thoughts.

Thanks,

The Hirps

-------

It's all coming together now. We have our date, location and very possibly the suit and dress. We have a guest list, a menu, and tunes picked out. We've picked out invitations and worked on our vows. The Matron of Honor and Best Man have been asked and graciously accepted. Now all we need is the seconds to move a little faster and to fill out those wonderful passport applications.

Inside this site you'll find some photos, maybe a few stories, a place to RSVP and details about the resort and surrounding areas. Kick off your shoes and stay a while. Please stop by and sign the guestbook.

Love,

Gregg and Chris Ann aka The Hirps

ps- Please remember to RSVP if you are planning to attend.