Mr. & Mrs. Heinzelman - 07/07/07

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

As of July 7th, 2007, I, Lance Heinzelman, am no longer single. I married my beautiful bride, Vanessa, at 7:07pm in a nice church in Mankato, Kansas. The church was decorated nicely with many of the toy flowers I've bought Vanessa over theyears (mostly from Japan trips to Toys R Us), And Vanessa and I both had the same kinds of flowers as her boquet, and my boutiniere.
My best man, Tom, flew in all the way from Tokyo, Japan to be there, while my other groomspeople (yes, I had a lady in my line-up) drove in from Indiana. It was great to see them all again, and it meant a lot that they were there to share my special day with me.
Vanessa's bridesmaids arrived late on the night before the wedding, and we were glad to see them. Her two brothers stood at her side (rather than mine) to balance out the wedding party. Plus, I had a woman on my side, so why shouldn't she have a guy - or two on hers?
The ceremony itself was beautiful, but God has a real sense of humor! Right as the ceremony got started, a pair of bats flew into the main church hall, and had people either laughing, or diving out of the way. It was appropriate, becuse the bat is my favorite animal, and even I couldn't have planned it better. The bats landed on Vanessa's dress, took turnsbuzzing the audiance, and even alighted on the altar.
BUT, the actual weding ceremony was wonderful. Seeing Vanessa walk down the aisle in that dress, her beautiful, shimmering wedding gown with a train that went on for miles...that made every little problem we've faced in the past three years disappear, into one moment of beauty. Her father handed her over to me, and proceeded to the altar, with us in tow (see above for bats). For his first wedding ceremony, my Father-In-Law did an excellent job, and only got choked up, when he pronounced us man and wife. I think it was because of the emotion, and not nerves. Vanessa and I took communion, and then the bride finally got to kiss the groom. (yes, we actually had the line, "the bride may now kiss the groom."

From there, we took pictures at the church, then got on our little horse buggy. It drove us around the little town en route to our reception. At one point, the horse was startled by some passersby, and we almost tipped over, but we made it to the reception in one piece (or in two pieces, I guess).
We danced, we greeted our guests (Sorry, Uncle John), cut the cake and fed each other (just a little messy), danced some more, then as the night drew to a close, we left, with people pelting us with birdseed (you'd think they's open the seed packets and throw the seeds, but some people just threw the whole packet, and that hurt a little). And we were off to spend our first night as Husband and Wife.

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We drove the 15 hours back to Indianapolis, Indiana on the 8th, so I could have a reception for my family, and there were SO MANY PEOPLE! Relatives I haven't seen in decades came out to wish us well. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory in downtown Indy. Friends and family from all over (including Florida, North Carolina, and Indiana) all came together, and it was a very nice showing of love. We did another cake cutting (even nicer than before) and this time we got to throw the boquet and garter (in Kansas, so many people had left by the end of the night, that we didn't get the chance). After diner, Vanessa and I took a carriage ride around the city, then partied with my parents, some of mom's friends from work, and Tom, until it was time to go home.

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So here I am, 30 years old (yes, I hit three decades while in town) and finally married.
I am genuinely happy, and look forward to many years of joy with my new bride. The fact that we've been living together almost like husband and wife for most of that time, really helps us know that we can make it. We've suffered like many couples, and we've gotten much of the early struggles couples have out of the way. So now we can focus on just enjoying the time we have together.

I Love Vanessa, and I hope I can earn her Love back, each and every day. It's not going to be easy. It will be difficult, I will hurt her, I will make her question if I'm the right man for her, and I'm sure at some points, we'll wonder shy we did all this, but through all that, the Love we have, the happioness we bring each other, will see us through it all. Afterall, when you look back, you don't really think about the bad stuff. That's how we are, we remember the good times, and strive each day to make it just a little better, and make each other just a little bit happier.

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To my new bride:

I Love You MORE!






ULI