Mary Beth's Version:
So what does a girl do when she wants a little excitement in her life, wants to try something new? She goes to a martial arts class where I end up being the only girl surrounded by sweaty guys I don't know and a very intimidating teacher who doesn't seem to want me there. Though tough to crack, I managed to get the teacher to smile and when he did, the whole world seemed to change. It was the most genuine, pure smile I'd ever seen and completely lit up his face and warmed my heart.
Right after that, I threw him across the room. I think it was pretty good too because he seemed to get a little surprised I could throw him that far.
Then he threw me across the room.... and I hit my head.... for those of you who know me, this is not shocking news. However, I shook it off and got up to keep training. Again, another shocked expression. What, did he think I was Barbie?
From that time on I received a smile from him when I came to class, which grew into free private lessons (gee, maybe I should have picked up on something), which led to comp tickets to one of my concerts (to thank him for the private lessons), to a common love of Bourbon and dark beer, to ....us.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve 2009 in my parents drive way, in the rain after a long night of performing. The love of my life gets down on one knee (in a puddle), pulls out my grandmothers engagement ring and asks me to be his wife. My response was, "Really?"... three times. After him reminding me it was raining and I still hadn't given him an answer I replied, " Well, Yeah!" Now that's what I call romance!
It is an amazing thing to have someone know and love you and then look at you and choose you to share their life. I'm honored to be chosen by the only man that can compare to my father in integrity, generosity, and strength.
With him I have experienced the most pure trust and love I have ever known and now know what it means to have a partner.
Kerry's Version
I got a call from a friend of mine who asked me if I would teach a Martial Arts class for him because he was going out of town that day. I told him that I would be more than happy to do it for him. At the end of the conversation he explained to me that we had a new student coming to class and wanted me to make sure that all of the nescessary paperwork was filled out. I asked him, “What is his name?” He said, “HER name is Mary Beth.” My first thought was, “Oh great.” Let me explain..... The type of Marial Art I teach is very combative and is very difficult to learn. Not just for women but me also. We have had women come to the class in the past and the majority of them only come to the first class and then we never hear from them again. My thought was that I was just going to not only be wasting my time, but her’s also. She came into the training hall early as instructed to fill out the paper work and the thing that I remember the most the first time I saw her was that she was wearing a long red coat and mukluk boots. Of course having younger men in the class, I didn’t want to pair her up with a partner who might flirt with her and make her feel uncomfortable so I told her she would be my partner for the class. During the training we were doing a technique that involves throwing your partner. I was showing her step by step and when I felt that she had a good concept of how the technique worked, I told her to do it a little faster and a little harder. To my surprise she did it correctly and I went down with a big “Thump”. I have to admit that it did hurt a little but I wasn’t going to let her know that. It was then my turn to do the technique on her and during the middle of the technique she decided to resist a little and said “Well, what if I do this?” Meaning, how would I counter it. I proceeded to flow into a different technique and threw her a little to hard and she went flying across the room and landed on her back with her head coming down on a free standing heavy bag that has a plastic bottom filled with water to keep the stand from moving. Her head hitting the the stand made a “Whump” noise. I thought “Oh Lord, I have just knocked her out!” Again to my surprise she bounced right back up and with a scowl on her face rubbing her head. I felt really bad but I wasn’t going to let her know that. I asked her if she was alright and she replied, “Growing up in my home has made me tough and now it’s my turn.” I have to say I was very impressed with how she bounced right back and felt more relaxed with her from that point on in the class. That’s how we met for the first time and the second time we got together is even a better story but I will have to save that for some other time. :-)
The Wedding ceremony will be held at 2:00 pm on December 29th 2010 on the Beauregard Terrace of the Mill's House Hotel in Downtown Charleston on Meeting Street. It is outdoors so please bring a warm jacket/coat if weather is less than cooperative. Parking may be found behind the hotel in their parking garage for average parking rates, or if you are lucky and talented, on the street :-)
Attire is ultimately what you are most comfortable partying in, however, we know you would look amazing in semi-formal... hint hint.
The Wedding reception will also be held at the Mills House and will begin at approximately 3:00 pm in Best Friend Lounge adjacent to the lobby downstairs. It will be a standing reception with miscellaneous available seating and food service of heavy hors d'oeuvre's. Please don't feel you will need to eat before hand, for when I say "heavy hors d'oeuvre's" I can guarantee the chef is excited to provide you with the most decadent, after hours chef cuisine she can. You will not leave hungry! There will also be a consumption bar available so don't plan on leaving thirsty either!
Accomodations are available at the Mills House Hotel and though they have blocked off rooms for us at a rate of $139, I believe you may find a better rate through priceline, hotwire, hotels.com, kayak.com, etc.
Because The Mill's House is downtown, a downtown hotel would eliminate the need for a rental car because we can arrange pick up and drop off from the airport. Everything in the downtown area will be within walking distance to the wedding site. Charleston is incredibly beautiful at Christmas time so please take advantage of the location and season and see some of such a breathtaking historical city.
Available airports for an arranged pick up are : Columbia, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach.
*there are a variety of people driving from these locations, and if you're flying in from Michigan we can arrange pick up from any one of these airports.
We are so excited to share our union with all of you! It is truly an honor to have your presence with us as we take our vows and celebrate our love for each other. Rather than conventional wedding gifts please help us in starting our life together with the vacation of a life time. Neither of us has actually had a vacation in at least a decade and due to the reality of life in general, we're overdue! Instead of wedding gifts of the traditional nature, we are very humbly requesting donations for our once in a lifetime (literally) honeymoon. We have plenty of appliances and other house hold items and what we've decided we really needed, was a vacation! There is a honeymoon registry feature on our wedding website and any help you are willing and able to comfortably give is very appreciated and a blessing to us.
