Directions

Once upon a time, Jessica and David dreamt up a useful wedding blog of which their wedding guests could use to find information about the wedding. Since then, it's devolved into David's stand-up comedy routine and Jessica's place to voice her thoughts.

Now, though, for directions to the wedding events. Please click the link to pull up a Mapquest rendering of the directions.

From the Hampton Inn in Findlay to Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Ottawa (30 minutes drive time)

From Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Ottawa to the Northridge Swim and Tennis Club in Findlay (30 minutes drive time)

From the Northridge Swim and Tennis Club in Findlay to the Hampton Inn in Findlay (1 minute drive time)

Our wedding week trauma

I knew something unexpected and traumatic would happen this week. I just didn't think it would be in my mouth.

All weekend, I'd felt pain in the mouth, particularly in my wisdom teeth. I kept hoping it'd just go away, but it didn't. Jessica finally reminded me what I already knew Sunday night: I'd better see a dentist here, lest I have to find one when we're in Jamaica on the honeymoon.

I found a dentist who'd see me on short notice. After X-raying my mouth, the dentist reminded me a guy my age shouldn't have all four of his wisdom teeth anymore. Then he told me it seemed pretty obvious the wisdom tooth on the upper right side probably compacted the other teeth and caused all other types of unspeakable pain.

Then he shocked me with his offer. He said he could extract it, right then and there. And, much to my own surprise, I told him to go ahead and do it. And, shockingly enough, I was back to work within an hour of leaving the office.

Hopefully the pain will disappear altogether by Saturday. It hurts, but I'll be the first to admit it's a different pain than what I went in there for. But if it's what it'll take to make me smile sweetly on our special day, it'll be worth the pain.

One last weekend for us...

We've wrapped up our last weekend as a single couple, if that even makes sense. We sent Lissie off to visit with family for Friday and Saturday nights and took the opportunity to remind ourselves what we like about one another.

There was a lot of silly giggling going on, all the way down to "our last Sunday Mass as single people."

On Friday night, we returned to the "Scene of the Crime," also known as the first date. Now that we're in the stretch run, it seems safer to tell some of these cutesy stories of Jessica and I.

Jessica and I were set up by a mutual friend. I knew of Jessica, and she know of me, but neither of us knew each other very well until our first date.

It was an awkward trek from her home in Pandora to Rosilli's restaurant in Findlay, where we dined and shared a bottle of a zinfendel. At that point, we covered the basics: Who we are, where we've been, what we've done.

The real magic came from a silly date spot. We went to a local railroad enthusiasts' yard, where they were offering "haunted trainrides" on the half-scale train. It was a little bit lame, to be honest, but it was fun on a cool October night.

Then we walked over to the "haunted cubicles" they had in their office building. It was extremely dark in there. The woman at the door suggested we hold hands as we walked through, so we didn't get separated.

That woman was a genius. And to all the guys out there looking for a perfect way to break the ice, I recommend a haunted anything. There's nothing like getting scared together to build a bond.

After that we went to a local place that has skeeball and air hockey. Jess always wins skeeball, and I usually win air hockey. We established those ground rules that night, although we each hope to unseat the other some day.

We stopped at another place and had a drink or two. That's when it really became comfortable conversation. It seemed like we'd known each other for decades, not hours.

That's really the remarkable part, even up to this moment. We have a neat balance of a wonderful comfort with one another, yet there's still an excitement and new-ness that we'll send each other text messages. It's all good.

So anyway, aside from recreating the dinner and walking portion of our first date, we also went to a rib cook-off Saturday night and then made a trek to Grand Lake St. Marys on Sunday for a boat ride and swimming.

None of these things had anything to do with planning the wedding. You might say we took a mini-vacation from that. But every one of them reminded us why there was a wedding in the first place.

Anticipation...

It's one week away now.

It's hard to explain exactly how it makes me feel. I'm sort of giddy. I'm certainly excited about it.

It will change my whole life, there's no doubt about it. I've always wanted this, but I've had to wait until the blessed marriage date to enjoy it.

I've always felt so closed-in, but I know this will open up my life tremendously.

That's right... Finally we'll be moving these boxes of topiaries and decorations out of my office at the house. I'll have the room to myself.

What did you think I was talking about?

In trouble

I'm not sure why they call it a bachelor party of a bachelorette party. It's really for the friends and relatives who go along. I guess "friends and relatives party" doesn't sound all that exciting.

Jessica and I doubled up on our parties this weekend. I celebrated mine in Columbus with a rowdy bunch. Jessica tried the Putnam County bachelorette party, meaning she went bar-hopping.

I don't know that many details about Jessica's party. Here's why: I trust her. (And I know she didn't bring Don Juan home with her.)

And while I'm not claiming she doesn't trust me, I have to wonder. She's asked a lot of questions about what we did.

Here's the trick: We did what guys do at bachelor parties. We drank alcohol -- a lot of it. We told off-color jokes -- a lot of them. We looked at the female anatomy -- pretty much all of it, on a lot of girls.

It's a funny way to end your days as a "single man." I don't know how many times a buddy said to me, "Come on man, aren't you going to miss this?"

I've been missing out on life without realizing it. I never really spent my days having attractive women gyrating overtop me in hopes of me handing them a couple bucks. My experiences with women dancing usually involved me sitting in the corner of the room, hoping they're having a good time while realizing I'm not even blessed enough to have two left feet.

So anyway, I came home learning several valuable lessons. Take notes, fellow grooms:
1. Call her. A lot. Become annoying about it. As it turns out, talking to her briefly before you leave, sending her a text message at 4 a.m. and then coming back around 3 p.m. is not acceptible.
2. You did not have fun. If you did, it was in the party that didn't involve gyrating females.
3. You were thinking about your future spouse every single minute of it.
4. You really did not have fun. No kidding.

Learn from my mistakes. I didn't do so well, and I've heard a bit about it.

The good part is we got that one last (albeit the very first) wild night of my life out of the way. Now I'm ready to settle down and marry a wonderful gal.

"I just can't do it anymore," Jessica just said to me.

It's so disheartening. I thought it was meant to be a major part of our life together. But alas, she says she doesn't want to do it anymore. She's tired of blogging.

Truth be told, I can understand it. It's been a couple weeks since either of us blogged, and it's understandable why. We've been really stinking busy actually doing wedding stuff instead of talking about it.

We picked out stuff for the baskets we'll give our wedding party.

We designed and sent out invitations for the wedding party for our rehearsal dinner.

We designed our programs and double-checked a number of things.

We've continued to manage the RSVP list. (If you're one of the 60-some remaining, what are you waiting for? Better seats?)

We've shopped for bridesmaids shoes. (Well, "we" might be a bit extreme on that one.)

Now we're preparing for the ol' send-off from singledom, the bachelor and bachelorette party. (We're both preparing for massive hangovers, mine on Saturday and hers on Sunday.)

And we've made lists. Lots and lots of lists. My personal favorite was the list of lists we had to make. (Jessica's confession as she reads that: "We did do that.")

So here's the general update: We still love each other. And if you can still love one another after plotting out a wedding, well, you can make it through anything.

I know I'm looking forward to seeing folks on the 29th, particularly that beautiful gal walking down the aisle.

Music mayhem!

Don't let two anal retentive, organized people even think about planning the music for any kind of gathering.

What you'll end up with is a list of 10 hours' worth of music deemed "appropriate" for a wedding and a DJ who has no flexibility whatsoever.

We spent last night finish up our wedding playlist. I felt something like Andy Travis from WKRP in Cincinnati, trying to put together the perfect mix of music for my friends and family.

Most of all, though, we went heavy on meaningful lyrics, especially on slow songs. Jessica and I share a fondness for finding the perfect song that says the perfect thing.

That spells trouble for the poor DJ, who has very little flexibility to do much of anything. But I'm sure he'll make the most of it, and probably take some cheap shots at us for telling him when and where he can play anything.

And yes, it's true, there is a FORBIDDEN SONG LIST. Don't challenge him on it. There will be no Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance or Electric Slide. Similarly, Gloria Estefan and Celine Dion won't be a part of the party.

If you'd really like to dance to these wedding standards, contact David as soon as possible and he'll give you instructions on how you can pay the caterer and get the party you want on the 29th.