Christine & Mike

Christine & Mike’s wedding was on February 29th, 2008 in Foxboro, MA. The wedding was held at Lake View Pavilion, a beautiful ceremony and reception site. It was a movie-themed wedding, complete with movie titles for table names and a fully functional popcorn machine during the reception.

The bride’s Uncle Al performed the ceremony, thanks to a law in Massachusetts that allows anyone to request a one-day solemnization certificate from the governor’s office. The ceremony text, as well as the bride & groom’s vows and the maid-of-honor’s speech, are below.

All pictures from the wedding can be seen in our online album and prints can be purchased at Shutterfly.com.

The Ceremony

Christine and Mike, you have gathered your family and friends here today to share in this most joyous occasion. You have each chosen the other as partner and have offered to share your life together not only as husband and wife, but more importantly, as best friends.

Mawwiage is what brings us together today. Mawwiage, that blessed event, that dream within a dream, is a special and beautiful union providing companionship, security, and comfort in good times, like the Red Sox winning the World Series, as well as difficult times, like the Patriots losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. Marriage is a union that will join Christine and Mike in heart and in body and will serve as the very soul and foundation of a truly committed relationship.

They asked me to speak of some of the things we all wish for them today, and I thought of how I know Christine and Mike. It’s 18 years that I have known Christine as my wife’s Million Dollar Baby and Mike, the last 4 as Christine’s Braveheart. Their interest in music and movies is something we share, so I thought it would be appropriate to quote from one of their favorite movie soundtracks, The Wedding Singer: “I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad / Carry you around when you’re arthritis is bad / All I wanna do is grow old with you.” And if I’ve ever met two people who want to grow old together, these really are the two people.

When we first saw Christine with Mike, what hit our minds was, “Shakespeare’s In Love” and they both knew when they first saw each other that it was The Sure Thing. Today, on this special day, they realize not only is their love From Here To Eternity, but it’s Moonstruck and filled with Goodfellas. Marriage symbolizes the intimate sharing of two lives, so as you enter the technicolor of your marriage, may you provide each other always with Sense & Sensibility and may all your days vibrate with High Fidelity and have you Bound for Glory.

At this time, Christine and Mike would like to share their own thoughts and wishes.

Christine: I always wondered if marriage would be as easy as my parents made it seem. They always look so in love, even when just setting the table or doing yardwork. They look happy just being near each other.

Being near you is what makes me happy. When I’m with you, I feel complete. I know that I’ve found the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. The man that I will treasure, care for, and love. The man that will love me, respect me, and care for me.
You make me believe in myself. You keep me sane. You make me laugh and you take care of me when I’m sick. You love me for who I am.

I couldn’t ask for a more loving, generous, and kind-hearted husband as you. I love you just as you are, every day. And I will love you for the rest of my life.

Mike: I never believed in happily ever after. I never understood needing someone. I never felt understood. Until I found you.

You’ve made me grow, you’ve helped me learn, you’ve helped me want to be a better person. You’ve inspired me, you’ve enlightened me, you’ve helped me become who I am.

I always wondered what it would be like to find someone who fit so perfectly with me. I’ve found you, my match. The woman I’ll love, and treasure for the rest of my life. My love, my life, my best friend.

You’ve changed me in ways I could never possibly begin to explain. You’ve inspired me to evolve, you’ve inspired me to aspire. You’ve inspired me to love.

Words can never express how truly happy I am that we found each other. If I were to tell you all of the things that I love about you, it would take just short of forever. You are my love. You are my reason. You are my everything.

Uncle Al: Christine and Mike, are you ready to exchange your vows?

Christine & Mike: Yes

Uncle Al: Do you, Mike, take Christine as your wedded wife to live together in a state of matrimony? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, cherish her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?

Mike: I do.

Uncle Al: Do you, Christine, take Mike as your wedded husband to live together in a state of matrimony? Do you promise to love him, comfort him, cherish him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others as long as you both shall live?

Christine: I do.

Uncle Al: Please present the rings. These bands are a symbol of the circle that represents the unbroken journey that they will now share in life together.

Mike, place the ring on Christine’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed, and I pledge to you all my love.

Mike: With this ring, I thee wed, and I pledge to you all my love.

Uncle Al: Christine, place the ring on Mike’s finger and repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed, and I pledge to you all my love.

Christine: With this ring, I thee wed, and I pledge to you all my love.

Uncle Al: Now that Christine and Mike have exchanged vows before me and those here present, by the power invested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you husband and wife.

You may now kiss the bride.

The Maid-of-Honor’s Speech, given by Trish Fontanilla

First of all, I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight. I was beginning to think that Christine and Mike made some of you up. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Trish Fontanilla. I’m one of Christine’s BFFs. Or BFFAE. Best friends forever and ever. You might be wondering how two people can get on the BFFAE track. I mean, you can be friends with a someone for a long time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up besties. I knew I was on track when I instinctively performed my patented boyfriend test after Christine introduced me to Mike.

So quick back story: Christine and I met each freshman year of college. A year later, we moved into a suite together. The first half of the semester, I was working long hours at a movie theater so I was always exhausted. When I came home one night, I remember chatting with the girls for a quick minute in our common room when Crystal slipped in, “Oh and there’s a boy in Christine’s room.” The exhaustion drained from my body. “Wait WHAT?” I made a few passes by the door before I concluded that she wasn’t alone. Incredibly curious as to who was inside, I remember knocking on the door. “Why hello, Christine. I just wanted to borrow a pencil. Oh. I didn’t know that you weren’t alone.” I can’t reveal all the details of the boyfriend test, but I did check if his pupils were dilated and I assessed how far apart they were sitting, you know.. if he was invading her personal space. His hands were also clearly visible.

After that night Mike passed several other boyfriend tests and they became one of the few couples I’d hang out with. Despite the squeals of disbelief I emitted while hiding in a bathroom stall at work, when she told me they were getting married it felt like a natural progression.

And so.. I got to thinking about this toast. And in going with their wedding theme of movies, and Christine and Mike’s love of John Cusack… I decided to go High Fidelity-style and make a Top 5 List for the occasion. Top 5 Reasons Mike and Christine should be together forever and ever

1. She likes to make cupcakes and he likes to eat them. Period. A classic case of supply and demand gone right. Note that it’s also on the top five reasons why Christine and I are BFFAE. Minus Mike Sub Trish.
2. She breaks things and he fixes them. Okay, she doesn’t break a lot of things, but her friends and family do. And Mike fixes them because he’s a super genius.
3. Mike and I get along really well. I mean, c’mon, as BFFAE, I’d like to think I have some stake in who I’ll be hanging with for the next 70 plus years. And he thinks I’m funny.
4. Which is a sub section of 3, he puts up with Christine and my love for birds. Ducks and chickens respectively. I mean, I don’t know many guys that would let 70 rubber ducks hang out in the master bedroom.
5. The way they complement each other. Christine looks incredibly radiant and stunning tonight. I mean she always looks beautiful but it’s like they make each other shine brighter. And there’s a certain way that Mike looks at Christine. It’s that kind of shy, devious look that children get when they’re trying to contain their excitement. It’s the same way my father’s face lit up when my mother entered the room and it’s the same way my grandfather looked at my grandmother after almost 70 years of marriage.

Basically if I were in love court, these 5 reasons would be win me the case.

And so…

I wish you two happiness, wealth so that I can live in your cabana, and enough babies to make up the Jivin’ Jandreau Five. Yeah that’s the name I gave your family Rock Band.

To Mike and Christine.

Other Wedding Details

The Cake: Our cake was made by Konditor Meister, and was absolutely beautiful. They worked with us to make the cake fit the movie theme by putting film reels and movie clapboards around the bottom two layers. They put a red carpet with red velvet ropes on the top layer.

Mike & I made our own cake topper featuring Han Solo and Princess Leia. The couple have their getaway ride flying behind them - the Millennium Falcon with a “Just Married” sign in the Star Wars font.

The cake was delicious as well. The bottom and the top layers were chocolate cake with chocolate mousse. The middle layer was white cake with white chocolate mousse and a little raspberry filling.

The Table Names: We named each table after our favorite movies. Ours was Serendipity, the John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale movie about true love. We gave Chris’ parents the Braveheart table, since that’s Mike’s favorite movie, and Mike’s parents The Wizard of Oz table since that’s Chris’ favorite movie.

The other table names were:
V for Vendetta
The Italian Job
High Fidelity
Ocean’s 11
Office Space
The Princess Bride
Star Wars
The Prestige

We asked all our guests to sign the movie poster at their table, in place of a traditional guest book. Mike scanned all the posters and you can see what all our guests wrote in our photo album.

The Music: The wedding wouldn’t have been as totally awesome as it was without our fantastic DJ - Paul Giroux. He took our must-play and do-not-play lists and made our wedding absolutely perfect. He did our ceremony music and reception music. The ceremony music was:

• Entrance of the grandparents of the bride & groom, parents of the groom, mother of the bride, and wedding party: “Rain” - The Vitamin String Quartet covering Breaking Benjamin
• Entrance of the Bride and her Dad: Intro to “Love Song” by Tesla
• Recessional: “Clair de Lune” by Debussy

Paul helped Mike pick out fantastic entrance music for the reception too. When the family and the bridal party entered the reception, the “007 Theme” was playing. When the bride & groom entered, the “Star Wars Theme” played.

The bride & groom’s first dance was “I Live My Life For You” by FireHouse, the acoustic version.

The bride danced with her Dad to “Beautiful in My Eyes” by Joshua Kadison.

The groom danced with his Mom to “Through the Years” by Kenny Rogers.

The cake-cutting song was “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard.

The last three songs were (in order): Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York;” The Standells’ “Dirty Water;” and Guns ‘N Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”