Riggs-Kozub Wedding Recap

Urban myth verified: I wore a bridesmaid's dress from last summer. I thought that never happened!

DJ and I went to a wedding this weekend that was so incredibly unique that I’m still processing it!

Jeff (the groom) coaches little league baseball with DJ, and Suzy (the bride) used to work in the same office I do; we also have a TON of mutual friends. I should add that Jeff is super quirky. A college basketball player turned self-made farmer and entrepreneur, marrying a super-organized, University of Virginia grad.

Instead of registering for gifts, they registered for trees and landscaping materials for their property. How cool is that?! I’d much rather give someone a tree than a plate! Last fall they moved a 100 year old farmhouse about 20 miles and put it on a new foundation on property the groom bought a while ago. The week before the wedding they invited all of their guests or out of town guests to camp on their property. In lieu of a rehearsal dinner on Friday night, they invited everyone out to their property to help plant trees, and BBQ. There were even antique fire truck rides! (Like I said, Jeff is quirky; he owns an antique fire truck).

People camped on their property, with the trees planted. There may have been a rattlesnake killed, skinned and BBQ'd that evening too.

Fire Truck rides. Seriously, how cute is Jeff's nephew in the middle in the fireman hat!?

Their wedding was Saturday night at the local historic middle school turned cultural center. Guests arrived at 4pm to food and beer or wine. Beverages were served in a random assortment of glasses that the groom purchased over a lifetime of going to garage sales and farm auctions.

Alisha, drinking from her garage-sale glass!

At 4:30pm the bride and groom arrived via antique fire truck (I’m so mad that I didn’t get a photo!) and mingled until 5:30pm, when everyone was ushered into the auditorium for Act I of “the show”.

First, the bride and groom walked down the “aisle” (between rows of seats) and thanked everyone for coming. They introduced the MC, a longtime friend of the groom’s. The MC introduced all of the “scenes” which included skits by their close friends (think in lieu of a wedding party. These were the people who would have been bridesmaids or groomsmen). Scenes included slideshows of their childhoods, the results of a quiz emailed to all of the guests the week before, poems acted out by their friends, and a skit about how the groom lured the bride into dating him. It ended with the groom serenading the bride (lip-synching), while groomsmen picked her up, the little league baseball players brought her flowers, etc. The Blue Jays, who'd finished a playoff game about two hours before this.

After Act I there was an intermission, with beer and popcorn in the lobby. It was a good chance to use a bathroom for some of us who may have drank some beer…

Act II was the ceremony part. It began with a video of the house being moved a year ago. The second video was of the BBQ they had last fall, where the groom sent everyone (both the bride and groom’s families were there) on a scavenger hunt to find letters spelled out. The bride had to put the letters together, and it spelled out “Marry Me Suzy” (the bride later noted the lack of a question mark). It was all on video, including the look on the groom’s mom’s face when she figured out what it spelled before the bride did! Basically from the part where Suzy figured out he was proposing, there wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium!

After the videos were over, the parents came up on the stage and offered advice to the couple.

Suzy's dress was so fitting for her and Jeff was in this suit for all of about an hour. He changed back into shorts and a collared shirt right afterwards :)

Then two friends presided over the ceremony, in which the bride promised to let the groom wear mis-matched socks for the rest of his life, and the groom promised to “be present, mentally and physically” (he’s a traveler). It was one of the most un-traditional, but incredibly heartfelt and sincere ceremonies I’ve ever, ever seen. It was awesome.

Dancing on stage. Check out the backdrop!

After the vows were done, everyone danced in the former gym turned reception hall! It was a really, really awesome wedding. And it made me think, if you have the creativity and vision to try to pull something like that off, DO IT! Unforgettable!

Dancing to The Clintons in the former gym. I even got DJ to dance with me!

Congrats Suzy and Jeff!