Andrew and Katie Shook Wedding

Andrew and Katie Shook Wedding

Pam, Charles and I had the pleasure of attending Andrew and Katie’s wedding in Chicago this week. We have included a few of our pictures below.

Charles decided to ride Amtrak from Hutchinson to the event. Pam and I had purchased flights based on Vicki’s recommendations. We knew something was up when we checked in for our flights 24 hours in advance and wound up being very far down in the boarding process. The mystery was solved when we arrived at the Wichita airport. The surprise for this trip was the running of the Chicago Marathon was on Sunday, and the plane was full of marathon runners. After we landed in Chicago and picked up a GMC Yukon rental car, we headed to the Hampton Inn in Skokie to check in. We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory before heading to the Congregational Church to meet the organist for an orientation to the pipe organ and practice. I was familiar with the neighborhood and because of that swung by the Baha’i Temple and the Indian Hills Country Club which was to be the site of the reception. We later learned that Katie’s family had three generations of weddings in the Church followed by receptions at the Country Club, that Katie’s wedding dress was worn by three prior family members including her mother and grandmother and that “The Club” was the inspiration for the movie Caddy Shack since the Brian and Bill Murray family had caddied there when growing up.

Music rehearsal for Tim, Erik and Samuel ran from 1-1:45  on Friday and Pam practiced for the next hour after that. The organ was a Tracker that had been rebuilt in 2007 with three manuals. It took a while to figure out the appropriate stops for the music that Andy and Katie selected. There was some unusual voicing that was not used for the wedding, but would be useful for regular church services. I wanted to listen to all of the stops. I dropped Pam at the Hampton so she could attend the rehearsal at 4:30. I went to pick up the Beavers at Midway airport and Charles from Amtrak Union station. The traffic from rush hour and the marathon road closures was so heavy that it took almost three hours to get the airport and train station. At that point, it was clear that we couldn’t make it back for the rehearsal dinner so we stopped and had Giordano pizza and decided to go straight to O'Hare airport to pick up Mary at 9PM.

Pam tells me the rehearsal itself went smoothly practicing coming in and out several times. Dorothy, Lynn and James served as observers during the whole process. After rehearsal, the dinner in the reception hall of the church included specialties from Chicago including pizza, hot dogs, shredded beef and ice cream from Homer’s which was marvelous and extremely rich. After rehearsal, the Shooks took Pam back to our hotel. When Mary and Charles arrived we chatted for a bit, and Hannah, Mary and Charles went to the hot tub before Charles drove Mary to stay with her Rutherford relatives, Karl and Marilee.

After breakfast in the morning, Charles, Pam and I returned to the church for one last organ rehearsal. The Shooks arrived about 9:45 to rehearse. Charles helped with acoustics, physical arrangement and other musical suggestions. The Shooks were due at The Club by 11AM to dress and get ready for pictures. Afterwards, our family visited a local coffee shop, toy store and book store. By the time this was finished, we joined our friends the Beavers for lunch at Noodles and Co. After picking Mary up, we dressed and drove to the Church for the ceremony.

The church had been decorated with orange flowers on the pews and at the front. Pam played the prelude music and once guests were seated, the ceremony began. A few things of note: the female minister did a nice job with her message and obviously knew the couple well from their counseling sessions. Laughter seemed to be a theme throughout the event. The minister asked everyone to take pictures right at the start of the ceremony and then to put the cameras away. Parents and the bridal parties all had misty eyes, but not enough to interfere with the ceremony. After the ceremony, we took Dorothy and Lynn with us to The Club while the bridal party came in limousines. 

We started the reception outside at the golf course at 6:30, and moved inside for a 7PM dinner and 8:30 dancing. The band was a 10 piece group with a repertoire of over 1,000 songs and some Northwestern University music professors. Charles took Dorothy and Lynn back to the hotel and returned to pick us up. We headed home around 9:30 after Pam injured her leg dancing. I took Mary to the Rutherford’s around midnight. We met with the Shooks and Beavers for breakfast at the hotel. They were headed to a brunch at The Club while we traveled home. Mary and Charles were meeting friends for brunch before heading home themselves. We stopped at immediate care in Wichita to have Pam's injury looked at, but they were not accepting adult patients.

All around, it was a beautiful, well planned wedding with nice musical support from the Shook and Johnston family. Vicki thought the ceremony itself was her favorite part, Tim had not figured out what he liked best. James liked giving Mary the Kleenex she claimed she would not need. Hannah said she liked the ministers message about family and friends being there to support and surround the couple, but not between them. Erik said he liked Dorothy, Lynn and James being the peanut gallery during rehearsal. The wedding was indeed a celebration of and for Andrew and Katie.