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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.
