The wedding- more details!

More detail and photos via Tracy and Tom. We will get to see the first wedding photos from the photographer tonight. How exciting! In the meantime, check out the Loud Americans recap of the day with some photos at

www.loudamericans.blogspot.com

Yes, it's true that we were riding bike with high heels and, for Annemiek, in a dress. Common here, but a first for me!

It happened!!!

I've got no photos to share yet, but wanted to let you all know that it happened...we're married and it was the best day ever!!!!!


We rode bicycles from here to a surprise reception before the ceremony at our friends house and enoyed eachother's company and went from there to the city hall together as a group. The ceremony was wonderful with many smiles and tears. The kids were all perfect and cute in their roles during the wedding.

From there we got on a tandem bicycle decorated with white feather boas, just married sign and white roses on the rack in back. We had well wishes and photos from everyone as we biked to the reception with out photographer.

The reception was held in the garden because the weather was absolutley perfect. After refreshment and snacks there we wished the larger group well and moved on to a special dinner with the smaller group of many small plates of wonderful food prepared right there by a very good chef. It was absoltely fantastic.

After that, we had a suprise...a special video of well wishes put together by my friends at home (i lost much of my make up at that point!)

We ended the evening by sending up self propelled hot air balloons....powered by a temporary flame in the balloons. They were large...about 2.5 feet tall. About six went up, sent with wishes for us in our marriage. We walked back into the house before the last one diappeared--- it will never go out, i'm sure!

An amazing day. Thanks to all the well wishes and kind words.

Now....we are ready to RELAX!!!!!

Wendy

Preparations are underway.....

Its almost time!!!! The make-up lady is here at the house helping us right now! It's a beautiful morning here. We both got up and went for a run this morning (seperately). Had a great night sleep and am ready for this great and wonderful adventure for the day and always!

A Private Boat Tour through Central Leiden

How cool is this? Just had a beautiful boat tour through the canals of Leiden. This beautiful wooden boat is owned by my VERY SOON TO BE Father-in-Law, Andre.

The pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy. I sure did.

W:)

The Netherlands- Mmmm....Dutch treats!

Here, recovered from jet lag and able to enjoy all the good things of The Netherlands. Just what are the good things???

Herring- cured with salt and freshly cleaned. The Netherlands consumes a tremendous amount of herring, and although we're eating this 'at home', you'll see people standing around the fish vendor at the market eating their herring. An aquired taste perhaps- this is not fishy.... a bit like eating sushi, Dutch style!

Hutsput and Worst (sausages): Hustsput is a traditional dish of Leiden. Potatoes, carrot and onion all mashed together. When the Spanish had the city surrouded in the 16th century, the food supply was cut off from the city....those three ingredients were some of the last remaining. (The Spanish gave up and went home when heavy rains flooded most of the land. They got tired of having wet feet!).

Salad: The salad greens, vegetables, berries, etc. are all grown here ion green houses- Not just tulips! With everything being local, it just tastes better!

Last, but certainly not least. Beer!!! No description needed.

All is good!

W:)

And we're ready to leave!

And why is it soooo hard to have everything ready to leave?! Cleaning, packing....and trying to address invites our local MN reception. And then there is today's Tour De France stage to watch......

Thanks to you all for all the good wishes. Stay tuned!

Wedding Basics- Who, What, Where and When!

Who: If you know about this blogspot....YOU!

What: Annemiek & Wendy's Wedding Information

When: 3:30 p.m., Wednesday July 27th, 2011

Where: Leiden City Hall (photo, left): Stadhuisplein 3, 2311 EJ Leiden, Netherlands

Really, Where?! Leiden is a city in The Netherlands of approximately 118,000 people. It is located approximately 33.79 Kilometers or 21 miles from Amsterdam.

Accomodations: If you're traveling to Leiden for the wedding, a great place to stay is at the Golden Tulip Leiden Centre. Their website has a Dutch/English language selection on the main page (look upper right) and can be found at: http://www.goldentulipleidencentre.nl/ This hotel is across from the Leiden Central Train Station for ease in day-trip travel and is located near the wedding, too.

Travel from the Airport to Leiden: To get to Leiden, a person could easily take a train from Schipohl Airport to Leiden. http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=Leiden+City+Hall,+NL&fb=1&gl=us&hq=City+Hall,+NL&hnear=Leiden,+The+Netherlands&view=map&cid=7719915981816897216&ll=52.158441,4.491155&spn=0.006345,0.019248&z=16&iwloc=A

How to get around: The official mode of transportation for this wedding is by bicycle, of course! You can rent a bike at the train station (see above).