John Clare's Personal Web Site	Saturday, December 14, 2024
	Going to the Chapel

On Sunday, August 9th, 1998, my wife and I were married. These pictures were taken on that amazing day... the reception, our honeymoon, and my bride, Gail.

Since the Web was relatively new and awesome in the 90's, I created an informational website leading up to the event, and listed the URL on our invitations. It had pictures, directions, plans, etc. Granted, it looks really crude from a contemporary perspective, but it was pretty cool back then, and I couldn't simply delete them. If you're curious, follow this link to the original Wedding Website.

Before the wedding, our photographer spent time with the Bridal Party as they dressed and prepared for the ceremony. Here we have some of those special pictures, followed by many more of the wedding day photos professionally scanned on to a Kodak Photo CD. Click on the CDROM for some beautiful pictures of Gail and her Bridal Party.

The ceremony itself went very well. Gail looked lovely in white, and I looked only half as nervous as I actually was. Although the Wedding Ceremony was really our day, I think the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl stole the show. Click on the CD to the right and see for yourselves.

We left the church in style, chauffeured in a vintage Rolls Royce. Our Wedding Reception was held at the White House Lodge, in Webster Park, and the weather that day was perfect. Lake Ontario was a beautiful scenic backdrop to the fun, the music, the food and the wine. What a party!

Over 130 Friends & Family joined us that day at the church and in the Park. The food was wonderfully prepared in stations by Gateway Catering, music by Steve Turner, and wine personally selected from favorite Finger Lake wineries earlier that Summer. For Gail and I, it was the best party ever!

We split our honeymoon into two events, the first of which was three days and two nights at the Mohonk Mountain House in New Palz, NY. Mohonk is a century old estate at the base of this beautiful mountain lake. Click on the digital camera to the right for some great pictures of the grounds, the facility, and incredible panoramic views from the mountain top.

For our stay at the Mohonk Mountain House, we booked a Tower Room overlooking the lake. Advertised as the best rooms at the resort, you can clearly see why because these scenic pictures here were taken right from the room's private balcony.

Circling the Lake at Mohonk are century-old Hiking Trails, some gently sloping around the lake, and some which are spirited "rock scramble" trails that take the hard way up the side of the mountain to Mohonk Tower. On our second day we took the leisurely hike, but on our third day we climbed up the rocky paths, which were rewarded along the way with simply amazing views of the countryside.

After our stay at Mohonk, we came back home for a few days, then flew to Vancouver, British Columbia to board the Carnival Cruise Ship, Jubilee.  For six nights and seven days we cruised the Inside Passage of Alaska's Southern Arm, stopping in Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, and Sitka. Click the Alaskan flag for a variety of Honeymoon Pictures taken throughout the week.

Our first stop on the cruise was the small salmon fishing community of Ketchikan, Alaska Like all the other towns along the Inside Passage, it's economy has been converted to tourism-based. Still, it was a charming place, with lots of fun shopping, friendly people, and this really interesting salmon hatchery, where I actually got a picture of a salmon jumping upstream!

Very early one morning, we awoke to find the ship gently moving up Tracy Arm Fiord to view Sawyer Glacier. Coming up on deck that morning to see the mountains looming on each side of the ship was one of the most breathtaking sights the whole trip.  And then, of course, our first glimpse of the glacier...

In addition to docking at Alaska's Capital, Juneau, and the old Russian Capital, Sitka, we had a stop at the old Gold Rush town of Skagway, Alaska. Skagway has a tremendous amount of history related to the Gold Rush, including the famous Chilkoot Trail, which we hiked that afternoon as part of an excursion.

At the conclusion of our cruise we were met in Seward by friends of Gail's Mom, who took us on a leisurely 3 hours road-trip to the airport in Anchorage.  The views from their Explorer were awesome, the whole way there.  In fact, believe it or not but many of these pictures here were taken right from the car window as we were driving! On the way we stopped at a State Park to get up close and personal with Exit Glacier.

We met some great people throughout the cruise, as well as good friends of Gail's Mom, Jane and Harold, who picked us up in Seward at the end of the trip.  On the ship we had assigned dinner seating, and made Wonderful Friends with our "Table Mates", our Waiter and Busboy.