The Wedding Dress Party.

The Wedding Dress Party was a riot! It was a party that will be difficult top and impossible to duplicate. We had a perfect combination of people and the venue at Cygnus 27 atop of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel was stellar! This entire party was Jessica Cook and Katie Kuiper's idea. They were talking about wearing their dresses and my wife was all over it. Once the three of them and others got so excited Jessica' s husband Ryan set things in motion like only Ryan could do.

The evening started out with quick refreshments in the Kooistra's room at the JW about an hour before the party. A few of the girls changed into their dresses while the boys enjoyed a few quick cocktails. The girls looked great (especially Joa) and the looks we received as we rolled out of the elevator at the JW with 4 brides and grooms was priceless! The looks continued at we walked from the JW to the Amway and the guests at the Amway looked quite confused. A quick trip up the express elevator to the Cygnus Private dining rooms and the party begins.

We had some time to mingle, catch up and view all the dresses before a fabulous slide show. The slide show was a compilation of all of our wedding pictures and was quite funny. After the slide show dinner was served by the Cygnus staff and the food was unbelievable. The meal was topped off with wedding cake for dessert. There was a best man toast given by Joel Brandt (every ones best men) and it was hilarious. Once the best man speech was given, Ryan had a surprise cooked up.

He called me up and challenged everyone in attendance to donate to my marathon fundraiser and the Cook Foundation would match the donations 3 to 1. I was astonished by the gesture and even more surprised by the $900.00 that my friends donated in about 1 minute. With the Cook family 3 to 1 match we were able to raise about $3000.00 dollars for the LLS! The total now stands around $9,000.00 given by my friends and family in honor of my fight with Lymphoma and my commitment to run a marathon to raise awareness. With this kind of money people at going to expect me to qualify for Boston!

Now back to the party. It was now time for some dancing! The girls were all on the dance floor but it took some work to get some of the boys (myself included) out there. Once the late night and sore feet set in the party came to a close. I am grateful to Ryan for throwing such a great party. It was great to see some people that I haven't seen for a while and spend a great night with my wife. I am thankful for the money that was raised as it was a truly humbling gesture.

Tim