Returning home to Red Deer this week felt a little like walking out of a rock concert and into a library.

My head was still spinning when it hit the pillow at about 1 a.m. this past Sunday night. My new wife Amanda and I had just returned from a whirlwind week that consisted of a massive wedding celebration, followed by a fast-paced honeymoon adventure in New York City.

Now three days back into my normal routine, I am still recalling moments and experiences I hadn’t yet had time to savour during the insanity of the past few days.

There is much to tell, so for the sake of those reading our saga, I’ll break it down into more digestible portions.

I was thinking maybe three installments: The countdown, The Big Day, and The Honeymoon.

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The final countdown...

I left work at noon on Wednesday — just two-and-a-half days to go until The Big Day.

Amanda had already departed for her parent’s house on earlier that week, but she’d left me a list of items to pick up in Red Deer before heading for home. That list included: six tuxedos, one suit, a cake plate, table cloths, and the best man, (my brother Aric).

When we arrived back at the Paré farm Wednesday evening, the madness began almost immediately.

Dad had rented a monstrous white tent to host guests during the rehearsal dinner and wedding-day festivities. The tent assembly was quite labour intensive, so I recruited half-a-dozen buddies to come out and assist us. We had the tent erected in no time. It was an impressive structure, occupying much of the front yard, and the apparently the guys thought it would be a great place to party for the next four days — and party they did.

Thursday and Friday were dedicated to various preparation tasks, the largest of which was decorating the community hall.

Amanda, who we came to know as ‘Bridezilla’ in the weeks leading up to the wedding, had specific, elaborate plans for how the hall was to look, and it took a crew of about 15 helpers working 10-hour days to bring it all together. Months of planning and preparation began to unfold as the girls adorned the walls with gigantic tissue-paper flowers.

The guys got the grunt work — moving tables, stringing lights, hauling in little poplar trees.

I had prepared a mock newspaper filled with old articles I'd written relating to our relationship and wedding preparations, and those were distributed to each table, along with candles, candies, wine glasses and photos of Amanda and I.

Amanda had even cut out individually labelled paper butterflies, which were carefully perched on the lip of all 250 wine glasses.

There was plenty of grumbling and groaning about the point of so many little decorations — mostly from me — but when everything was in place, I have to admit it looked pretty spectacular.

Friday night was the big rehearsal at the church, and even though it was a pretty casual affair, it was the first time since the night of our engagement that I really felt the significance of what was to happen on Saturday.

As expected, mom even cried at rehearsal.

That night, Amanda and I parted ways for the last time as fiancé and fiancée. She and all her bridesmaids went to stay at her aunt and uncles, while me and my five groomsmen stayed back at the farm.

The plan was to have a quiet evening, maybe reminisce with a few of my good buddies over a couple of beers, but the ‘quiet evening’ soon evolved into another well-attended tent party. I managed to sneak away before midnight to get adequate rest, but some of my groomsmen weren’t so wise and paid for it later.

I went to bed that night thinking, “Tomorrow is the day I am going to get married.”

Talk about a weird feeling...

Check back soon for part two.