The Catholic Center at UGA

Wedding Day

Wedding

Grant Hill Farms

Reception

Our Wedding

Brace yourself. If you commit to reading this, you're getting the WHOLE story.

It all began March 29, 2012. I (Jenna) went to Wichita to spend my senior year spring break with my cool older sister. Thursday night we went out to Denim and Diamonds and Cady introduced me to two wonderful things: two-stepping and her friend,&nbsp;Ethan. I fell in love with the dance, but it took a few more years before I fell in love with the boy I first danced with.&nbsp; 









We fast forward to 2015. Cady and Ben get engaged and Ethan and Brice start to Snapchat me to plan shenanigans for this wedding (and crashing Cady's bachelorette party). Lucky for me, Ethan had a lot of free time while he was sitting on a combine that fall and our conversations about Cady's wedding turned into conversations&nbsp;about everything else.&nbsp;I admit I had a crush on him for most of the fall, but it took him FOREVER to ask for my number so we could talk outside of Snapchat. I think he was worried my sister would kill him (even though her and I discussed everything and she had already approved the relationship).













 Cue proposals 1 and 2 (there are 3 before the real one): At the New Years Eve party before Cady and Ben's wedding, with the encouragement of a few beers and his friends (who hoped to freak Cady out), Ethan fake proposed. I said yes (and then returned the ring to its rightful owner). Ethan was offended that I&nbsp;had returned the ring, and proposed a second time. I said yes again (and Nick Kiekens threatened to harm Ethan). It was quite the evening. I figured that two fake proposals was evidence the crush was mutual and made some totally sensible plans to pass through Kansas on my way back to Texas for the semester. (If you didn't hear the sarcasm in "totally sensible," go pull up a map).







Ethan asked my sister's permission to take me on a date and so we met up in Forth Worth, Texas. We spent time at the Stockyards, grabbed some delicious BBQ, and went to an Aaron Watson concert. On Sunday after Mass, we climbed "The Mountain" at the Fort Worth Water Gardens and Ethan asked me to be his girlfriend. (If you like cheesy things, you can note that this was on Valentine's Day.)





Since then we've had dates in a total of 9 states: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia. My personal favorite was probably Sulphur, Oklahoma (because nowhere is fun sometimes).





I go to Kansas for Thanksgiving 2017, and as per Menke tradition, spend time helping to set up the Topeka Community Dinner. A family friend walks in and comments "wow. A Menke boy brought the same girl two years in a row to Turkey Dinner. I think if it happens next year, you guys are definitely getting married." This joke somehow grew more and more elaborate until said family friend showed up with a diamond ring and brought about fake proposal number 3 on Thanksgiving.





Now, the good news is,&nbsp;it's time for the real proposal story and that means I'm almost done rambling. I flew down to Georgia for a PhD recruitment weekend. Ethan somehow got invited to dinner with the math education students and prospective students&nbsp;(he also got asked to join their trivia team, so clearly they liked him or something). After dinner, Ethan and I walked around downtown Athens until we ended up at "our spot," the double-barreled cannon. I know you're wondering what the heck is a double-barreled cannon and why is it our spot. I'll tell you. When we moved Ethan down to Georgia, we googled the top 10 things to do in Athens. One of those hits is a historical monument. They made this cannon in the civil war, hoping to shoot two cannon balls simultaneously connected by a chain that would slice through anything in its path. Hoping is the important word here because they were never able to get them to fire at the exact same time and thus the chain snapped and the cannon balls went wherever they wanted to. This cannon was a failure. But for whatever reason, it now serves as a monument in Athens. Lucky for us, it is right down the street from the local bagel shop that gets awfully crowded. So Sunday after Mass, we have traditionally (ok, like twice, but when you live far away from each other that's basically a tradition)&nbsp;gotten our bagels and taken them to the benches near the cannon in order to eat. So anywho, Ethan took me to the cannon in order to ask me to be his wife. And after that, since he really knows the way to my heart, he took me to grab some ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.&nbsp;



So there you have it, now I get to marry him. &lt;3

The Saga In Many States

Our Story

Weekend Events

Friday:

7:30ish&nbsp;Post-rehearsal dinner drinks at Creature Comforts. Anyone who is in town is welcome to join us.&nbsp;Creature is a family friendly brewery so anyone under 21 is invited too! (Parking in downtown is metered until 10pm. They take coins or cards.)

















Saturday:&nbsp;













2:00pm Ceremony









(There are lots of bars nearby the Church in&nbsp;downtown, including Creature Comforts Brewery, if you need something to do to kill some time before cocktail hour.)













5:00pm Cocktail Hour (We will be&nbsp;serving beer, wine, and margaritas all night)







6:00 Dinner







10:00 Closing time&nbsp;







After party will be&nbsp;at TBD bar in downtown.

Catholic Mass Options

For our Catholic friends looking for Sunday Mass, there are two Catholic Churches in Athens. Here's a schedule of those Masses:

Sunday:&nbsp;



8:00am at&nbsp;UGA Catholic Center and St.&nbsp;&nbsp;Josephs's



10:00am&nbsp;at the&nbsp;UGA Catholic Center or St. Joseph's



12:00pm at St Joseph's



2:00pm (in Spanish) at St. Joseph's5:00pm at UGA Catholic Center6:00pm at St. Joseph's

Restaurant Recommendations

Breakfast:

Athens Bagel Company (This is our Sunday morning spot. I personally&nbsp;like the Snickerdoodle cream cheese.)

Mama's Boy (a local favorite; I got yelled at for saying it isn't "traditional breakfast", so I&nbsp;guess I'll say it's a bit more upscale than IHOP.)

The Old House Restaurant (delicious biscuits, but closed on Sunday)

 

Lunch/Dinner:

Catch 22 Gastropub (We recommend the&nbsp;caesar&nbsp;salad, the loaded fries, and the pretzel. The bad mother clucker is also highly recommended.)

Clocked (Good burgers and delicious milkshakes - including boozy ones)

Dawg Gone Good BBQ (In the words of Ethan: the bbq is good and the sides are delicious)

Tlaloc (Mexican food -&nbsp;and pupusas; it's not Texas, but it's pretty delicious)

Details

Cady is my older sister and one of my best friends. (She is also one of Ethan's best friends, but I called dibs on her being on my side). She's a wife, mom, and a social worker as well as&nbsp;an amazing woman, confidant, and friend.&nbsp;Growing up, &nbsp;I always wanted to be like Cady, and that still holds true.&nbsp; We've been through a lot of life together and have only grown closer because of it. She has been there through all&nbsp;of the ups and downs and I'm so thankful to have her by my side-in life and at my wedding.

Caitlyn (Cady) McClure

Ethan: Brice is my best friend. He's pretty freaking cool. Jenna: Brice and Ethan became best friends while working in campus ministry at Newman. If you ever hear Ethan tell a college shenanigans story, it has Brice (and probably my sister)&nbsp;in it.&nbsp;

Brice Albert

Ethan: Danny gave me a job and then let me keep it for a decade. He's also pretty freaking cool.Jenna: Ethan worked with Danny beginning in high school (maybe even junior high?)&nbsp;and continuing through undergrad and grad school (when he would drive back to Topeka to work for the weekend).&nbsp;Danny might be a coworker, but Ethan has always spoken of him like family.

Danny Kuckelman

Beth &nbsp;and I went to high school together, but didn't really become good friends until senior year when we bonded over our love of rain and&nbsp;some similar life experiences. Despite moving to completely different parts of the country for college, Beth and I managed to have crazy adventures together and&nbsp;become even better friends. (Like best friends-Like people sometimes ask me if I'm dating her and not Ethan.)&nbsp;We go together like art and math, like loud and quiet, like light beer and dark beer. Ok, so we're pretty different, but we are still&nbsp;the best of friends.

Beth Reckamp aka Illinois Beth

Ethan: Alvaro is also pretty freaking cool - but however you say that in Spanish. Jenna: Alvaro came from Spain to teach in Kansas. I'm pretty sure he and Ethan hung out every time Ethan had a spare second because every time I&nbsp;would call Ethan I would get a text saying he was hanging out with Alvaro. I jokingly began to refer to him as Ethan's Spanish girlfriend.

 Álvaro Calvete Aguilar

Anna Lovisa Johnson-that was her name when I first met her back in 7th grade.&nbsp;She was the energetic blonde girl who gave me a hug and welcomed me to youth group. I thought she was a bit crazy, but I liked her. Over a decade later and it turns out that I still really do like her (and she's only kind of crazy). She's been there for me through thick and thin, always supporting me and helping me to become the woman I am today.&nbsp;

Anna Austell

Beth was the first person I met at the University of Saint Thomas. She was behind me as we stood in line to get moved into the dorms.&nbsp;We bonded over being two of the very few non-Texan students. We went through all of the chaos of college together, surviving with the help of&nbsp;drives to nowhere and nights out dancing. We both grew a lot during our 4 years in undergrad and I am so thankful that we have just continued to grow closer together.

Beth Mussalli aka New York/Texas Beth

I (Jenna)&nbsp;met Tim in 7th grade when I started hanging around his family's house all the time. He began to call me his&nbsp;little sister, which I loved because I always wanted an older brother. He was one of the first people who taught me that family wasn't always just blood relations and I've been so thankful for his love and support over the last decade.&nbsp;

Timothy Rampey

Megan is one of my best friends from the University of Saint Thomas. She was always there when I needed ice cream, crazy shenanigans, or someone to snuggle with. Megan has a big heart and always wants what's best for those around her. Her words and actions always remind me to focus on what really matters and to see the best in others. She's an amazing friend and I'm thankful to have her standing next to me on my wedding day!

Megan Rosales

Cory is an awesome friend from the Lalanne program at the University of Dayton. Cory can be described as "extra," fitting the current slang definition of the word but also reflecting the fact that he&nbsp;will go above and beyond to be there for anyone at any time. He helped to keep me sane through grad school and my first two years of teaching, even if that meant giving up his time to drive to Cincinnati, bringing my laptop to class when I forgot it, or going for an ice cream run&nbsp;or an&nbsp;actual run (even a 26.2 mile run).&nbsp;

Cory McClain

Rory and Riley are Ethan's twin nieces. They are a big fan of their Uncle Ethan (though he'd argue they like Aunt Jenna more now). They&nbsp;called "Aunt Jenna"&nbsp;just a few days after the engagement all excited&nbsp;to ask if they could be the flower girls. They were a shoe-in for the spot and of course we said yes.

Ryli and Rory Sorell

From what I hear, these two boys can kick Ethan's butt at soccer and Grayson might even beat me at napping in random, loud locations (which is pretty impressive actually).

Caden and Grayson

Wedding Party

Photos

Registry

Q + A

We do not have a hotel block due to the vast number of hotels in Athens. We recommend you stay near downtown - there are no hotels very close to the reception venue. Here are a few downtown hotels:

Days Inn

Holiday Inn Express

Holiday Inn

Courtyard by Marriott

Hotel Indigo

Hilton Garden Inn



Additionally, there are many local properties available through Airbnb.com&nbsp;

Lodging

If you plan to fly in, Atlanta's airport (ATL) is your closest option. It is about an hour and a half drive from Athens (sorry!).If you intend to drive, I would strongly encourage you plan your route so that you do not hit Chattanooga or Atlanta at rush hour (trust me, non-rush hour times are bad enough).&nbsp;The reception venue is about 25 minutes from the Church so keep that in mind while coordinating travel and vehicles. Uber and Lyft both operate here.

Flying or Driving

Groome Transportation runs a shuttle from Atlanta International Airport to downtown Athens. It is $39 per person each way.

Groome Transportation

Travel

If you read the engagement story, you understand why this spot is important and unimportant. If you're wandering around downtown Athens, you might as well stop by.

Double Barrel Cannon

It's mostly just fun to say that you went there. Basically&nbsp;William Henry Jackson cherished the tree and the memories he had by it so he deeded the tree the 8 foot radius of land around it.&nbsp;The original tree fell in 1942, so then they planted another one. I attached the Wikipedia page for the full story if you're just curious now.

Jenna & Ethan

Jenna & Ethan

Registry