An Awesome Wedding Weekend.

As a kid I know I used the word awesome a lot, but in this case the use of the word awesome is more than justified. That’s exactly how the weekend went with the wedding. There’s just so much to write about and I hope I can do some justice to the weekend with my writing.

Actually, I’ll start with Wednesday. The annual Polk County Senior Picnic was that day and it’s the one time I get to meet up with all the different site managers and coordinators all under one roof since all of them had to be there. There have been a number of personnel changes so I wanted to make it a point to introduce myself to the new staff. All in all four new staff were hired and I managed to meet and introduce myself to all of them. As with previous years, a number of people who worked for the county and three staff from Aging Resources dished out the meal to the older adults. For some reason it felt like there were quite a lot more people in attendance compared to previous years which by no means is a bad thing.

My pet/house sitting stint was done on Thursday and later that evening, the young adults had dinner in East Village. A couple of weeks back, a new free shuttle transported people from the western part of downtown to the state capitol which is located on the east. The shuttle drove through East Village where the restaurant was located and I figured it would be a great opportunity to ride the shuttle. It was a very nice and comfortable ride that took me not more than five minutes to arrive. You can bet I’ll be riding the shuttle if and when I have to go East Village. Dinner for the evening was at Lucca’s which is a wonderful Italian restaurant that I’ve not been to in quite some time. All in all there were three people at the dinner because for some reason or another, people had one thing or another going on that evening. We still had a good time chatting and just enjoying each others company.

Friday was when the wedding festivities began. The rehearsal took place at 5PM and this was the first time I’ve seen Matt and Alicia, the groom and bride in months. Alicia’s biological dad passed away last Sunday so needless to say it was an extremely emotional time for her. I asked her how she was doing and she replied that even if she wanted to cry she was not sure if she could. I told her if she feels the need to, she should without any care in the world. The senior pastor of the church started the rehearsal with a prayer and made a couple of very appropriate comments with regards to Alicia’s dad’s death and I personally felt that it helped calm her down. The wedding coordinator and the pastor did a magnificent job of not being stiff and letting things pretty much flow right along. I can attest to the fact that it was a very non-stressed rehearsal. I got to meet Matt’s best man, Sam for the very first time and he’s such a wonderful guy who has so many similarities with Matt I can see how they are the best of friends. Drew, the other groomsman was a little late because he and his wife were driving to DM right after getting done with finals.

After the rehearsal, we had dinner at the Embassy Suite by the River in downtown DM. I’ve heard a lot about the hotel but have never been there. It really is a very nice hotel and since most of the people from out of town were staying there, it made perfect sense to have the rehearsal dinner there. It worked out that the wedding party sat at one table and it gave all of us a great opportunity to get to know one another better. The fact that we all meshed says it all. There were a lot of introductions from both sides of the family and Alicia’s family was a little complicated because of divorces and remarriages but it all came together. Dinner was wonderful and all in all everyone had a very relaxing and fun evening. Matt and Alicia presented a power point slide with lots of fun photos and that’s kind of how the rehearsal ended. I had informed the wedding party that everyone was invited to troop over to my apartment for some drinks and socialization. However, no one took me up on the offer but Colleen (Matt’s younger sister) and Sam. I could not believe these 20 year olds were calling it night at 10:30PM! Amazing. The best part about it was Kevin’s sister and sister in law decided to take me up on the offer. We spent the rest of the evening in my apartment drinking wine and just taking it all in at my apartment. Kevin’s sister brought her two teenagers and his sister in law brought her daughter, another teenager. Everyone pretty much stayed till roughly midnight or a little after and they were just so happy that they got to see my apartment. For some reason I had trouble going to bed that evening and finally called it a night close to 2:30AM.

On Saturday morning, Matt wanted to have breakfast with the groomsmen at the Drake Diner. I had originally planned on going to the Farmers Market with John, but that plan had to change – the groom comes first. Having never been part of a wedding party, I did not know that the groom gave presents to the groomsmen. Matt got all three of us a spectacular beer stein engraved with his wedding date and a very nice bottle of European Beer. It was a very nice and thoughtful gesture on his part. Breakfast was so low key and relaxed all four of us had a blast. We made sure that Matt had more than enough to eat because I heard of horror stories of the groom fainting for not eating prior to the wedding proper. Sam was supposed to get the champagne but I insisted I get the bottle to make up for not attending the bachelor party due to work. I went to Ingersoll Wine and Spirit where I normally get my wine and beer. That’s the place where the guy knows Joel and me and he connected me with an extremely affordable champagne that came in a wonderful package with two complimentary champagne flutes. I informed Sam that I had two bottles of cheap champagne that was leftover from my New Year’s Eve party and I would be giving them that too. Three bottle of champagne/sparkling wine for two people would be more than enough to knock anyone off – at least that’s what I had in mind. After getting the champagne, the four of us gathered at Kevin’s house and it was really neat to see him and Martha. Kevin freely shared that he was feeling nervous and pacing around the house. It was good that I just dropped by. On the wedding day, I guess the onus really is on the bride’s side of the family but it was kind of funny to see Kevin and Martha a little nervous.

Once the men were gathered, we went to the Butler House which is a very nice B&B where Matt and Alicia would be spending the night. Matt had to pick the key up and was given a tour of the room which was spectacular to say the least. After picking up the key and getting a tour, we headed to the church to get dressed and ready for the photo taking session. Having never worn a tuxedo in my life, let’s just say I encountered more than my fair share of challenges. Thank goodness Drew who was married a year ago had experience wearing a tux so he was our guiding light. It comes as no surprise that we got dressed before the bridal party so for the most part all us stood around the sanctuary looking spiffy and dashing waiting for the women to get done. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention was how all of us would process up to the altar. The Sam and Katie (the maid of honor) went together, Drew went with Laura (Alicia’s step-sister) and who did I get to walk up with?! Who other but Colleen, my pseudo younger sister whom I’ve seen grow up all these years and had in my religious education class. She calls me her older creepy brother (not quite sure where creepy comes from!) We both figured that we were the ones who would have the most fun due to the nature of our relationship. Those who knew us especially those who were present at the wedding from St. Catherine’s thought it was a hoot.

The photo taking session went well with very minimal stress and before we knew it, it was time to get the wedding celebration started. The groomsmen ushered the people in and we were right on schedule. Colleen and I did an amazing job of not cracking up and trust me, it was rough, but we survived. Alicia looked stunning in her dress and during the ceremony I teared up a number of times but managed to control myself and not allow Niagara to fall. The one part of the wedding that really got the cake was when Matt “lunged” towards Alicia for the kiss! At the rehearsal, the pastor said when she closed her book, it was time for Matt to kiss Alicia and it went very well. However, the pastor made a mistake by closing her book a little too soon and Matt did what was practiced at the rehearsal. All of us in attendance just cracked up so hard it was a hilarious. Up to that point, everything was pretty serious and went according to plan and as we all know, someone is bound to go wrong and it’s all about minimizing the errors and this by far was the one error that just seemed most appropriate at the most opportune moment. I personally felt that was what we needed to get rid of whatever lingering stress that was in the church at that time. I’m sure as Matt and Alicia look back on their wedding day, this particular moment will bring a huge smile on their face and they will be sure to share this story with their kid, grandkids and maybe even great grandkids! Everything after that went on without a hitch and both husband and wife just looked stunning. I was beaming the entire time.

My responsibility after the ceremony was to “direct” the people out towards the receiving line. There was a little bit of traffic jam so I pretty much told those who were sitting down that I’m don’t want them to stand for too long and that’s why I did not direct them to stand. Everyone was very accommodating and I’m sure a lot of it had to do with my charming personality (Hah!) It helped that I knew pretty much everyone on the groom’s side since the vast majority of them were people from St. Catherine. Sam, Drew and I were the last at the receiving line and we just had a blast chatting it up with Matt and Alicia. You could see how they were downright exhilarated with how things turned out

The reception was held at the basement of the church which worked out wonderfully. The band, “Freestyle” played the music and they did a fantastic job. While waiting for the bride and groom to make an appearance, I chatted with the different people from St. Kate’s and all of them said how dashing I looked and that pink suited me just fine. Kristi asked me if I was the one getting married that day because I was beaming the entire time even more than I normally beam! Trust Kristi to make observations like that. The food was a cultural experience for me to say the least. There were a number of food I’ve never had before and Kevin told me that it was native to Czech Republic. It was utterly delicious. Both Sam and Katie did a very nice job with the toast and before we knew it, it was time for the cake cutting ceremony. At the final song, the band played, “What a Wonderful World” and I asked Sarah to dance with me. Sarah’s the older sister Laura and the step sister of Alicia. I’m always taken aback when people humor me when I ask them to dance with me. Sarah did warn me that she does not dance so the fact that neither one of us stepped on each other’s foot was a miracle in and of itself! The wedding party pried ourselves away to “decorate” the car and I think we did a pretty darn good job.

I had to change out of my tux because I was going to attend a classical concert at 8PM. Most people had left by 7:15PM so it worked out perfectly. I told Colleen and Sam that they were responsible to make sure the wedding party join up with me after the concert was done. The concert was exactly what I needed to just calm me down. The artists were Jon Nakamatsu and John Manasse. Jon is a pianist and John is a clarinetist. Talk about a powerhouse performance from both these men. I could not have asked for a better season ending classical concert. I gave Colleen a call after the concert and the wedding party was grabbing some grub at the hotel restaurant and that’s where I met up with them. A couple from Michigan wanted to go out dancing while the rest of the group wanted to chill. We ended up chilling in my apartment until roughly 1:30AM. The couple from Michigan joined up with us at around midnight and it was just nice to sit around and relax. I’m not big into dance clubs/bars anymore so it was just nice sitting in my apartment chatting with Collen, Sam, Laura and Sarah.

Could I have asked for a better way to end the weekend? Not in my books. Everything and I mean everything turned out so amazingly well that no one could have asked for more. It was as if Ray, Alicia’s biological dad made sure that nothing was going to spoil his daughter’s wedding even his death. My emotions ran the whole gamut and today was the first day I had time to process it. I can’t wait for my wedding and I was told by more than enough people that they too can’t wait for my wedding because they know it will be one of the most memorable experiences ever. I can only hope that I’ll be able to live up to that expectation. Having attended enough weddings, I have it in my mind how things are going to go or how certain things should go. It’s all about the execution, but we all know that something is bound to happen at the wedding that may throw you off, but the secret is not to be flustered by it.

There, I think I’ve written more than my fair share of the wedding weekend and I do believe I did a pretty good job with it.