let me start by saying i hate driving on the east coast, where every gas station is 2-3 miles off the freeway and they rarely have fountain drinks. the midwest is far more road-trip friendly.
now, on with the recap.
the drive to philly went relatively well, other than an ill-advised mapquest detour through newark, delaware to avoid a $3.00 toll. lost about half an hour, if not more. and some idiot who decided to tailgate me in the right lane for my entire trip around baltimore's outerbelt. made me itchy to do more road tripping. maybe this summer. we'll see.
i checked in to the embassy suites out by the airport around 11:30 thursday night, twelve hours after i had left mason. when i dragged my stuff to my room on the first floor, i discovered, instead of the usual sleeper sofa in the front room, i had had a lovely conference table with a white board on the wall. caused a bit of consternation as i wasn't sure where steve (mahan) was going to sleep. turned out this was a non-issue, as steve canceled on shannon early that day. i eventually ended upstairs on the third floor, where it seems everyone else was, helping put the final touches on the wedding favors (heart-shaped measuring spoons with clever sayings on them like "a pinch of tenderness" - i can't make this stuff up). sarah, shannon, meg and julia then loaded up to pack the last of the stuff at sarah's apartment, leaving me to find bliss in hotel sheets.
the next morning i wandered into the breakfast buffet and found three generations of the farrell clan - judy and chris, andy (err....drew) and julia and their adorable offspring. chris and i made plans to head out to the the tux shop for a final fittings - a good fifty minute drive. but on the way we had to stop by sarah and brad's house to drop off the stuff from sarah's apartment - which i discovered was not even close to being all (but more on that later). so we dropped off judy and sarah's apartment and headed northwest toward the house, me doing my best magellan imitation in the middle of city i'd never been.
it's always an interesting prospect watching someone you love marrying someone else, especially if you haven't had the opportunity to meet their future spouse. fears are amplified - what if you don't like them? what if they turn out to be some kind of jackass? would you tell them? or would you swallow it and hope for the best? luckily, this wasn't a problem. brad is exactly what you hope for - a fun, intelligent man who adores sarah and loves ben. i worried the meeting might have been awkward given the history of sarah and i. but other than the typical first introduction stiltedness, brad and i hit it off. made the weekend much more bearable and enjoyable.
anyway, we unloaded the stuff, then headed to the tux shop. on the way home, i mentioned to chris that the only thing i had to do while in philadelphia was get an authentic philly cheese steak. somehow this turned into a detour in the middle of rush hour that led us to geno's, with only about 45 minutes before the rehearsal was to start. not ideal, but i'm glad i went - though i'll never be able to eat a "philly cheese steak" outside of philly ever again. and i was told later that geno's isn't even the best. guess i'll have to make another trip.
for those who haven't been following along at home, my official role in the wedding was that of bridesman - mostly like being a groomsman, only i stood on the bride's side. didn't seem that odd to me - i mean, i guess i could have stood on brad's side, but that would have been awkward since i didn't meet him until the day before the wedding. but it seemed to throw some people off. lots of questions on just how it would work, but really, the only change we had to make was making sure none of the groomsmen had to "escort" me down the aisle. little odd to walk down that long aisleway by yourself, but really, it's lasted about 15 seconds. and what's a little sacrifice for friends?
the church was st. peter's in downtown philadelphia. built in 1761 (!), it was one of the more unusual churches i've ever been in. instead of pews, they had what looked like penalty boxes, designed to sit families all together - like a booth without the table in the middle. people faced each other, which might seem odd in a church until you realized that while the pulpit from where readings and homilies are given was at one end of the church, the eucharistic table was at the other end. so you could shift as necessary. shannon and i decided it would be a great place to play sardines....
the rehearsal itself went quick once we finally got started - poor brad got stuck in friday afternoon traffic and was about 50-60 minutes late (and, as you can imagine, a bit frustrated). shannon and i ended up doing a reading from the velveteen rabbit together, which sarah asked us to do, oh, when we arrived for the rehearsal. it was the scene between rabbit and skin horse about what is real. good stuff. because the rehearsal got a late start, we only ran through the ceremony once, but everyone seemed to get it. so then it was off to the rehearsal dinner at the hyatt. most people drove over, but shannon and i decided to walk over. turns out ours was the wiser choice, as it $12.00 for parking and we arrived about 10-15 minutes before everyone that drove.
one of the first things we discovered upon arrival was that both of our name cards included "and guest." but since neither of our dates could make it (i think mine was supposed to be brent), we ended up playing musical tables and accompanying one another. shannon also helped me out at the open bar, always an intimidating prospect, since i don't like beer or wine and i don't drink often enough to know what to order. knowing i am a girl-drink drunk, she recommended a cosmopolitan, which ended up being my drink of the weekend. the meal itself was amazing and i got to know some of the rest of the wedding party, which helped since, really, i only knew sarah's side of things. it ended up being a fairly early night for me, because i rode with chris and judy and the mingledorff's and when they left, so did i. little awkward as they discussed who all had and had not gotten married. i just kept to myself and tried not to draw attention to my lingering singleness. then it was to bed in anticipation of the big day....
Æ
tunes: ministry - everyday is halloween
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment