my debauchery-filled wedding weekend - part two

i really didn't mean for this to be this long....

since it was a morning wedding, everything started early, though i found myself wide awake well before my alarm. took the extra time to leisurely eat breakfast and then make sure i had everything i needed for the day - tux, my beloved rory for the reception music, change of clothes for after the wedding. drove myself to the church rather than wait on others, allowing me to set my own timetable after the wedding, which became important later. arrived around 9:15, to find only one groomsman there. so much for pictures at 9:30. turns out everything was running a bit behind, so pictures for the guys before the ceremony. i panicked for a moment, wondering if i should be with the rest of the bride's side, but was assured it was ok.

you couldn't have asked for better weather - blue skies, air cool enough to comfortably wear a tuxedo, soothing breeze. someone's prayers were obviously answered. some had bandied about forecasts calling for snow, but not a flake was to be found (outside the wedding party, of course).

my phone rang twice before the wedding. first time was from bookbinders, wanting to know if i could drop off rory before the wedding so they could have her set up. unfortunately, they called 25 minutes before the wedding and there was no way for me to get her there. so i pretended my phone was off and figured we'd figure it out later. the second was from sarah - or was it shannon - letting me know they were outside and needed me to join them. turns out sarah had a separate tie she wanted me to wear to differentiate me from the groomsmen. must have looked like quite the sight as meg and shannon held up her train and she handed me the tie. eventually we got everything together, made sure brad wasn't around and headed into the church.

the ceremony itself, other than being a bit behind, went off without a hitch - well, other than the intended one. everyone looked lovely, people cried (especially when brad read the part of the liturgy talking about watching over ben and began choking up), people laughed. everything a good wedding should be.

then came the post-cermony hoopla. lots of waiting around. lots of pictures. a little odd having my picture taken with the rest of the bridesmaids - the photographer had never dealt with a bridesman before and i think it though him off a bit. there's one picture with me standing with my arm around sarah while the other bridesmaids gather around us. i get the feeling it's going to look like i am the groom, which could prove to be loads of fun if i get a copy ("yeah, this is my first wife...").

then it got a bit....weird. see, the groomsmen and i were headed out to bookbinders, a few blocks away. but then we noticed the limousine just sitting there, waiting to take the bride and groom and bridesmaids to the reception. so in a rare fit of bravado, i asked the driver if it would be ok if he drove us to the reception. he said sure, so we climbed in the back, feeling pretty proud of ourselves. after a while, though, we realized we'd been in the limo for quite a while, so we asked the driver where we were headed. turns out, he was taking us to the wrong bookbinders. we explained to him that was the wrong one and were headed back when someone's phone rang. it was brad, wondering where we were. somehow the phone got handed off to me and i ended up talking to brad's mom, who had made the arrangements and was under the impression it was a one shot drop off deal. i explained to her i had talked to the driver and he had said it was ok, which seemed to allay her fears that there would be an extra charge. we all felt a bit sheepish but really, we hadn't done anything wrong. and, it would have been the bride who'd have gotten lost if we hadn't found the error, right? we all agreed that i would take the fall if anything bad happened - i mean, i'm from out of town, so not like i'd have to deal with it all the time.

and time escapes me, so we'll have to take another break, where i'll talk about the reception, how my music mix turned out and the post-reception activities....
Æ

tunes: the beastie boys - body movin'