my debauchery-filled wedding weekend - the final chapter

seriously, my recap is now longer than the actual event.....this is it, i swear.

so after piling out of the limo, we wandered in and i immediately looked for denise, who was in charge. i heard music playing, so i assumed rory had made it over safely. first song i heard: luna doing "sweet child o' mine." excellent. i found denise and went over to the table to make sure everything was in order. seems sending rory for that month allowed them to be able to start it without me. glad i named the playlist "dinner music" instead of something creative that they wouldn't have been able to find....

turns out i did an excellent job with the music selection - lots of compliments. much of the dinner was spent playing "name that artist or song" around the table and most of the people (at my table at least) were impressed by the variety and depth of the selections. was fun to see the reactions and to hear songs i love being played - and to find out others loved them too. my table was basically the non-family wedding party - groomsmen and shannon and i. great conversation, lots of fun. no seating chart, which i think worked out well. as paul pointed out, you should just let water find its own level - people do a good job of organizing themselves.

again i took the opportunity to imbibe - seemed appropriate considering the circumstances. went with a couple more cosmos to go along with another amazing meal. such rich food - a week later, i'm still not sure i've recovered completely. not that that's a bad thing....

we had to keep things moving because, well, paying customers who had reservations were coming in at 5:00. so we did the toasts and speeches and "games" as we ate. somehow i ended up playing master of ceremonies for the afternoon - good thing i'm comfortable thinking on the fly. paul and shannon gave heartfelt toasts, the best man and matron of honor gave words of wisdom, the parents welcomed the bride and groom to their family. but in a last minute addition, ben upstaged them all with a witty, hilarious and touching toast to both sarah and brad. high point of the reception for sure.

then came the dancing.

we started off with sarah and brad's first dance - louis armstrong's "la vie en rose." lovely choice. then came the parent's dance - in a final hour decision (sarah called me at 11:30 wednesday night before i left), i cued up the choice - ray stevens doing "in the mood" as a chicken. absolutely hilarious. glad everyone jumped right in and went with it, otherwise it could have been disastrous. i'm sure there's great footage on the video - keep an eye on you tube for it.

the rest got off to a bit of a rough start mostly because, well, it was 3:30 in the afternoon and far too bright for most people to feel brave enough to lose their inhibitions. and no disco balls or colored lights to distract. but as the music continued, and the lights were dimmed slightly, the crowd started to gather. i've noticed it's usually children that really jump in, as if as we grow older, we lose our ability to give in to the beat. well, that and much of the crowd came from a nazarene background, where any sense of rhythm is bludgeoned out of you at a young age. as i've been told on several occasions that i shouldn't dance, my intention was to man the table, make sure everything went smoothly, thinking that would keep me from the dance floor. no such luck. shannon made sure i (and many others) didn't stay a wallflower. i figured weddings are the perfect place to embarrass yourself, and i'm sure i did. but i had a great time. i even slow danced to etta's "at last" with shannon and OTR's "fool" with sarah. never really done that much in my life - maybe three, four times. helps having beautiful partners.

again, seems my musical instincts were good, which was a relief, dance music not really being my forte. but i ended up proud of my playlist for both sections. maybe i should make a job of this.

then again, maybe not.

eventually, five o'clock rolled around and we made a hasty exit, walking back to the church. we were quite the sight, in our tuxes and bridesmaid dresses and wedding dress. lots of honking and shouts of congratulations. lots of goofing around. lots of time left in the day to celebrate, which we took advantage of. we stopped by the church to pick up our stuff, then wandered down to sarah's soon-to-be-old apartment and changed clothes to continue our revelry. the plan - to hit as many adult-beverage establishments as possible. we started at a place called the dark horse - 'twas paul and aaron and jason and shannon and me and, a little later, sarah and brad. cozy little neighborhood bar. but they were closing early for a private party, so we wandered out and hit kildare's, an irish pub/restaurant down the street. there, i decided to go ahead and have some more alcohol, this time in the form of a buttercream martini. or rather, two. ohmygosh were they amazing. good thing i don't do this all the time, otherwise i'd be fat and broke (well, fatter and broker). probably my new favorite drink. we hung out there for an hour or two, eventually losing people who had to head home to take care of pets or who had to, oh, i don't know, consummate their wedding vows or something. part of me liked that brad and sarah hung out with us. part of me thought, "wow, i so would be elsewhere if i were them." somewhere toward the end there they came around and offered us free shots of jamison, which we gladly accepted.

by this time it was down to three of us - paul, shannon and me. we decided it was too early to call it a night, so we headed down south street, i think looking for someplace for shannon to dance. me, i was just along for the ride. south street is quite the place - a lot like high street in columbus, but with a lot more activity late at night. a light rain had begun to fall, so we stopped in a couple of places, one being beyond the wall, where i purchased a william shakespeare action figure for my classroom (with quill action grip!). we walked by a place called fat tuesday with dance music pumping out, but shannon turned up her nose, so we kept on walking, eventually taking a break in some hole in the wall bar, where i topped off all of my other drinking with something called a tie me to the bedpost. how can you resist a drink with a name like that? so for those keeping track at home, that's two cosmos, two buttercream martinis, a shot of jamison and a tie me to the bedpost - more alcohol in one night than i've consumed in the past six to nine months. maybe longer.

finally, shannon's desire to dance outweighed her disdain for the scary fratmosphere of fat tuesday's, so we went in. i have to say, i'm not sure i see what the draw is - too crowded to dance, everyone in their own little world and music that did little to move me (though i was happy to hear two of the songs on my own wedding playlist). shannon later explained that it was still too early (only 11:15) and that this was far too "urban" for her tastes. didn't help that she got dirty looks from the moment she walked in (probably because she walked in with paul). so we didn't stay long, which made me happy.

things are a little blurry after this for me for what i'm sure are obvious reasons. we ended up at yet another bar, where paul and shannon had a night cap and i tried to not fall off the backless stool i was sitting on. eventually, we walked back to the church, where i got into my car and drove back to the hotel (and yes, i was fine to drive home - enough time had passed and i'd drank lots and lots and lots of water). i did a bit of journaling about the day (which i won't be sharing, sorry) before falling asleep, praying God would protect me from the hangover demons.

which, thankfully, He did.

epilogue: sunday was all about getting sarah out of her apartment. i met paul and shannon at sarah's apartment and eventually the newlyweds joined us as well. for the next four to five hours, we shoved the remaining odds and ends into whatever trash bags and containers were available. then, in the middle of the last nor'easter of the season, we loaded everything into everyone's cars - two minivans and three cars (so much for only having just a little bit). not how i had planned on spending my sunday in philly, but was glad i was able to help. even got to spend some time with sarah, which we spent dissecting exactly why i was still unattached. verdict? i'm too passive. and my default position is wrong - i assume no girl would like me instead of assuming they would. but this we already knew. and i digress. we ended the evening at a diner near their new house in the northwest suburbs. a great ending for a wonderful weekend. great to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones.

whew. i thought i'd wouldn't have enough for more than a couple of paragraphs. boy, was i wrong. i'll be back to my usual self-centered posts soon. gee, aren't you lucky?
Æ

tunes: jet - are you gonna be my girl?