Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner, which went well. Almost everyone had the prime rib, which was excellent. I finished the music for the wedding and got to bed by 3AM.
The day of I got up around 10AM; Jill and family were off getting their hair done. I called Chris and got ready while he came over. We ran some errands (I needed tux shoes, we needed ice and water for photos), then we had a last meal at Popeye’s. We changed when we got back, then headed out. We got to the Atrium a little before 2PM, and Jill and the bridesmaids changed into dresses while the rest of us hung out. Then we went outside and started pictures. Jill was gorgeous, of course. We went inside for a short break after the bridal party and family pictures, then Jill and I (and Robin holding her train) walked down to the gazebo on the lake to take pictures. By the time we were done, it was 3:45.
I had some water, and we waited for a couple stragglers, but got started almost on time. Everyone went out as planned, and the ceremony went off without a hitch (I guess there was one hitch -us). We headed in afterwards, and waited for Jill to get her bustle up, then headed in. We were famished, and hit the beer and appetizers as Todd started. I messed up and brought only the tape from the last Getaway Car show, so I rewinded 35 minutes and taped over the last half – didn’t really have a choice.
After Todd finished, he introduced us all and we chowed down on the food from Tortilla Factory. Happily, we got a lot a compliments on the food, and it was good. So good in fact, that we didn’t need any of the tupperware we’d brought to take leftovers home, the only food left was some chimichangas and cupcakes. Speaking of cake, the groom’s cake (carrot cake from Costco) went so fast, I’m not sure everyone got some. After the cake cutting (and I thought we were cutting a cupcake until we got up there), we had our dances, then finished our food and circulated around. I remember the whole night, but I was just exhausted by the time 8:30 rolled around. We helped pack up, then Dad drove us to the Doubletree hotel in the ’41 Caddy (we took some pictures in it earlier).
Mad props to our friend Melissa Broudy, who volunteered for wedding coordinator and we kept running around all day. She doesn’t do it professionally, so check out her travel stories site.
The sugar and caffeine must have kicked in, because we stayed up another 3 hours at the hotel bar with people that were staying there, and Jill got to hear some interesting stories from my fraternity brothers.
In the morning, we went down for the breakfast buffet, then said our goodbyes. Jill and I ran some errands (dropping film and tuxes off), then hung out and talked with her friend Johanna through the early evening while her sister and family went to Udvar-Hazy. Eventually I said goodnight to catch up on the newspapers (made it through Saturday).
Monday it was just Melissa and family, and we hung with them for a while before we went down to Herndon’s Town Green for the Labor Day Jazz and Wine Fest with our friends Stuart and Janice around 1:30PM. We tried a bunch of wine, and Jill bought four bottles of her favorites. It was threatening all day, but the rain didn’t start until the music stopped. We picked up some pizzas from Sylvana’s, then went back to Stuart and Janice’s house to eat and drink some more. A school night for everyone but me, so we came home by 10. It was trash night, and we filled both barrels full (we usually only put out one bag a week). We were tuckered out when we were done, and Jill went off to bed. I watched a cool “Charlie Rose”, interviewing Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Frank Darabont about the making of “Shawshank Redemption” (10th anniversary DVD comes out this month, one of the best movies from the ’90s), then read the Sunday paper.