Laura's Fairy-Tale Wedding

luke, cindy a, jake, doug

What an amazing day. I just got back to Linda's place, a million hours later. We all got going from Laura's place pretty early and headed to the hotel, bagels and donuts in hand, to get hair done, makeup applied and tuxified for the ceremony at noon thirty. It was great getting ready with the girls, they're a little more crazy than when I got ready with the guys at Jake's wedding. Plus, it only took the guys minutes to get ready. ;)

Such a beautiful day, gorgeous even. Sun was out, warm breeze, barely any cloud cover, but just enough.. pictures turned out wonderfully, Laura looked stunning and everyone was so happy. The actual ceremony was one of the nicest I've ever been to.. Laura did a great job with it, plus standing with the bridesmaids prompted several questions afterward. "Was there a missing bridesmaid?" and "Did you stand on the wrong side?" Heh. Hey hey now, step back.

<~~~ Luke & Cathy, with Jake's eyeball

The hotel staff was funny. They did a marvelous job making amends and fixing small issues that came up, plus when they didn't remember about the receiving line, we got to sneak to the reception hall through the backhalls and service elevators of the hotel. We actually walked through the kitchen where they were making the plates for the dinner! And it was so great to meet everyone in Luke and Laura's lives. And a bunch knew of me! It was great to hear people say "We've heard so many wonderful things about you!" and Luke's mom even hugged me and said how wonderful it was to finally meet me.

You cannot believe this reception hall. It reminded me of being up in the clouds. The ceilings were so high, there was a bright fall theme, the windows were beautiful and the the way the room was laid out, it just felt warm and comforting. This was by far the best wedding I've ever even seen, let alone been in. So many people, so many friendly people, and meeting up with Kerri, Cathy, Doug, Jake and Cindy was wonderful. I have a wonderful circle of friends. Mingling in the foyer, eating up appetizers and making great conversation, open bar (the ONLY kind of bar to be had at a wedding) we eventually were seated for dinner. And how nice it is to be served first!

I hate to keep raving and pepping up the food, but wow! Everyone loved everything. And Jake even had a vegeplate! He was happy, I was happy, everyone was happy. There were even canisters of M&Ms with Laura and Luke's name on them with the date. The wedding had a fall theme, so we had yellow and orange rose pedals and leaves and browns and yellows. I think Fall is now my official favorite time of year.. simply because it was perfect. It couldn't been better. It feels great to be happy. Well, happier! And if there is one thing you can count on, it's all my friends dancing up a storm on the dancefloor. Brings back memories of Junior and Senior nights in college, but hey! we had a great time, and I amazed everyone with my electric slide. (ha!) I even had Cousin Marion come up to me and tell me I had quite the moves (I attribute them all to Kiersten!) Plus taking videos of Jake getting down with it was challenging, but rewarding.

My tux was great, I looked stunning and everyone else the same. The bridesmaids had wonderfully matching, but still unique, dresses and the guys all looked of 19th century royalty. But getting out of the clothes afterward was even better. The girls all had wrangled feet and my feet, while dashing, also hurt. A bunch of us hung out in the honeymoon suite (without the couple) while I changed and got my stuff together, and then headed out to the Holiday Inn where Doug and Uno were staying.


laura and luke, the newlyweds

I think we freaked out Doug. And he got a lesson about my blog, but not from me. Jake and Uno did an entertaining job explaining him the complexities and intricacies of the entire process. Plus I hear it was involved in plenty of conversation between several other guests. Funny tho, except Uno kept telling everyone its boring. ;) Oh well, it is what it is. But Doug got a little taste of the conversations we all have about life and love, because he was pretty wide-eyed for the rest of the night. Heh. Sorry Doug!

But all of us, including the wedding party on both sides and several honored guests, all headed into Old Towne Alexandria to hang out at this really cool Scottish bar next to Murphy's.. and only say Scottish because the bartender had this great accent and kept calling me 'mate'! Or maybe he was Australian... but either way, it was great. Plus the drunk couple at the bar kept asking me to buy them drinks. It was a fine fine end to a wonderful day. A terrific evening out. After getting Coldstone and heading back to the Holiday Inn, we ended our evening watching bad midnight TV and eventually limping our way back to Lindas at 1.

Today is our horrendous drive home, after a quick brunch with the newlyweds, to exchange photos and hugs, and kisses for a wonderful honeymoon in St. Lucia.