So... wedding!
No Pics - I was busy and left my camera in the car.
Matt & Jen's wedding was fun, but so much strange stuff happened.
1. After Hours Menswear sucks. They botched the leg-length (by two inches short) and delivery location (wrong state?! Lucky it was near me!) of the other groomsman's pants, and got my leg-length off by even more - we pulled out the stitches to keep me from looking like I was wearing capris! (Hope that's spelled correctly.) They were a good foot shy of my ankles! We did get a funny photo op beforehand... If I can ever get that photo, it'll be quite fun...
On a related note, several of us found that the shoes hurt like crazy... size elevens, my toes & arches! They felt like nines.
2. The night before, at the rehearsal dinner, I told the "Amazing and Epic Tale of how I Met Jennifer Pollock." (That's how the bride's maiden name is spelled. Really.)
I took the fairly mundane meeting of her and turned it into an epic tale which embarrassed the groom mightily.
3. Later discovered that six people in that room, all relatives of the bride, had been (and would continue to!) packing heat. Dangerous job, being a storyteller.
4. The wedding was in the Gettysburg College Chapel. This led to a lot of interesting stuff:
a. The Groom and his Groomsmen met and dressed in the Alpha Phi Omega room. Of the four of us, three were very familiar to this room (Matt, Andrew [Best Man] and myself, as we were all APO alums. Only Jamie (groomsman, and Matt's brother) had never been in there. Also, the "big" of us all, Big Jay Spiese, was an usher, so he was down there as well. For our own amusement, we decided to leave a note attached to the Yoda painted on a wall that denoted the Jedi family within the chapter. "The Dark Jedi Return! If only to see Brother McLaughlin Married" it proclaimed. We also left our family tree on the note(depressingly short, but our 'renegade' branch had died when both of Matt's littles fled the chapter).
b. Andrew, Jamie and I all played pranks and made jokes on each other to distract Matt, who remained steady but clearly stressed before the ceremony. We heard that Jen suffered even worse... which didn't help Matt any! We all played dumb and fell for pranks that normally would not have worked...
c. A few final-minute skirmishes with the Reverend had to be fought to get the music Jen and Matt wanted. Foolishness. Stupidity over the fluff, when the important part lasts maybe two minutes.
5. The reception was great - Andrew gave a great speech and toast, and then proceeded to scare everyone off the dance floor when he danced with JenKate. The heat of the day had killed my appetite, and gave me a headache, but I resolved to enjoy anyways... made easier when I got some Tylenol. Danced poorly but with great enthusiasm... temporarily lost my glasses when I spun too fast one time showing off. Luckily Matt caught them.
6. Also at the reception, there was a series of funny events around the garter 'ceremony.' Now, first Matt had to take the ribbon off Jen's leg while she sat in a chair. So he went under and brought out... a Derringer.
He put that aside, and got the ribbon the second time. (Yes, Jan's family pretty much all packs heat...even to a wedding. Nuts.)
Well, when they called for all the bachelors to come up, the others scowled at me, thinking that I would want to dodge this - but I snorted at them and jogged up to the dance floor.
For maybe fifteen seconds, I was alone, and wondering, "Gee, am I really the only bachelor here?" But, no no, five more came up reluctantly as their lady-friends and girlfriends urged them up. Matt turned his back, then checked the range to - guess who? - me. The guy next to me was asking "What's going on?" Me, I just chortled. "We're in trouble."
Matt threw the ribbon, and it flew just to my right - to the questioner. I grinned and headed for my seat.
Well, then it was Jen and the ladies next, and one overly enthused girl caught the boquet. She, too, had no idea what was up.
But when she found out that the guy had to put the ribbon on her leg, as far up as possible, she blinked, and he was just a bit alarmed. But they managed.
.... maybe you had to be there.
7. Spent a lot of time talking with Big Jay & Kelley, who were having a grand time (other than grumbling that they had clearly chosen the wrong groomsmen for their wedding seven years ago, since they never see any of them any more!)
So the wedding was fun. Everyone survived, no shootings, ceremony performed, big party.
Only one weekend left to survive before life will slow down a bit. The next one. The MOVE to Pasadena, MD!
Matt & Jen's wedding was fun, but so much strange stuff happened.
1. After Hours Menswear sucks. They botched the leg-length (by two inches short) and delivery location (wrong state?! Lucky it was near me!) of the other groomsman's pants, and got my leg-length off by even more - we pulled out the stitches to keep me from looking like I was wearing capris! (Hope that's spelled correctly.) They were a good foot shy of my ankles! We did get a funny photo op beforehand... If I can ever get that photo, it'll be quite fun...
On a related note, several of us found that the shoes hurt like crazy... size elevens, my toes & arches! They felt like nines.
2. The night before, at the rehearsal dinner, I told the "Amazing and Epic Tale of how I Met Jennifer Pollock." (That's how the bride's maiden name is spelled. Really.)
I took the fairly mundane meeting of her and turned it into an epic tale which embarrassed the groom mightily.
3. Later discovered that six people in that room, all relatives of the bride, had been (and would continue to!) packing heat. Dangerous job, being a storyteller.
4. The wedding was in the Gettysburg College Chapel. This led to a lot of interesting stuff:
a. The Groom and his Groomsmen met and dressed in the Alpha Phi Omega room. Of the four of us, three were very familiar to this room (Matt, Andrew [Best Man] and myself, as we were all APO alums. Only Jamie (groomsman, and Matt's brother) had never been in there. Also, the "big" of us all, Big Jay Spiese, was an usher, so he was down there as well. For our own amusement, we decided to leave a note attached to the Yoda painted on a wall that denoted the Jedi family within the chapter. "The Dark Jedi Return! If only to see Brother McLaughlin Married" it proclaimed. We also left our family tree on the note(depressingly short, but our 'renegade' branch had died when both of Matt's littles fled the chapter).
b. Andrew, Jamie and I all played pranks and made jokes on each other to distract Matt, who remained steady but clearly stressed before the ceremony. We heard that Jen suffered even worse... which didn't help Matt any! We all played dumb and fell for pranks that normally would not have worked...
c. A few final-minute skirmishes with the Reverend had to be fought to get the music Jen and Matt wanted. Foolishness. Stupidity over the fluff, when the important part lasts maybe two minutes.
5. The reception was great - Andrew gave a great speech and toast, and then proceeded to scare everyone off the dance floor when he danced with JenKate. The heat of the day had killed my appetite, and gave me a headache, but I resolved to enjoy anyways... made easier when I got some Tylenol. Danced poorly but with great enthusiasm... temporarily lost my glasses when I spun too fast one time showing off. Luckily Matt caught them.
6. Also at the reception, there was a series of funny events around the garter 'ceremony.' Now, first Matt had to take the ribbon off Jen's leg while she sat in a chair. So he went under and brought out... a Derringer.
He put that aside, and got the ribbon the second time. (Yes, Jan's family pretty much all packs heat...even to a wedding. Nuts.)
Well, when they called for all the bachelors to come up, the others scowled at me, thinking that I would want to dodge this - but I snorted at them and jogged up to the dance floor.
For maybe fifteen seconds, I was alone, and wondering, "Gee, am I really the only bachelor here?" But, no no, five more came up reluctantly as their lady-friends and girlfriends urged them up. Matt turned his back, then checked the range to - guess who? - me. The guy next to me was asking "What's going on?" Me, I just chortled. "We're in trouble."
Matt threw the ribbon, and it flew just to my right - to the questioner. I grinned and headed for my seat.
Well, then it was Jen and the ladies next, and one overly enthused girl caught the boquet. She, too, had no idea what was up.
But when she found out that the guy had to put the ribbon on her leg, as far up as possible, she blinked, and he was just a bit alarmed. But they managed.
.... maybe you had to be there.
7. Spent a lot of time talking with Big Jay & Kelley, who were having a grand time (other than grumbling that they had clearly chosen the wrong groomsmen for their wedding seven years ago, since they never see any of them any more!)
So the wedding was fun. Everyone survived, no shootings, ceremony performed, big party.
Only one weekend left to survive before life will slow down a bit. The next one. The MOVE to Pasadena, MD!