Recounting the Wedding
Right, so. My mom's going to be giving me a call in the next few days to catch up, and she's going to have all the questions about the wedding, as moms are wont to. So, just as a little exercise, as well as a warm up for writing, I'm going to do my best to just recount the details about the trip, the wedding itself, the aftermath, and all of that.
So, where do we begin.
Well, the trip out to see J was going to take us from North Carolina to Minnesota first, because that's where he and the bride were living. That is a journey of approximately 21.5 hours by car. We got started about 5:30 in the morning. I hadn't managed to get any sleep the previous night on account of feeling like I was plugged into an electrical socket.
The trip itself is probably worthy of a story. We made it out of Raleigh before the heavy traffic could set in, and were outside of any major metropolitan area where the rush might have been able to get in our way. We traveled up into the Smoky Mountains, where the clouds passed through the mountains and on the road. It was beautiful to see, one of those things that I never get to see unless I'm traveling home to see my family.
We made it into West Virginia, which tried to kill us. If it wasn't the twist and turn of the roads, it was pieces of roadwork flying out into the road. No joke: we had a construction barrel suddenly just up and out of nowhere leap out into the road in front of us. We ended up having to swerve into the other lane to avoid it, and we got lucky that there wasn't any other traffic immediately there.
If West Virginia tried to kill us with roads, Ohio tried to kill us with boredom. Long, flat land as far as the eye could see. At one point we ended up having to detour, though, and we found some nice hills to amuse us with their sudden drops.
I remember Chicago. That is a big effing town. I remember it as a bunch of rude drivers, racing alongside the metro train lines which, did you know, actually race in the middle of the interstate? It was kind of a spectacle to see. We passed around and under the city, and I kind of wanted to stick around and explore, get to know the place better.
Alas.
Somehow we got there. We passed out in rooms they had set up for us to sleep in, before waking up at roughly noon or so. I'd ended up sleeping in the study, and walked upstairs to wait for everyone else to wake up.
What will I say of the family of my best friend? They were changed - older now than I remember. J, one of my inspirations for getting stronger, gone to seed but with the crushing strength of a bear. W, his fiancee, who hated me in high school and doesn't anymore. His youngest brother and sister, now as tall as me, putting themselves through college. His mom and dad, who used to help us getting to school sometimes. They looked older, but they didn't look tired.
That night, the boys and the girls went their separate ways to celebrate. The women apparently went off to the city and found clubs, but did not go dancing. I do not quite understand why, myself. As for us, we hooked up with one of J's friends in town, played a few hands of poker, then went and played pool, took shots, and drank ourselves sick.
I stopped first. I am not ashamed, particularly as the groom the next morning found himself unable to stare at bright lights. Or move, really.
We were supposed to travel down to Iowa, because the wedding was going to be had where W's family was. Unfortunately, the guys left the lights of their car on all night, which meant that we'd burnt out the battery. Additionally, the car was stuck in a small garage, where we couldn't get another car in to jump it. We ended up having to cannibalize another car for parts.
May I just say that basic auto mechanics, when hungover, is an incredibly interesting venture.
Anyway, I ended up making the drive down from Minnesota to Iowa. We all went our separate ways for that evening, with us staying in an apartment that was arranged with a retirement center. W's grandma lives there, so we managed to get a place to stay for really cheap. They even let us cook our own food there and everything.
Friday, it was my job to make sure that the Groom didn't see the Bride anymore than he had to. We ended up working together to make sure that happened - we got another hotel room to be on the safe side, and after the rehearsal dinner we hit up the town again. Part 2 of the Bachelor Party was better, because during part one it had been a Wednesday, and rainy. Any town is better on a Friday night, as we found out.
Saturday was the wedding itself. We made double-sure that the Groom did not see the Bride, even going so far as to blindfold him and playing scout to make sure he didn't encounter her. We took tons of different photographs in all kinds of poses, including a full Ginyu Force pose because we were those nerds in high school. The wedding was a traditional Lutheran service: scripture reading, singing a hymn that nobody knew, and then more pictures.
The Reception afterward was pretty awesome too. As Best Man, I had to give a toast, and I knew the words I wanted to say but hadn't had the chance to practice them. Apparently, though, I knocked it out of the park - people were coming up to congratulate me afterward over how good my speech was.
We played the traditional pass-along games - bride tosses the bouquet, groom tosses the garter belt. And wouldn't you know it: this time I caught the damn thing. You go to enough weddings and it has to work out eventually, right? Too bad there weren't any single ladies there for me to show off for. It figures, really.
We almost forgot to trash their car, but in the last fifteen minutes, the groomsmen came together to make it happen. I remember sprinting back and forth in tuxedo shoes to make sure that J was being stalled and that everyone had enough time to do their duties. And we still managed to make it happen.
After that, it was 19 hours back to North Carolina. We didn't make the full trip back - we started out a lot later, and J and W wanted to have breakfast with us one last time before we took off.
And... that's that, really.
So, where do we begin.
Well, the trip out to see J was going to take us from North Carolina to Minnesota first, because that's where he and the bride were living. That is a journey of approximately 21.5 hours by car. We got started about 5:30 in the morning. I hadn't managed to get any sleep the previous night on account of feeling like I was plugged into an electrical socket.
The trip itself is probably worthy of a story. We made it out of Raleigh before the heavy traffic could set in, and were outside of any major metropolitan area where the rush might have been able to get in our way. We traveled up into the Smoky Mountains, where the clouds passed through the mountains and on the road. It was beautiful to see, one of those things that I never get to see unless I'm traveling home to see my family.
We made it into West Virginia, which tried to kill us. If it wasn't the twist and turn of the roads, it was pieces of roadwork flying out into the road. No joke: we had a construction barrel suddenly just up and out of nowhere leap out into the road in front of us. We ended up having to swerve into the other lane to avoid it, and we got lucky that there wasn't any other traffic immediately there.
If West Virginia tried to kill us with roads, Ohio tried to kill us with boredom. Long, flat land as far as the eye could see. At one point we ended up having to detour, though, and we found some nice hills to amuse us with their sudden drops.
I remember Chicago. That is a big effing town. I remember it as a bunch of rude drivers, racing alongside the metro train lines which, did you know, actually race in the middle of the interstate? It was kind of a spectacle to see. We passed around and under the city, and I kind of wanted to stick around and explore, get to know the place better.
Alas.
Somehow we got there. We passed out in rooms they had set up for us to sleep in, before waking up at roughly noon or so. I'd ended up sleeping in the study, and walked upstairs to wait for everyone else to wake up.
What will I say of the family of my best friend? They were changed - older now than I remember. J, one of my inspirations for getting stronger, gone to seed but with the crushing strength of a bear. W, his fiancee, who hated me in high school and doesn't anymore. His youngest brother and sister, now as tall as me, putting themselves through college. His mom and dad, who used to help us getting to school sometimes. They looked older, but they didn't look tired.
That night, the boys and the girls went their separate ways to celebrate. The women apparently went off to the city and found clubs, but did not go dancing. I do not quite understand why, myself. As for us, we hooked up with one of J's friends in town, played a few hands of poker, then went and played pool, took shots, and drank ourselves sick.
I stopped first. I am not ashamed, particularly as the groom the next morning found himself unable to stare at bright lights. Or move, really.
We were supposed to travel down to Iowa, because the wedding was going to be had where W's family was. Unfortunately, the guys left the lights of their car on all night, which meant that we'd burnt out the battery. Additionally, the car was stuck in a small garage, where we couldn't get another car in to jump it. We ended up having to cannibalize another car for parts.
May I just say that basic auto mechanics, when hungover, is an incredibly interesting venture.
Anyway, I ended up making the drive down from Minnesota to Iowa. We all went our separate ways for that evening, with us staying in an apartment that was arranged with a retirement center. W's grandma lives there, so we managed to get a place to stay for really cheap. They even let us cook our own food there and everything.
Friday, it was my job to make sure that the Groom didn't see the Bride anymore than he had to. We ended up working together to make sure that happened - we got another hotel room to be on the safe side, and after the rehearsal dinner we hit up the town again. Part 2 of the Bachelor Party was better, because during part one it had been a Wednesday, and rainy. Any town is better on a Friday night, as we found out.
Saturday was the wedding itself. We made double-sure that the Groom did not see the Bride, even going so far as to blindfold him and playing scout to make sure he didn't encounter her. We took tons of different photographs in all kinds of poses, including a full Ginyu Force pose because we were those nerds in high school. The wedding was a traditional Lutheran service: scripture reading, singing a hymn that nobody knew, and then more pictures.
The Reception afterward was pretty awesome too. As Best Man, I had to give a toast, and I knew the words I wanted to say but hadn't had the chance to practice them. Apparently, though, I knocked it out of the park - people were coming up to congratulate me afterward over how good my speech was.
We played the traditional pass-along games - bride tosses the bouquet, groom tosses the garter belt. And wouldn't you know it: this time I caught the damn thing. You go to enough weddings and it has to work out eventually, right? Too bad there weren't any single ladies there for me to show off for. It figures, really.
We almost forgot to trash their car, but in the last fifteen minutes, the groomsmen came together to make it happen. I remember sprinting back and forth in tuxedo shoes to make sure that J was being stalled and that everyone had enough time to do their duties. And we still managed to make it happen.
After that, it was 19 hours back to North Carolina. We didn't make the full trip back - we started out a lot later, and J and W wanted to have breakfast with us one last time before we took off.
And... that's that, really.