Weddingpalooza - Part I

After attending no (zero, zip, zilch) weddings since my brother got married in 2004, Hubby and I attended not one, but two weddings over the weekend! I LOVE weddings--Hubby, not so much. But he was a trooper--especially since our older son (Keeper Boy) was in Pittsburgh for his team's first tournament of the season and Hubby would've MUCH rather been there. If Hubby didn't have a good time, he was a good actor. I know I had a good time!

The first order of business was to farm out the kids and the dog. As I mentioned, it was Keeper Boy's first tournament of the season, wouldn't ya know. So he traveled to Pittsburgh with the father of one of his teammates. Said father informed us yesterday when we went to pick Keeper Boy up upon their return that our child was polite and well-behaved all weekend. Wait, OUR Keeper Boy? Seriously?! Yeah. That's just the way it goes. He's perfect for everyone else and saves his pre-teen attitude for Hubby and I. :) And J-Mav had the good fortune of spending the weekend with his Godparents and psuedo-grandma at psuedo-grandma's fabulous house in Annapolis. He had a great time. Dog went to doggie camp (aka, the kennel). With all the "kids" taken care of, Hubby and I were off...

We drove up to a small PA town in the middle of horse country on Friday and checked into a beautiful B&B. While driving up, we received an email with the score of the first hockey game of the tournament. Keeper Boy's team won 8-2. Once we arrived at the B&B, we had just about enough time to freshen up, change, and head to the church for my cousin's wedding. Let me just say that the wedding was lovely, but it was held in THE smallest church I have EVER attended a service in in my life. (I have SEEN a smaller active church, however... in Aruba.) Though the church sat only about 50 people, it was beautiful... candles, wood floor, surprisingly comfortable chairs, a tapestry on the wall, and of course my cousin and his lovely bride.

Bride was radiant and her dress was gorgeous. But, wow! I have never seen a bride who SO didn't want any attention on her! It was apparent from the moment she stepped into the church all the way through the reception, where the couples first dance and the father/bride dance literally lasted 10 seconds each before all the guests were strongly invited to join them on the dance floor! Great idea for someone who doesn't like the spotlight. Another cousin who was in attendance and is getting married in January thinks she might steal that idea for her wedding. Ha ha.

The reception was at an estate. There was a cocktail/photo taking hour before we moved into what I think was a beautifully renovated barn for the reception. Open bar throughout (great Diet Pepsi... ha ha!), excellent food (filet mignon, salmon, or eggplant... can't vouch for the eggplant, but the other two were perfect), great ambiance, and great music! The music selection surprised Hubby and me as it was mostly from the 60s and 70s, and the newlyweds are in their late 20s. But hey, music is universal. :)

Another of my cousins (Groom's oldest brother) gave a wonderful toast/speech, and most everyone stayed until the DJ stopped playing. We also were able to get a picture taken with my grandfather (who is 94!!) and all of his grandchildren who were in attendance. There were only two missing. That was awesome.

We returned to the B&B, hung out with the family for a bit and hit the sack. We awoke on Saturday and found an email with results from the second game of the hockey tournament, which has started at 7am with Keeper Boy in net. In a much harder-fought game, Keeper Boy's team tied 2-2. Apparently this stunned the opposing team, which had cleaned it's opponent's clock 11-1 the night before. With that information, and full bellies from the yummy breakfast at the B&B, we got in the car and headed south. We had a three-hour drive to Annapolis for Weddingpalooza, Part II...