the wedding weekend!
Friday, I left work early and went home to pack my things and iron things to be packed, etc etc, and Steve and I went down to Midway and flew to Philly, making the flight with no time to spare. A little closer than I prefer, but we made it and still got to sit together, so I guess I can't complain too much.
Flight was uneventful. Arrived in Philly at about 7:30 or so, picked up the car (Nissan Versa! I love that stupid commercial with the guy holding the puppy.) and drove toward Scranton. Faffed about at an exit for eating dinner and was less than thrilled with my sushi, but the hibatchi show was pretty good. Steve commented that it was clearly the sushi place for white people.
Left there and drove some more, arriving at the hotel at about 11pm. Checked in, met Teresa who we were rooming with. Went to Sheetz for me, and McDonald's for Steve and faffed about in the drive-thru and managed to get served. Went to bed.
Saturday Steve and I got up and went to Waffle House for breakfast, and bummed around a little until it was time to get ready for the wedding. Dressed up and drove to the church, with a stop in Scranton to ask for directions on the way. (Should have printed a Google map of directions from the hotel to the church. Oops.) But we made it, and met Kristen and Jason, and Scott and Jess and Rachael at the church.
Beautiful ceremony - I especially liked the Canon in D (Pachelbel) as the procession music. Mari looked gorgeous, the colors of the flowers and the bridesmaids' dresses and the boutonnieres were excellent, the programs were very pretty - everything was just wonderful.
Steve seemed as bewildered as he was when we went to services with my parents in Pittsburgh - we really need to get to shul regularly so that this kind of thing won't be so alien to him. He asked me how I know about these ceremonies and things, and I told him that it was mostly through my family - family events like weddings or first communions or bar-mitzvahs - and it was the repetition that taught me what to expect. I also pointed out that if we were attending shul more frequently, we'd be exposed to more of this kind of thing just because other members in the congregation would be celebrating weddings and baby namings and bar mitzvahs as well.
So after the ceremony we had a little time before the reception, so we drove back to the hotel, following Scott this time, and I changed and we headed back out to the reception in Kristen and Jason's car.
The reception was a lot of fun. Very traditional again, although the WoW cake topper was in full view. But there was drinking and dancing and eating - I've been on a Michael Jackson kick since the wedding because they played Thriller and I discovered that I am incapable of staying seated if that song is playing. There was the bridal money dance, which was also a good time. Never really polka-ed before! It's quite a lively dance; I'm not entirely sure how Mari held up with dancing with EVERY SINGLE GUEST. :)
After that dance, we didn't stay much longer, and Kristen and Jason and Steve and I all bugged out to go see Star Trek. We got to the theater a little bit before the movie was scheduled to start, in spite of the driving rain and taking a wrong turn initially. I got to play a round of DDR and kicked butt at the first two songs and then failed miserably at Xepher, but that was to be expected. Those dance pads in the arcade really require sneakers - I took my shoes off and got my feet a little cut up from the metal. So then we saw the movie, yay! Still great, and Kristen and I made Sylar gestures during the right Spock scenes. :D
After the movie, went back to the hotel, and I finished sewing together the mitts, yay!
Next morning, we went to brunch in the hotel and I got to give Mari her mitts - she was delighted. Brunched, shot the breeze, and eventually we had to head out again.
Since the flight back to Chicago was at 7pm, Steve and I went to Scranton and checked out Steamtown, which is a museum built on an old major rail yard where they restored the turn table and round house and have a working steam locomotive. It was great going through this place with Steve - he pointed nearly everything out to me and showed me what it all did, how it operated. We ran into a yard tour with a fellow from the museum and saw how switches operate and where the coal cars would go racing along and up a ramp, and where the giant sand storage was. Very neat.
And from there we drove back to Philly to catch our flight back to Chicago. On the way I was really bored as there was nothing I wanted to listen to on the radio and Steve had put his seat back to nap. After some prompting, he proceeded to tell me the story of the Hobbit, but in the vernacular he uses at work with all the guys from the South side and West side. It was hilariously entertaining.
We got to the airport without real event, returned the car, and had some dinner before we got on the plane. Nothing special during the flight, although I got further in Sword of Mana and discovered that I was sort of stuck in a continual dungeon crawl without getting to buy things. Annoying. Luckily I'd been using the magic more frequently for healing, but still. Urgh.
Got back home without much fanfare, and basically went to bed. Good times.
Flight was uneventful. Arrived in Philly at about 7:30 or so, picked up the car (Nissan Versa! I love that stupid commercial with the guy holding the puppy.) and drove toward Scranton. Faffed about at an exit for eating dinner and was less than thrilled with my sushi, but the hibatchi show was pretty good. Steve commented that it was clearly the sushi place for white people.
Left there and drove some more, arriving at the hotel at about 11pm. Checked in, met Teresa who we were rooming with. Went to Sheetz for me, and McDonald's for Steve and faffed about in the drive-thru and managed to get served. Went to bed.
Saturday Steve and I got up and went to Waffle House for breakfast, and bummed around a little until it was time to get ready for the wedding. Dressed up and drove to the church, with a stop in Scranton to ask for directions on the way. (Should have printed a Google map of directions from the hotel to the church. Oops.) But we made it, and met Kristen and Jason, and Scott and Jess and Rachael at the church.
Beautiful ceremony - I especially liked the Canon in D (Pachelbel) as the procession music. Mari looked gorgeous, the colors of the flowers and the bridesmaids' dresses and the boutonnieres were excellent, the programs were very pretty - everything was just wonderful.
Steve seemed as bewildered as he was when we went to services with my parents in Pittsburgh - we really need to get to shul regularly so that this kind of thing won't be so alien to him. He asked me how I know about these ceremonies and things, and I told him that it was mostly through my family - family events like weddings or first communions or bar-mitzvahs - and it was the repetition that taught me what to expect. I also pointed out that if we were attending shul more frequently, we'd be exposed to more of this kind of thing just because other members in the congregation would be celebrating weddings and baby namings and bar mitzvahs as well.
So after the ceremony we had a little time before the reception, so we drove back to the hotel, following Scott this time, and I changed and we headed back out to the reception in Kristen and Jason's car.
The reception was a lot of fun. Very traditional again, although the WoW cake topper was in full view. But there was drinking and dancing and eating - I've been on a Michael Jackson kick since the wedding because they played Thriller and I discovered that I am incapable of staying seated if that song is playing. There was the bridal money dance, which was also a good time. Never really polka-ed before! It's quite a lively dance; I'm not entirely sure how Mari held up with dancing with EVERY SINGLE GUEST. :)
After that dance, we didn't stay much longer, and Kristen and Jason and Steve and I all bugged out to go see Star Trek. We got to the theater a little bit before the movie was scheduled to start, in spite of the driving rain and taking a wrong turn initially. I got to play a round of DDR and kicked butt at the first two songs and then failed miserably at Xepher, but that was to be expected. Those dance pads in the arcade really require sneakers - I took my shoes off and got my feet a little cut up from the metal. So then we saw the movie, yay! Still great, and Kristen and I made Sylar gestures during the right Spock scenes. :D
After the movie, went back to the hotel, and I finished sewing together the mitts, yay!
Next morning, we went to brunch in the hotel and I got to give Mari her mitts - she was delighted. Brunched, shot the breeze, and eventually we had to head out again.
Since the flight back to Chicago was at 7pm, Steve and I went to Scranton and checked out Steamtown, which is a museum built on an old major rail yard where they restored the turn table and round house and have a working steam locomotive. It was great going through this place with Steve - he pointed nearly everything out to me and showed me what it all did, how it operated. We ran into a yard tour with a fellow from the museum and saw how switches operate and where the coal cars would go racing along and up a ramp, and where the giant sand storage was. Very neat.
And from there we drove back to Philly to catch our flight back to Chicago. On the way I was really bored as there was nothing I wanted to listen to on the radio and Steve had put his seat back to nap. After some prompting, he proceeded to tell me the story of the Hobbit, but in the vernacular he uses at work with all the guys from the South side and West side. It was hilariously entertaining.
We got to the airport without real event, returned the car, and had some dinner before we got on the plane. Nothing special during the flight, although I got further in Sword of Mana and discovered that I was sort of stuck in a continual dungeon crawl without getting to buy things. Annoying. Luckily I'd been using the magic more frequently for healing, but still. Urgh.
Got back home without much fanfare, and basically went to bed. Good times.