"I'm so tired of bullshit weddings!"

Man, oh man alive.
We did it. It be done. Will and Shannon are legally bonded.

It was quite the trip to get here, and this weekend was filled with all the crazy of running around and then the whooooosh of relaxation as it all came to a head. I started my Saturday by driving to Philip Pelusi's at the Westmoreland Mall and getting my hair done. The next 3 hours were spent driving on various portions of route 30 to arrange different things that were forgotten or overlooked (decorations for the bridal suite, snacks and mixers for the after party). I would just like to say that if Brett and Andrea were not going to get married at the same place in September, I would be done with Greensburg forever. It's like Monroeville times 10,000. Ugh.

I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready and taking embarrassing pictures of the bride as she put on her dress. I have chosen not to publish those, so you can have this gorgeousness instead:


The ceremony itself turned out to be 99% perfect. I definitely choked up at times, but I made it through our speech without any actual tears running down my face. But give me a little credit. How many of you could stand up at the front of all the loved ones of some of the most important people in your life and say "It would be hard to overstate Will and Shannon's significance in our lives" without sobbing like a baby (of course, given that Will and Shannon are those important people, lol)? You can read the entirety of the speech here.
Our speech was very well received, and people loved that we officiated the ceremony for them. It was touching and meaningful and very sincere. Their vows were as well, and I finally totally lost it when Will read his. Luckily there was little for us to do after that, so I was ok.

Ceremony was followed by pictures, of course. Will and Shan used the same photographer that we did for our wedding, and he has continued to be awesome (and possibly continued to grow. Guy's like 6'7" or something ridiculous.) I was tall and statuesque with my 4 1/2" heels (taller than Tim Scott!). I lost them before the official dancing, but did manage to keep them on for the hora, which was confusing for 80% of the guests. It was still fun, even though Shannon vetoed the whole chair thing.

The reception was outstanding. The drinks and conversation flowed continually, and I managed to have a good combination of dancing and interacting with guests. I'm glad that I got the time to chat with various relations of the bride and groom. Becky's story about buying a suit for the wedding was hilarious, and I much appreciated the eye roll that Will's uncle Brian made when I mentioned Will's mother's very excited friend who had come up to me to tell me what a touching ceremony it was (at least I think that's the general message she was trying to convey...) by saying "I'm so tired of bullshit weddings!". And Rosie and I managed to take this adorable picture:

(Seriously, she looked so fantastic in that tux.)

One of the best parts was the mended fences. There are not many people that I don't get along with, but over the course of a life, there will be some falling outs. It happened that at this wedding, all of my falling outs were there. One was fixed long before the wedding, another at the rehearsal, and the other two at the wedding itself. Yay, I say, yay. I feel lighter and much better about the world at large now.


The dancing was fantastic as well. Steph and I did an entire rendition of 'Like a Prayer' alone on the dance floor, which was super fun. The time warp was excellent, as usual, though I do have a vicious bruise from my collapse at the end (swollen, red, and bright purple). There were many that got down, which I appreciated.


At the after party, I was the sober one, trying to make sure everyone was all right. I forced food and Gatorade down the throats of those who needed it, and got to laugh at how everyone slurred and fell and couldn't actually focus their eyes. The next morning at breakfast, I was glad to have been in better shape than most. There were people slumped over the tables, vomiting in the parking lot, and even one or two grey-complexioned.

Ahhhh, marriage. Such a serious and solemn event.


(Sorry about the lack of pics of the bride and groom. I didn't really manage to take any! I'm fairly certain the photographer did, though.)