Good times never seemed so good

All right. So I'm going to talk about the wedding I attended last night for a few minutes. Technically, the festivities began Friday night. I thought it was the rehearsal dinner, but they held that the night before. Friday was just an extra party. For funsies. They had a catered BBQ for 150 of their closest friends and family (and me) including the owner of a local hotspot in Norfolk, Doumar's, a little diner that claims to have invented the first ice cream cone machine. So they brought this historic piece of amazingness and made fresh waffle cones with delish ice cream for guests to enjoy after a steamboat ride on the river. Once it got late, all the youngsters headed to a bar that they'd rented out, ya know, to continue partying. That was my first clue of what we were in for last night.

Emily's ivory silk dress was very Grace Kelly inspired, and oh so classic. She didn't wear a veil, and I couldn't help but think how posh it was. She had beautiful flowers in her hair, and a deep, but tasteful V in the back of her dress that would've been hidden beneath a veil. She had 10 bridesmaids, 2 flowers girls, and 2 ring bearers. Yeah. One of their readings was the passage on friendship from The Prophet, so of course I loved that since it's one of my favorite books ever.

After a very lovely ceremony (my first Episcopalian service) we headed to the bride's parents' mansion, where the reception was in the sprawling backyard. There were huge tents set up and the first thing that caught our eyes were the tables of food. This fare was extreme. I mean, we're talking crab claws, baby lamb chops, soft-shell crab, lobster cakes, seared tuna, an entire table dedicated to shrimp of all kinds, and I can't even begin to mention the cheese table. It was insane. The open bar meant that I had a full glass of Pinot Grigio in my hand at every turn. (Perhaps the wine was the reason I got through half of my piece of the cake before realizing it had some sort of lemon curd in it. And then I put it down. :)

After Emily and John arrived to the party by boat, the party really kicked off. Fireworks were set off by a barge on the river, signifying it was time to par-tay. At one point I looked around and I believe that every single person was on the dance floor. Well, everyone except J--he was out on the dock with his boys. So when "Sweet Caroline" came on, I danced and sang with J's dad, sis, bro-in-law, and niece. It was an amazing memory for sure. Berkley, totally the celebri-baby of the evening, got her revenge on an old man who kept spinning her around by pooping on him. Hilarity ensued. Delilah, the Websters' gray-faced chocolate lab, was wearing a special collar of ribbons and flowers, and she joined the dance floor for the father/daughter dance.

One thing that I noticed was that the party was still completely full and hopping when it shut down around midnight. I don't know if I have ever heard of a reception where literally no one left until it was over, and the crowd was a mix of young and old, possibly tipped more heavily on the old side. Emily asked J and I to join them on the Trolley and head downtown to the hotel where they, and their out of towner Colorado friends were staying for a continuation of the celebration. We obliged, and boarded a Trolley with about 30 other people and spent another 2 hours sitting on a patio by the water. Beautiful. I met a really fun and adorable girl who I exchanged numbers with...her fiance used to play sports with J.
It was an amazing wedding for sure, but quite extravagent and extreme and not something I could ever imagine being "the norm." I can't help but imagine my wedding, wayyy in the future, to be simple, and small, and not at all flashy. During a dance with J, I said, "this is really nice, but it's way nicer than anything we'll ever have." After asking what I meant, I said, "There won't be boats at our wedding, or soft-shell crabs, or fireworks..." and he said, "Well, that's what you think," and kissed me, and twirled me around, and for a moment, someone else's wedding was part of my very own fairy-tale.