One Little Word: Married

It was a banquet.
It was a wiffle ball tournament
It was a musical
It was a wedding!

My body is so sore and my heart is so full that I don't even know where to begin this entry because I know there is no way to do the day justice. If I had to describe it in only one word it would be: perfect. It was exactly the wedding Jeri and Phil wanted and it went off so well that even the few minor glitches didn't seem like glitches at the end of the day. We even lucked out with weather. It was sunny, but cool, which meant that the area was not packed with Labor Day picnickers. There were other people around, but it really felt like we had the place almost to ourselves.

I didn't take nearly as many photos as usual because the place was lousy with photographers and I figured others would get better ones. But I still took my fair share (which are posted in Flickr). There will eventually be video, but I have lots of work to prepare that, so don't hold your breath.

The day started at 6:30, for me, finishing off the cakes. I had done the tiered cake, but I wanted to add roses to the sheet cake, which I did. Then I made a vat of clam dip and got out of the way so Joe could start the prep work on the tri tips. Across town, Tom was doing the same thing on the tri tips HE brought home.

Eventually we loaded up the truck and the cars and headed off on our errands. Mine was to pick up the bride and drive to the beach to set up the cake, which I did. Now, the cake may need explaining. There is a very funny Saturday Night Live skit called "Cowbell" with the punch line "I gotta have more cowbell." Phil thus played the cowbell at a Preoccupied Pipers show one time and last Christmas I bought him a t-shirt that said "more cowbell" on it.

So, when I was designing the cake, I thought about what would be representative of both Phil and Jeri and decided on musical notes (Jeri) and cowbells (Phil). I even found decorator cowbells on line. I concocted this cake:

The middle tier has notes, both lower tiers have cowbells, and the top has interlocking rings and the initials "HMB" (hey--my buddy!) which are inscribed inside each of their rings.

So we get to the park and I get the cake out of the car and Phil comes up to me wearing this...

Completely serendipitous! I couldn't have planned it that good.

We got things set up, checked out how progress was going, and then I took Jeri over to her grandmother's to get dressed. Alice Nan got all choked up when she saw Jeri looking into what had been her grandmother's antique silver mirror.

Since I was helping Jeri get dressed, I missed my mother's introduction to her great granddaughter, but Laurel caught the moment beautifully.

The ceremony took place under the big tree pictured in the Photo of the Day yesterday. Marta did a beautiful job and with so many photographers, I elected to just videotape it and get photos from other people, but it was just perfect and tailor-made for both Jeri and Phil. At one point Marta, the minister, bursts into the song "Married" (from Cabaret) like you would find during a musical.

When it was all over, Jeri and Phil kissed, then held hands and ran across the grass, down onto the beach and into the water, with the whole 130 guests in hot pursuit (except for me because I couldn't keep up with them!)

Afterwards there was that fabulous barbeque Tom and Joe prepared

...and of course pictures of everybody. The bride's family...

...(some of) the groom's family...

...the Pinata family...

...and my personal favorite group photo, a picture of all of us who have been married wearing the "fertility veil."

Pat (left, in the veil picture) made sure there was a pinata for the party and it was a highlight. She couldn't have planned it better. It held together long enough for every kid at the party (and there were lots) to hit it, Jeri and Phil each had a whack at it, and Ned finished it off, sending showers of candies, fortune cookies, balls, and bottles of bubble soap down on the delighted kids.

Toasts were given by best man, Jon Lee, and Matron of Honor, Alice Nan:

The cake was cut and served...

...and the wiffle ball game was on. Yes, Jeri did play wiffle ball in her wedding dress!

I didn't play wiffle ball. Not only would it have probably killed me, I had more important things to do.

I even shared the wealth...

(I told my friends Jeri and Char that this reminded
me of a scene from MacBeth!)

There were emotional times when we remembered people who were not there, Paul and David, of course, Michele, who would have just loved the whole day (and how happy we were that her husband came with their son Eric and his wife Nan), and Jeri's husband Bill, who died a couple of years ago. Jeri and Bill had gone to Boston shortly after Phil moved in with our Jeri and had to check out this young man and make sure he was OK. Bill said at the time that he thought they would be going to a wedding eventually. It was very emotional thinking of his not being there today. But Jeri was and his sons were and I'm sure that somewhere Paul, Dave, Michele and Bill were there too.

So it's all over and tomorrow we have yet another party, to celebrate Walt's mother's 95th birthday.