Wedding Miscellany: Friday, mostly

Mission accomplished! Tony and I were married in front of our family and friends on Saturday. It was beautiful and we are happy.

The end.



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Just kidding. Everyone knew I have more to say on the topic, right? If weddings aren't your thing, just skip this post - and the next, in all likelihood -  and look forward to some Italy posts in the extremely near future.

Friday was a crazy whirlwind (one of my favorite words lately) and involved much running around in terrible weather. With everyone coming in from out of town, I definitely kept my fingers crossed and maybe even said a prayer or two to St. Christopher that no one would have problems with the rain or wind. We saw trees down, power lines completely gobsmacked, streetlights hanging from wires, fences and roofs blown out, and a partridge in a pear tree. The forecast called for 35 knots of sustained wind with gusts of 65-70. You know, a typical Astoria winter storm. I later learned there was at least one tornado in the general vicinity, but thankfully everyone made it in okay. From about 3-8pm we were greeting family and helping them get access to Hurlburt Field and checked into their hotel. It wasn't so bad, but a bit of a logistical nightmare since even Hurlburt's inn had buildings and rooms scattered all over two different parts of the base.

I have some good memories of Friday evening's festivities. Knowing all of our guests would be arriving and checking in at different times, our hands were kind of tied to plan much of anything. I was hoping we'd be able to go out to dinner or meet up with more of the non-family guests, but we ended up having a grand time in the hotel lobby. I wouldn't call it a rehearsal dinner, per se, especially since we didn't have any attendants or anything, but it was more of an impromptu gathering. My wonderful mom and cousin took a field trip to Publix (YAY, Publix!) and picked up a bunch of sandwiches and soda, to which they contributed homemade brownies, Chex Mix, and ginger cookies. Aaron and Lis brought a cooler full of jello-shots, which were a huge hit, and we kept the ruckus to a dull roar so the friendly front desk staff wouldn't have any reason to kick us out. They were very accommodating and ever so nice. I'd recommend staying there to anyone passing through the area.

My dad consumed his first ever jello-shot. The image still brings a smile to my face, and I'm pretty sure Tony's dad even captured it with his camera.

Another funny little tidbit was a visit from Cousin James. Oh, you don't know Cousin James? He is an Air Force retiree who was staying at the Hurlburt Inn for training. He popped in and photo-bombed some of Tony's family while they were taking a group photo on the couch, and stayed to visit. The family resemblance was amazing, once you got around the fact he's black and we're white. :) He even showed us before-and-after photos of his facial hair. Apparently he showed up for the second week of training sans beard and mustache, and his classmates didn't recognize him.

The party wrapped around 10:30 or so, and Tony and I jetted across the highway to get some beauty rest in our room. Ah, blessed silence.

Okay, gotta go. I have a plane to catch!!