Pete's Ancient and rarely updated
D-land Journal

Greetings!

So, I should think that a report on the weekend is in order. There are other reports here, here, and here.

Friday we packed up our stuff: clothing, decorations, gifts, etc.; and headed off to the hotel. The hotel put us in a small and sort of dingy room (I made the reservations separate from the wedding planning, so it�s partly my fault, I suppose.) That was discouraging, but Saturday I got them to switch us to a much nicer room.

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner (sans rehearsal). Dad hosted it at the Delafield Brewhaus. The place was very nice and the food was very good. It was fun to have everyone there. My folks got to meet Vin�s folks, the groomsmen got to meet the bridesmaids, and we all got to sit around and jaw. It was a pleasant evening of visiting and throwing paper airplanes, and having fun.

At one point that evening I presented my groomsmen with their gifts: hand carved canes made of dark rosewood. The canes are carved with dragon heads at the handgrip and the sinuous body of the dragon is the length of the cane. (I�ll get a picture of mine at some point and put it up here or on my site). They all liked them a lot.

Vin presented her bridesmaids with their gifts, too. The ladies received pretty shawls that went with their dresses (to help them stay warm if the night of the wedding was cool), pretty necklaces to wear during the wedding, and (the most important part of their gifts) scrapbooks with pictures of themselves with Vin. Each scrapbook was made by Vin, each customized for its particular recipient. The girls all loved the scrapbooks and they got passed around the table for everyone to look at.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for our last night as a single couple (... is that an oxymoron?)

Saturday was one of those �hurry up and wait� type days. Vin ran home with Lexie to pick up a couple things we forgot. Wook and I went to pick up the correct ties for the tuxes (Desmonds gave us bow ties, I wanted straight ties). Then it was a matter of waiting around for 3:30 when we would be able to g out to the pavilion and start setting up stuff for the wedding.

So, at 3:30 we all showed up down there, started setting stuff up. We also did a sort of walk-through of the ceremony. Everyone was feeling pretty silly and goofing around. It annoyed me at the time, but I understand they were just releasing anxiety and such, so I am not pissed or anything. After the walk-through the ladies all beat feet for Lexie�s room so that they could primp and preen and make themselves beautiful.

People started showing up around 4, which meant I got to visit with some old friends before-hand, which was nice.

After getting stuff set up, or pretty much so, I and the boys beat feet for my room or Wook�s room to get suited up. I have to say that, for as motley a crew as we were, we cleaned up pretty well!

The ceremony itself was short. The processional began and the girls came out one after another. They all looked lovely. Then Vin came out, escorted by both of her parents, she looked absolutely beautiful. They walked her to the foot of the gazebo, where I took her hand and escorted her up to the center, in front of the justice of the peace. Commissioner Machi did his piece and we said our stuff and he lowered the boom and pronounced us husband and wife. (I should note that I did intend to have Commissioner Machi add the lines �If there is anyone here today who knows of any reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace� so that our friends could raise a ruckus, but things didn�t go perfectly and I never got a chance to ask him about it.)

We recessed, and did the receiving line thing, then we went back out for pictures. I�m sure we drove Holly nuts with all our little additional ideas and horsing around. And then the mosquitoes discovered that there was a smorgasbord out there and that Holly was a tasty morsel. But she did a great job of doing pictures and I look forward to seeing the proofs.

The rain gods held off on the rain until after pictures, and then it was only a brief rainfall and light. So, a short aside to my buddy Murphy: nyah!

Dinner began right on time, after pictures for the cake cutting and a couple toasts. Cu, as Lead Rogue, did the first toast and it was quite moving. Then I ad libbed a toast to my new bride. Finally, the Wench of Honour toasted us. Then dinner began.

The food was excellent and there was plenty of it! I think everyone was able to eat their fill and then some. And the cake was very good, too. We still have a bit left at home and it is quite tasty.

After Vin and I finished dinner and before the cake was served we wandered around and visited with everyone a bit. So many people I haven�t seen in years! I wish I could have visited all night long! I hope they all enjoyed seeing each other.

Then we did the �first dance� followed by dancing with the �rents. After that it was open dancing for everyone. We had set up three mix cds to take us all the way through the evening. Not everything got played due to folks playing with the cd player, which is too bad because we had some fun stuff that got missed. But the music was good and people had lots of fun.

We decided to do the bouquet toss and garter toss a little early because a few people had left and more were starting to leave. Vin tossed her bouquet and Darlene caught it. Then I got to go up under Vin�s dress to remove the garter with my teeth (to Here Comes the Snake by the Cherry Poppin� Daddies). Roz decided i needed to be spun around before I tossed it and so when I did toss it I missed the crowd of eligible bachelors by a couple feet. Vince was the first to the garter.

Now, tradition has it that the catchers of the bouquet and garter should dance, but before I could let them do that I had to get the other garter from Vin�s other leg. It was a handmade one, made by Toni. It was leather with sequins, a button that reads �Spank me� and it has a little leather cat-o-nine tails hanging from it. I removed it from her leg and ore it as an armband for the rest of the evening so people could see it and be amused.

Then we made Dar and Vince dance... to a naughty song... I believe it was The Divinyls� I Touch Myself. Of course, Dar and Vince were both a tad embarrassed, but it was all good fun.

A little while later Meatloaf�s Paradise by the Dashboard Lights came on. Of course everyone started to dance. Then we got a surprise that was sort of fun. The hotel was having several other weddings that evening, and apparently someone ordered fireworks for one of the weddings. So, just as the song started really kicking into gear, fireworks started booming away behind the gazebo. It was a lovely display of fireworks, lasting maybe 10 minutes. I wish I could have pulled off the old �Yeah, I ordered those� lie, but I didn�t. They were a nice accent to the evening, though!

Anyway, we had a good time, we enjoyed dancing and visiting (and I reiterate, we simply did not get to visit enough with everyone... the reception should have been an all day affair...).

Upon getting back to our room we discovered that our loving friends Adam, Dar, Toni, and Vince had trashed our room. It wasn�t too bad, just moved things around, short-sheeting the bed (poorly), toilet papering of the room. Pretty simple stuff. The one sleeper thing I didn�t catch till the following morning was the fact that someone changed the time on the clock, setting it ahead two hours. I woke up at �10:00� and thought �Shoot! It�s late� and ran around packing stuff up and taking it out to the car.

I discovered that it was only a bit after 8 and would have been vexed... but the fact that I was up and about gave me the luck to chance upon Carol & Tony doing the free continental breakfast. We chatted for a while and then were joined by Thor & Rachel. It was quite nice to visit with them. Wish I could have been at everyone�s continental breakfasts!

Vin and I then checked out and had brunch with Wookiee and Melanie. Then it was off to the gift opening thingie at my Uncle Jim�s. We got lotsa cool stuff, for which we�re both very grateful. I have lots of nifty new cookware to play with and we�ve other fun stuff for the house.

I guess that sort of covers it.

It was fabulous to see everyone, even if I couldn�t visit for very long. I�m so pleased and happy that so many of you decided to come and share our big day, it meant so much to me and to Vin. Thank you all. I hope you had a good time, I hope you enjoyed the program and the cds that were there for you to take. Special thanks to our wenches and rogues, for being willing to participate in the day with us.

Stay tuned to here or my site for pics from the wedding (if anyone ever sends us any... hint hint).

Till later, take care.

Love ya!

- Warren