So, The Wedding

Our vacation started with a family wedding. My sister’s older son, Joey, was getting married in Michigan. The bride’s family is from Michigan, and he proposed to his wife-to-be in Michigan on their way home from another family wedding. The venue they chose was charming, but on the opposite side of the state from where the bride’s family lives. For weeks before the wedding, and after I arrived, I got to hear about how the 60, 100, 125, 150 guests would not fit inside the hall for dinner and how the bride’s family was renting a tent, how the plans for the rehearsal dinner kept changing without my sister ever being notified, how the plans for cocktail hour did not include any lactose-free options, and how, “I have the boy! How did I get involved in all this?” from my sister.

My sister is funny. She really is a sunny natured extrovert, but she has a dramatic streak. I on the other hand, am a fretful introvert with a deceptively calm, organized exterior. If you met us, you would think that I am the calm one and that she is the one perpetually filled with anxiety, but appearances are deceiving. So as I listened and attempted to soothe her, I realized that actually, she and the wedding were both going to be fine.

And so it was. The rehearsal dinner was finally held outdoors on the patio of a local pub, with delicious food and room for the child members of the wedding party to run around and play. The hall had enough seating for all the guests, and later served for dancing, and the weather was perfect for the delicious (and plentiful) dinner under the tent and the lawn games the bride’s mother had planned. The bride was beautiful, the groom was beaming, my sister and her husband danced every dance, and I never did learn who won the lawn games. 

(Most of the pictures I took are of the wedding party and guests and I don't want to post them here without the consent of those pictured. These seem safe enough.)

Unity candles

The dinner tent

Really cute wedding guest I got to dance with

It was mandatory to wear safety helmets while playing Giant Jenga

The wedding venue had a beautiful view of the lake.

The bride and groom held a balloon launch in honor of my late cousin Al.