Wedding Weekend: Preparation

The rehearsal went a little slowly — nobody really seemed to be able to get going — but all seemed to be working out. There were a couple of glitches we’d have to work out on the big day, but nothing dramatic. One of those glitches was the rather... interesting cut of the custom suits (groom-to-be) Collin had ordered for himself, Adrian, and (usher) Nello. Sleeves of odd length, short coats (Adrian thought it was a deliberate plan to draw attention to the rather prominently accentuated ass)... Nello’s pants hadn’t yet been hemmed, so he’d have to pick them up on Sunday.

Words can’t describe the beauty of the locale, so I won’t even try. Just do your best to imagine being surrounded by 360 degrees of southwestern ecology, and you’ll start to get an idea. There’s talk of putting up pictures at the wedding site, but I don’t think they’ll come close to capturing the feeling of being there. (I had planned out what I was going to say at the service, but now I’d have to do some rewriting to pay homage to the environment.)

We had a bit of a break before the rehearsal dinner, so we hopped out to the local grocery store to pick up some supplies — i.e., liquor — for the planned after-reception party. Hey, if you’ve got a place as nice as we had, you want to take advantage of it. The most surprising thing was that you could buy liquor at a regular grocery store (which explained some of the blank looks we got when asking for a liquor store). Who knew?

The dinner was wonderful, though thanks to a packed house, we didn’t end up getting seated until after almost an hour past our reservation time. And then we ended up sitting at two tables. I think it’s a sign of my... um... maturity that I wasn’t seated at the “kids’ table” (unlike Nello and Adrian, for example). It was nice to have a chance to sit down and meet a lot of the friends and family, though, especially since I hadn’t really talked with any of them before that afternoon.

After dinner, we all went out to Chez Nous for what was intended as an after-dinner gathering, but were surprised to find a live band playing (meaning there was a $5 cover just to get in) and one hell of a lot of smoke. Still, the band was pretty good, and we ended up sticking around for a while (I’d also hoped to meet up with an old high school chum there, but we repeatedly failed to establish communication).

Fortunately, they’d prearranged transportation for us back to the resort, which was a good thing since the alcohol was flowing fairly generously. A little discussion to wind down, and we turned in, in anticipation of the big day tomorrow. Although ending the evening at midnight — two a.m. Washington time — still wasn’t all that early.

Especially since I woke up promptly at my conditioned “weekend” hour of six o’clock (eight a.m. back home).

Oh, well, I suppose this would give me a chance to rewrite my remarks. Good thing I brought my laptop with me (yeah, like there would have been any doubt). Not having a printer, I struck upon the bright idea to fax the pages to the front desk. A little cutting and taping onto index cards, and I had my little “cheat sheet.”

A couple of hours later, everyone else is up, and it’s time to get ready for the big event...