a bit more about the wedding

Congratulations to Chris and Christine on your beautiful wedding. It was so uplifting that it seems to have given Scott the power to update his blog. He sums up many of the same sentiments I feel about the ceremony, reception, and the whole weekend in general. I'm not sure how much I have to add about the wedding itself, but I will certainly second that Chris and Christine both looked great and they looked even better together.

Kudos for those on the planning end of the wedding. At the ceremony itself, there were over 50 people in the wedding party counting the bride, groom, maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, coin and ring bearers, family, and all the various sponsors. The church had this nice older woman who was the wedding coordinator and she struck me as the kind of unsung person that many organizations would be lost without. I'm sure she's done hundreds of weddings and she knew how to keep it all under control. For the reception, we migrated over to the La Jolla Marriott. By we, I mean about 350 people. It seemed like there were more people at the reception than the actual wedding ceremony. The reception had a definite agenda that was outlined on the wedding cards at every seat and they stuck to it. I really like a good plan that people stick to and this whole thing seems well executed.

Like all good weddings, this one prompted plenty of discussions about who would get married next. In thinking about this, I believe I was wrong before about this being the start of many weddings of my friends in the next three or four years. From the group that was at this wedding, I think the next wedding is about two years away and then there will be several in two or three years. I believe this one will turn out to be an early outlier. Also, given the logistics of a large, traditional, wedding, I'm really favoring my drive-thru wedding plan. It could get relatively elaborate for a drive-thru. I might now rent a big bus to take to the drive-thru so everyone can attend the ceremony and then we can tailgate in the parking lot or perhaps order pizza. (Who said romance was dead?) I certainly don't think I'll have anywhere near 350 people at any wedding of mine. I don't belong to a large social network (family or religion or local community) that would compel me to invite lots of people. We'll say 20 family members attend and perhaps a slightly larger number of friends. One must keep in mind the difference between whom you invite and who is actually able to attend. Perhaps I'm low balling the numbers and neglecting family friends, but I'm aiming for medium to small-ish and want to stay optimistic.

By the end of the weekend, I was incredibly tired and I didn't even get married. It wasn't simply the day of the wedding, but the entire long weekend and the nights of minimal sleep in the days before I left for San Diego. That and racking up 560 miles in the rental car in four days meant a whole lot of driving. I'll have more to say about that later.