THE CEREMONY:
I'm not religious, but I come from a Roman Catholic upbringing. My sister met her fiance at Assumption College, so they chose to get married at the church there. The church itself it beautiful, as churches go. Like most, it carried the sound pretty well. The priest was a little hard to understand at times with his thick accent, but he was great, especially when talking to the families at the rehearsal and after the ceremony. I'm sure it was nice for the happy couple to be married at school too. I know the groom was pretty stoked to hold some trophy that he and his friends won, which he got to do while waiting to be married.
It was a good size. A good number of people were able to fit in there, but didn't fill it. It was good! I had to walk my mom down the aisle, then circle back and walk a bridesmaid down too, so that was slightly strange. It's certainly awkward to walk down an aisle, everyone staring at you and snapping photos. You don't know where exactly to look. Plus, you're sort of like that teaser preview to the main attraction. "Oh! A guy in a tux! Oh! A lady in a dress! OH! HERE COMES THE BRIDE!" You know.
But, I suppose it is nice to parade everyone down. Everyone looked so nice! I was happy to be the one to walk my mother down, but I also kind of wish I could have seen her come down too. She looked beautiful and I was really happy for her. (She's been waiting for over thirty years to see one of her four children to get married!)
Of all the aspects of a wedding, the ceremony is the one I probably care the least about in a general sense, but this was nice. Except I did learn that I can no longer "fake" being Catholic. Seriously! When did they change the response to, "May the Lord be with you"??? I feel like the whole thing was just changed to trap folks like me! And I was right in the front row, facing down three priests! Ah well. As the old saying suggests, no one was looking at me (thankfully).
What I really appreciated was that being a groomsman meant I lined up opposite the bride and her bridesmaids. That meant that when Matt was saying his vows and slipping the ring on, I could see both Katie (the bride) and Emily's (the maid of honor) faces. It was kind of amusing seeing who would crack first and start crying. It was pretty close! But I'm pretty sure Emily started first. (Kate revealed later her plan was to imagine Matt saying, "My wife" in a Borat accent.)
Score: A
THE FOOD:
Being a groomsman meant I didn't get to enjoy the cocktail hour, so I can't really comment on that. I was too busy sipping champagne and downing gross nips of Fireball whiskey (ugh) in the back of a limo. Also learned the value of holding onto open bottles in a moving vehicle! That stuff will spill!
Still, I can comment on the dinner at least. It was a buffet with...ok, so maybe it's not totally fair for me to even try to comment on the food because I'm not a big food person. I don't actually know what it was I ate. It wasn't the best food I've ever eaten in my entire life (it's not a pasta with my dad's sauce, so...) but as far as catered food goes, it was good! I don't know if other people have the same experience, but I tend to lower my expectations when it comes to catered food, but whatever the pasta dish was (which is what I got), it was actually pretty solid! I went to go get more even, but it looked like other tables hadn't been able to go up yet, so I didn't.
However, I am a big dessert guy! I can count the number of weddings I've been to in which I actively loved the dessert options on one hand. I really hate wedding cake. It's always too sweet and doesn't taste that great to begin with. At the wedding of a family friend, they opted to skip wedding cake for cupcakes. Great idea, if you ask me. My sister did the same thing, but used Brave New Cupcakes.
Best. Decision. Ever. Look, full disclosure, I was sort of the original lobbyist for those cupcakes. I know the baker, and there are few desserty things I've enjoyed more. (Don't ask me to pick among her cupcakes, my sister's mud pies, or my mom's chocolate cakes though...) Basic point here: I'm probably pretty biased. While they didn't select the exact cupcakes I was suggesting for the wedding (just to be clear, I wasn't suggesting cupcakes based solely on what I like - I was trying to be helpful to them!), it was a good array. The peanut butter cupcakes were gone pretty quickly, but we had chocolate truffle, chocolate and vanilla twist, and raspberry lemonade left over. Just so happens, that last one is one of my favorites.
The dinner I'd probably put around a B+, but the desserts knock the overall food score up!
Score: A++
THE DRINKS:
One of the big perks of being a groomsman? The open bar. I kind of lost track of how much I had to drink, but I wasn't super drunk or anything. (I wonder how my Tipsy Level compared to my other sister's - the maid of honor.) Let's see... the other groomsmen and I did a shot with the groom before heading over to the church. Then we all downed one of those gross Fireball whiskey nips (ugh again) in the limo. We all had at least a glass of champagne too. There were comments about which one was the good one, but frankly, I doubt I would have been able to tell the difference. I like champagne, but it kind of all tastes the same to me.
At the Country Club (where the reception was), the catering crew kept doing this weird thing where if I put my drink down, they'd basically take it away. Or at least, they kept doing that with the Tom Collins drinks I had. It happened on two separate occasions. At some point, I had three Tom Collins, but I think I only actually finished one. Not because I gave up on them! The first time, I put it down because the bridesmaids and groomsmen were being introduced (probably the part I was least interested in). When I went back to retrieve it, they had taken it away. Another time, I got halfway through a Tom Collins, put it down to go dance to something. When I came back, again they had bused it!
My sister Emily, the maid of honor, had gotten me into amaretto sours, so I had a couple of those. All in all, I guess I didn't really have that much to drink. Just enough to be buzzed. It's hard to say how much that impacted my outgoing behavior. Maybe I was just...wait...hold on...I can't...I can't tell though. Was I just tipsy enough to be outgoing? Or was I maybe just like, legitimately happy for my sister and that caused me to be more outgoing than usual?
Actually, I should credit this wedding for showing me an effective way to get drunk! Not that I got drunk that night, but I'm traditionally a beer drinking. I love beer! In my old age though, I've developed some health issues that make drinking more than a couple beers difficult. This also means that it's tricky to get drunk! Mixed drinks is definitely the way to go, I learned. Downside is that there's not really a cheap way to do it - if you're going out. But if I ever do want to go out and get drunk, that's the game plan.
Oh! I forgot to mention that the bartender was this sort of cranky old guy. I don't want to talk crap about him, especially because that kind of crankiness made him weirdly endearing. He was kind of like...well, he was basically like the old guy from Up if the old guy from Up decided to make cocktails instead of stuffing his house full of balloons.
Score: A
THE MUSIC:
This is where my sister Kate and her now husband Matt killed it. First off, they hired this guy called DJ Don. He was this ridiculously upbeat and pleasant dude who made it seem like the only wedding he was ever interested in DJing was this one. From my understanding, Kate and Matt gave him a list of songs. It wasn't a playlist per se, nor was it a set list in a particular order. This made it a little tricky when a few of us kept trying to get him to play "Ghostbusters," but we eventually got him to do so.
The playlist itself was incredibly well balanced. Dinner saw lots of Beatles and other "oldies." The dancing segment broke off into this really weird ebb and flow though. Our family lives mostly on Long Island, so it's something of a tradition to play "New York, New York." That was immediately followed by "Dirty Water," to represent Boston. That's pretty much how the night went, musically. There were some older hits, typically found in our family weddings - like "Shout" or "The Twist." But then there were segments of slightly more recent stuff like "Uptown Funk" and "Downtown." It seemed like they gave shout outs to people with their song selections too. (I mean, I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like A Woman" was kind of there for me... Also, people think I love that song ironically, but I really, really don't. I just love it, period. It's such a fun song!)
Though perhaps a little incoherent at times (as an overall playlist, that is), this was one of the best wedding playlists I think I've experienced. Who cares about the order, right? The slow jams were great. The party anthems were hoppin'. We had some classic family stuff like "Shout" and "The Electric Slide." It was really impressive the way that they managed to work in newer tunes everyone is currently obsessed with, with oldies for our aunts and uncles, with classic songs that make traditional appearances in our family weddings. It was great!
Just wish I had been there for "Love Shack." I was busy socializing at the bar, but the B-52s are my jam!
Score: A+
THE PEOPLE:
It's always funny when you think about your far-too-large extended family. It can easily get overwhelming. There are a lot of them. And they're all total weirdos. But ya know what? It was really nice to have everyone together. I didn't see so many people from my mom's side - then again, they're a bit more subdued than the family on my dad's side. We had uncles and aunts and cousins from California fly in for the wedding, which is nice because we don't get to see them a lot.
And I have to say, if you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep, Matt and Kate keep great company. It was kind of strange at first being a groomsman because I wasn't really there on the groom's side. The groom was marrying my sister! (This made lining up for pictures confusing!) But the other groomsmen were great! They were really welcoming and easy to get along with. All of their friends are.
I'm continually impressed with Katie and what she's done in her life. From studying in India to doing AmeriCorps programs in Kentucky to continuing education goals to marrying a great guy. But most of all, I'm impressed with the company she keeps. All of her friends are super easy to get along with. I'm not the most social or outgoing guy, but I never worried around her friends. I had only just met a couple of the groomsmen for the first time the day before! But I'm pretty sure one of them and I were jokingly grinding on the dance floor at one point, so... That should tell you something.
I think that being a groomsmen also put my mind in "job" mode. Typically at weddings, I'm too nervous and just sit at the table. Here though, I did kind of feel like I was a groomsman! It's part of my responsibilities to be out there and socializing! I actively tried to engage with all these people, and avoid staying put at the table for too long. You have to credit their friends and family for that.
In regards to extended family: it was a great time! It was just a lot of fun. Of course, it helps that we got them in little doses all day rather than just an entire day crammed in one house or something. Still, going out to breakfast with a bunch of my uncles and aunts as they grilled the server as to why Worcester is pronounced the way it is was both really awkward and hilarious.
Katie is great at making people feel welcome and loved. She was beautiful and radiant and wonderful. I also have to give a shout out to Emily though. She delivered one of the sweetest, most touching, and funniest speeches. It was really heartfelt. Structurally, it hit a lot of emotions, making sure to balance the overly sentimental with the comedic relief. She even killed it with some off-the-cuff remarks. It was tough to keep it together, especially when she kept pausing to collect herself.
It was just really sweet. I know it was a day for Katie, and she was great! But Emily killed it too. I could go on about how impressed I am with her too, but maybe I should save that for when she gets married.
Score: A+++
(I added a plus because I realized how weird it would be to put the people on the same level as the cupcakes... But those cupcakes were really good.)
OVERALL:
Honestly? I normally hate weddings and big to-dos, but this was just a ton of fun. It was probably the most fun I've had in a long, long time. (Not saying I've not had any fun. Just that this was the most.) It was a little weird walking away from it imagining how much more fun it might be if I were getting married and my friends were a part of it too. I kind of want my friends to experience my family, and the beautiful weirdness that is a family wedding. Seriously, it's kind of hard to explain the appeal of our uncle dressing up as Elvis for no real reason.
Anyway, this was the best wedding ever. I'm sure I was an annoying little shit in the lead up to it (I generally live my life in a way that avoids having people ask me to do stuff). But it was great. I'm happy for my sister, for both of them really (I think Emily could be a professional Maid of Honor!). And I'm happy for my parents.
My favorite moment was the last song. "All You Need is Love," by the Beatles. Everyone gathered around - without direction - and linked arms around Matt and Katie as they danced. Every time the chorus came up and the Fab Four sang the title of the track, everyone rushed in to essentially form a giant group hug type deal. It was really sweet, and it just sort of happened. It was a great way to end the reception.
Overall Score:
BEST WEDDING EVER +
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