Wow. It is with great happiness that I announce the wedding of my sibling, Jean, and Dave. Okay, it was two weeks ago, so I’m a little late. But I’d just like to once again give credit where credit is due…it was Jean and Dave who prompted me to start this blog. Thank you, bro and sis. And now, they are happily married. My blog readers thank you and congratulate you on this happy union.
Now, what can I say about the wedding. So much…but yet, so little at the same time. So much happened, and the whole weekend was so fun that I managed to write out a list of all funny things that happened for fear that I, Sara, would forget them all in due time. I did this because I can pretty much guarantee that in no less than 3 months, many memories will be lost. I have the worst memory of all time. I say “so little,” because I mayyyy have overindulged a bit at the reception. A lot of the end of it is blurry. I remember going crazy when the song “Paso,” by Sak Noel came on. Meaning, I was literally jumping around as though I was at a Sak Noel concert. I remember my toast, and Liv’s. I vaguely recall a bus ride back to the hotel and gazing up at the full moon saying that it meant something crazy was going to happen (nothing crazy happened to me specifically, but that sure did come true for others). Then, thankfully, I stopped drinking. Oh wait – a couple of pictures of me at the hotel bar show me drinking PBR, albeit painfully. Anyway, it must not have been much because the next day I realized I had left my credit card at the bar with an amazingly high $5.23 bar tab. Why did I move to DC?
Now, I can’t post everything that happened at the wedding on the blog, you crazy kids. Some of it is G rated, and some of it…R. Actually, is there a rating higher than R? Because that is what I would rate this wedding at. Those implicated will remain nameless, of course. Because what happens in Middletown, CT….stays in Middletown, CT. And that is all I can say about that. If any friends who were at the wedding would like to see my own personal list of wedding memories, please contact me and I will provide the list on an as requested basis. Thank you.
That being said, for my other sister’s wedding last summer, Liv, I posted her wedding toast. I figured I’d give Jean and Dave that same honor here by posting my toast for their wedding. So here you go…
Thank you John.
John was our DJ, and ironically, friend from home. I was even more tipsy for this toast than I was Liv’s, if that is possible, but I am pretty sure I said this again.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Jean’s older sister, Sara.
Insert loud cheers from crowd. I wasn’t expecting this, so I ad libbed…
Okay, everyone knows me.
I don’t have an ego at all.
First, I’d like to thank everyone for braving the cold and the distance to spend this amazing day with Jean and Dave. This has been a much anticipated wedding celebration, so we have a lot of expectations to live up to (no pressure).
Not kidding about it being much anticipated. Ever since the Jean and Dave engagement last year, we knew we were in for a wedding treat.
As many of you know, Jean has quite the strong personality. She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it, and she knows how to go about getting it. She also has no problem saying exactly what’s on her mind. For example, one time Jean was visiting me in DC before she moved there. I introduced her to my neighbor (neighbor Paul), and Jean, being a dentist, immediately noticed that he had a crooked front tooth. By way of introduction, she said “hello,” and then followed up with “you know, I can fix number 10 for you.” Something you say to someone immediately upon meeting them.
Dave’s a bit different. He’s more calculated in all his activities. He also has a much more calming nature about him. He’s not an intense person like Jean, but rather, he knows how to calm her down in intense situations. So while they have many similar interests, I think it’s their different personalities that attract them to one another. Their opposing personalities also make them better people together. Jean has taught Dave organization, structure, and promptness. And amazingly, I think that Dave’s calming nature has rubbed off on my sister.
Take, for example, a recent event some of you may have seen described on Jean’s Facebook status. On the drive up from DC for the wedding, we had a bit of a mishap. On the top of our car there was a carrier that held all of their ski gear and other items. While driving along I-95, we suddenly realized something was amiss with the carrier, so pulled over on the highway. Dave got out to investigate, only to discover that he had neglected to lock said carrier. Defeated, he got back into the car, sat down, and stared blankly ahead. He then informed us that Jean’s ski bag, which contained two of her favorite pairs of boots, was gone. He looked like he was going to cry, and frankly – looked a little bit scared. Expecting the worst, I braced myself for the imminent wrath of Jean. But, I was pleasantly surprised. Jean, realizing that Dave obviously didn’t do this on purpose, and that the only reason for this occurrence was him being extremely overtired, miraculously said “it’s okay.” “It’s okay?!” I was seeing a whole new side of Jean. The pre-Dave Jean would have lost her temper and yelled, but my sister was instead even tempered and…calm…patient. She was taking on the role of Dave!
So as I’m telling this story, I’m looking at the audience but also at Jean and Dave. Mid-story, I see Dave gesturing to add something to the story that was not prepared. Not wanting to mess up my flow, i.e. eff up the speech, I did not say this. But what Dave was trying to get me to say was that the reason the carrier was left open in the first place was because I had asked him for the keys to go back inside to help Jean bring the rest of our items out to the car. Normally, Dave leaves the key in the carrier while loading it up and then locks it before closing the lid. Well, since there was no key in the carrier when he went to shut it this time (because I had it), naturally, he was insinuating that it was my fault the lid was not locked. He wasn’t going to blame it on me, but he just wanted to let me know that was the reason. As only a true bother should. Carrying on…
Of course I say these things about my sister, but she’s my best friend. We are super close and have been all our lives. To that end, I am overjoyed that she’s found someone who makes her a better person and who treats her like the amazing individual that she is. And I can’t say enough good things about Dave, or “bro” as I have been calling him ever since they got engaged. I couldn’t have asked for my sister to have found a better person, and I know Dave will treat Jean right for the rest of their lives.
And with that, I’d like to offer a toast.
To Jean and Dave. That they lead a lifetime of happiness in their marriage, that they remain the best of friends, treat each other with respect and dignity, and continue to love, trust, and cherish one another as a happily married couple should.
Okay, I just realized that I can’t end this post here. There are actually far too many ridiculous memories that actually are bloggable that I can post here. I will tease you with a few now:
- Standing at the alter, the deacon opens with “We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Sss….. (awkward pause) Jean, and Dave.” Wait, WHAT?! Did I just hear correctly? Did she almost say MY name rather than my sisters? Gathering from the look of Dave, and his best man right behind him, who were both looking at me with a “did that really just happen” look of pure amazement, I did not imagine that. She almost married me to Dave. Mind you, this is mid-ceremony. But the look on Dave’s face as well as the look on the best man’s face led me to naturally burst out in laughter…at the alter. It was like being in church back in the day when me and my sisters could not stop laughing, even though we knew it was entirely not appropriate to laugh at that moment. But this wasn’t just like I was sitting in a pew during a Sunday service. I was in the spotlight, at the alter….and I could NOT STOP LAUGHING. Thanks Dave for the look on your face that led to my uncontrolable laughter. It wasn’t until Liv started punching me from behind that I realized I needed to get a grip. Does someone have this on video?
- Wedding party being introduced to the reception hall to Gangham Style. Wouldn’t have been my first choice in songs, but, guys…this was good. At least, my tipsy ass thought it was good at the time. Each couple walked in doing their own dance. My favorite was probably the one in which our friend Stephen and M walked in normally but then halfway started doing the ridiculous dance that Stephen is infamously known for. I can’t even describe how ridiculous the dance it, but trust me on this one – it’s ridiculous. Something between the Elaine Sienfeld flailing arm thing combined with this odd kicking motion. After each couple rolled in hot, we slapped hands walking down the entire (9 person deep) wedding party line like we were coming in from the baseball field. It was then that I knew….this was going to be a fun wedding.
- Ant’s toast. If you were there, I need not say more. This was hands down the best wedding toast I have ever witnessed. Heartfelt, hilarious, not too short or long, with props…this thing could not be beat. Ant is introduced, but doesn’t jump up from a table. Instead, she makes an entrance by opening the front door to the reception hall dressed as 5th grade Jean. Mind you, Jean had the biggest “shark” in school. For whatever reason, when we were growing up at the time it was very popular for girls to hairspray their bangs straight up into the air as high as possible, looking similar to a shark fin. So Ant strolls into the reception hall upon introduction with rolled up jeans, a silk shirt, a tie….and the shark. That in itself was amazing. But the toast was hilarious and awe-inspiring. Thank you Ant for the amazing toast. It will never be forgotten.
- Similar to Liv’s wedding, and many thanks to John, we literally just danced our asses off for three hours. Some good stuff there. I recall some solid dance offs between characters of all ages from both sides of the family. And I wouldn’t recall this but for pictures, but at one point a few people decided to lift the bride off the floor into a plank-like, dirty dancing type situation.
- I also recall honestly contemplating with Elle doing a wedding party pyramid at 9pm sharp. All we needed to do was send the pyramid hand signal to John that we were ready to go, and we’d create the biggest pyramid of all time in wedding attire. What more could a bride ask for? Sadly, this did not happen until about 1am at the hotel bar, but the entire wedding party was not included. The bride did end up on the top and we have the picture to prove it. Good stuff right there.
- This last bullet has nothing to do with the actual wedding ceremony. But it does have to do with the carrier. Full circle. For a reason still unbenounced to me, my sister and Dave wanted good old Sara to drive them to the airport in Newark to see them off on their honeymoon. This would then require me to continue to drive their car back to DC. Thinking I’d be driving an automatic vehicle when I agreed to this, I said yes. But, I was stuck with Dave’s father’s stick shift. Mind you, I can drive a stick shift. Or at least, I could back in high school. I’m not sure what happened over a 15 year span, but let’s just say…I’m a little rusty. Highway action was fine, but when I finally got back to DC, blame it on being hungover from the wedding, blame it on exhaustion, whatever…I was stalling all over the place. To make matters worse, I had to parallel park it at my place by backing uphill into the parking spot. This consisted of me finally edging in, but not far enough back. I was literally leveraging the car in front of me by using it to prevent me from rolling down the hill while I attempted to reverse, but not too fast for fear of hitting the car behind me. Before being on the verge of tears, I gave up and left the car parked way too close to (i.e. touching) the car in front of me and also way too far away from the curb (so pretty much in the middle of the road). Panicking that I wouldn’t be able to get out in the morning, I called Dave’s parents to see if they could come get the car. To no avail. I was left with the car and had to drive it to work the next morning. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except that I forgot the carrier was on top of the car. So picture Sara moseying along to work, no stalls yet at all so I’m happy. I peel into the parking garage at full speed, forgetting that the carrier is on top of the car, and not noticing how low the garage ceiling is. You see where this is going. Car goes into garage, car and carrier manage to somehow squeeze through the short distance between ground and ceiling. After I get into the garage, I think maybe some ice has fallen off the top and that’s what the odd noise was. But that’s when I realize….I just scraped the carrier on the top of the garage. Just awesome. I proceed to stall about 5 times before parking the car. Luckily no major damage and Dave’s parents were able to extract the vehicle and carrier from the garage without incident, and then the thing was out of my hair. Just some more fun in parking garages with Sara.
And with that, I will end this blog post. Guys, this wedding was so much fun. Weddings as of late have been fun, but it is hard to get such an anticipated celebration to actually live up to the hype. Well, this actually exceeded expectations. I am still amazed that so many of our friends were able to make the treck from all over for this awesome celebration. It was so great to have our family and friends all gathered in one place at the same time. In the words of Elle, “this wedding topped all Dewey trips and NYE 2009 combined.” I didn’t think that was possible. Thank you.
Did I get married? haha
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A Day in the Life of Sara 