Always a groomsman?

It’s not so much that I’m always in a wedding as simply that I’ve had so many of them over the years.

I just recently returned from a trip to Florida to actually officiate a wedding (more to come in a later post) and I got to thinking about just how many weddings I’ve attended or been in over the years.

My calendar really only goes back to 2003 so we’ll start there, although there were a handful of weddings during college and immediately afterwards (most notably both my parents)

• 2003 – 2 Weddings
• 2004 – 4 Weddings
• 2005 – 3 Weddings – Wedding party and sang in one of them.
• 2006 – 4 Weddings – Two were on the same day.  Sang in one of them.
• 2007 – 4 Weddings – Wedding party in three of them, two were travel weddings, sang in one of them, and there was a 5th wedding that I couldn’t attend because it was the same day as one of the four I went to.
• 2008 – 5 Weddings – Groomsman in one of them
• 2009 – 3 Weddings – Day of Coordinator in one of them, Travel for two of them
• 2010 – 1 Wedding (so far) – Officiant and travel for the one.

Statistics:

• 26 weddings in 8 years
• An average of 3.25 per year
• Groomsman/Usher: 5 times
• Singing: 2 times
• Air travel: 3 times
• Closest location: Worcester, MA
• Farthest location: Fayetteville, Texas

Now the amusing thing is that I mention this to friends of mine and they comment that they have similar numbers or possibly a few less, but they don’t realize until I point it out to them that they have as many weddings as a couple as I do single.

We’ll see if this year stays at 1 or if I’ll get another one soon.  I don’t think I have anyone else getting married soon, so we’ll see.

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And in other news

Well it's been a while since I've posted anything to really update people on what's going on in my life (aside from the random Country music post which I think has had more comments than any other post in the history of my blog).

So what's new, eh? Well let's break it down by the various typical areas:

How's work?
- Work is going well. I'm very adjusted these days handling the Blackboard system and that's going well. The SharePoint deployment has taken off like wildfire this year and has kept me VERY busy thus far. I've managed to get several projects started and completed so I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the past year. Hopefully this will translate into a fantastic review. :)

How's the personal life?
- Things are going well. I had a great time with my friends at my Tree Trimming party back in December and then I had a great New Year's party. Honestly I think it was one of my best. I had a ton of people attending and I think I set the bar for next year. I also hosted my division's holiday party and that was a great time had by all. It was a great showing from the IT/Library folks and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I'm already invited to 4 weddings this year and already in one of them as a groomsman for my friend Chris. Last year was 5 total invites, and of that I attended 4 and was in the wedding party for three of them. Also, two of them were destination weddings. This year only one is a destination. I need to start setting aside a "wedding budget". With any luck this year will be the end of weddings for a while, it's getting exhausting. :) I've attended an average of 3 weddings a year since I graduated in 2001.

I'm also taking a 10 day vacation out to the west coast and will be visting Colin and Kristin in LA and then my friend Sean in Portland. With any luck my friend Nick will be able to come visit from Seattle.

Additionally I've been elected to the Board of my Condo Association and I've been elected Greek Alumni Council president. I'm such a glutton for punishment :).

Finally, I had an awesome time at Mezcal Monday night with my colleagues and then I went out for kareoke with my friend Janelle and it was SOOO much fun. After nailing a Sinatra song, one of the regulars declared a "Frank-off" and in the end I won. It was a blast.

I think that's pretty much it and this has been a very long post so I'll add more later if I think of it and I'll try to post more often.

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My Brother is a Married Man

So yeah... my little brother has been made an honest man and has taken Maureen to be his lawfully wedded wife.

So Thursday of last week was the rehearsal dinner. It was annoying a bit since no invitations were sent out ahead of time I didn't realize they were parting with convention and doing it Thursday instead of Friday night. This caused me to have to cancel hanging out with (and fixing the computer of) my ex Chad. We'll reschedule eventually but it's been too long.

The rehearsal was good, but I really didn't like the wedding coordinator. She had a very quick and impatient personality that just didn't make me feel that she cared about the way the wedding went as opposed to the paycheck at the end. She struck me as a person who would take a checklist, check off all the items as they were accomplished and care not whether they were done in such a way as to acheive the end goal fully. Can you tell she irked me? She decided that the brother of the bride and I needed to almost run down the side isles after walking up the grandmothers up. Hello! The audience is waiting. You don't need to have us run and ruin the picture of the stately wedding procedings. Anyways....

The dinner was good. I toasted Jon and got him to tear up a bit and I gave him Superman cufflinks. Now you have to understand that he is a MAJOR Superman fan. He's got tons of stuff and he mentioned when we got the tuxes that it'd be cool to have Superman cufflinks.

Fast foward to the wedding. I arrive at the hotel at about 4pm, change, get unofficial pictures with the groomsmen and then off to the wedding. We were all worried that we were late (we were supposed to be there at 4:30 to get flowers etc done and then be ready to usher people in) since we were getting there about 4:40. We needn't have worried. The florist didn't get there until 4:50 and the coordinator didn't get there until 5:00. Add to that the fact that the priest was taking 4pm Mass right up through about 5:05. That's just lovely with a 5:15 wedding.

We finally seat everyone and she's (the coordinator) after us to hurry up and finish since we're running late. I'm sorry, was I supposed to get the gong to get the priest of the alter? In all her rush she neglects to signal the music to start but they start without her. Since she assumed that since they were going rogue once that they'd go rogue again, she sent the grandmother's down the aisle at the next song. Then she is frantically waving me down the aisle (that I'm already walking at a brisk pace) to essentially run back. Little did she realize that it was filler music until she signaled them to start the processional music (you know.... umm... her job?). At this point the music people notice that they were playing the wrong music and came down to talk to her and we end up closing the doors and waiting for the entirety of Panis Angelicus to be played and the whole point of her rushing us is now completely nullified. *sigh*

From this point we process down the aisle, Jonathan is there waiting, Maureen comes up and they get married. Much more orderly cuz the priest was in charge.

Abreviated Wedding rites (in other words not a full mass).... how nice.

Off to the Reception for pictures.

We finish pictures and get corralled into a waiting room. Oh joy.... Private food platters. Woohoo! Free drinks! JOY! Waiting for almost an hour to go out.... boo.

We go out, we sit, the newlyweds dance their dance. We then get the salad course, they eventually cut the cake. Lots of dancing. Finally the parental dances. Then more dancing. Lots of drinking. The families all get along. Hallelujah.

All in all a fantastic wedding and Jon and Maureen, I wish you the best.

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I visited Texas and lived to tell the tale :)

So all last week I was down in Texas visiting Colin and Kristin for their wedding. I got into Austin on Saturday the 21st mid-morning. I stopped over, saw their new apartment, settled in a bit and then we went to lunch. The next day we went to the Salt Lick BBQ which had fantastic Texas style BBQ. It's kind of funny how BBQ means different things in different parts of the country.

As Monday rolled around, doing fun things slowly took a back burner to wedding tasks and we started taking care of all those last minute things that needed doing. Julian (the best man) came in on Monday night. We spent Tuesday doing more errands as well as stopping into Kristin's goodbye party at the school she teaches at. Throughout all this it was made clear to me by Colin, Kristin and Kristin's parents that I needed to get a good pair of boots before I left so I got a pair of Tony Lama black leather cowboy boots and I have to say they look damn good and are actually quite comfortable.

On Wednesday we headed out to Barton Springs to do some swimming and take a well needed break from wedding tasks. Barton Springs Julian and I went out to the farm and helped set things up, cleaned up a few things, did some edging, filled in some holes, trimmed some branches, and cleared some brush. Altogether a good time working on the farm getting it ready for the reception.

Thursday we headed back to Austin to do some last minute tasks and then get ready for the Bachelor party which was a TON of fun. My only regret is that I had chosen that day to break in my boots and by the end of it my feet were very sore. We ended up walking up and down 6th Street to visit all the clubs and bars. I'd tell you more, but what happens at a bachelor party, stays there. :) All you need to know is that there was drinking and the bachelor survived to make it to the wedding and the bride still decided to marry him. I think that makes for a successful bachelor party.

Friday was a bit rough, moreso from lack of sleep than hangover. I went to bed around 3:30 am and woke up at 8 am. From the hotel we were staying at we headed up to Kristin's house, I showered, changed and headed into Fayetteville. We stopped at the hotel, did some final setup for the Friday night party and headed out to the rehearsal luncheon in New Ulm. It was a great time and they even had sushi on the buffet. As an usher I got a wonderful gift of a framed picture of Colin and Kristin that they took from shortly after they got engaged. After the luncheon we went to the church and walked through the whole procedure. For a short time I was even going to lead the procession and carry the cross to the alter. I got subbed out when it seemed I may have to sing during the procession. With the rehearsal over we went back to the hotel, worked out final details again for the party and then just waited to start having a good time. I decided to go to bed early so my voice would be in good order the next day for the actual wedding. All of the men in the wedding party were staying at a house two doors down from the hotel and that lead to more drinking and loudness for the rest of the night there. Thankfully I slept through most of it, although I was woken several times. *shrug* Oh well.

Saturday I woke up early, had some breakfast and started helping with final touches at the farm. I got back from the farm, showered, changed into my tux and headed to the church for a little past 12:30 to go over the service music as well as the Ave Maria with the rest of the trio. We got evertyhing all set, including some last minute changes in the music and then waited for it all to start at 3pm.

Colin and Kristin both looked great. Kristin was just a site to behold in her dress and Colin looked as handsome as ever. They are going to have some beautiful children. The service was a full Catholic mass so we had the prelude, then the processional, then the first reading, then I sang the psalm, then the second reading, then the gospel and homily, then the marriage rites, then communion, then the Ave Maria during the meditation, then closing and finally the recessional.

As the bride and groom processed out of the church one of the other guests and I rang the church bells. Once the couple had gone back around to the sacristy the guests all went outside and waited below the small entrance balcony to have the bride and groom presented to them. Instead of rice or bubbles, they opted to have a butterfly release for this wedding, it was very pretty. The happy couple then went to their waiting horse and carriage to take them to the farm for the reception. Throughout all of this utnil they got to the carriage, we maintained the bells. The whole thing was just gorgeous.

The reception was wonderful and I had a great time dancing the night away. I managed to steal several dances with the bride and watching her and Colin dance was just breathtaking (they both are highly skilled ballroom dancers).

All in all it was a great time and I really enjoyed the week down there. I was sad to have to leave on Sunday when it was all over. I can't wait to go back and visit the new Mr. and Mrs.

Well that's everything.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I caught the garter. *grin*

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