Sunday, November 4, 2007

Going to the Chapel

My high school friend, Tara Colligan got married in New Rochelle (or was it White Plains?) NY two weekends ago and we drove up with Kathy to celebrate with Tara. I had eagerly accepted Tara's invitation to be a bridesmaid, but once I found out I had cancer I stepped down because I didn't know how sick I was going to be by October. Thankfully, I've been feeling much better and I've put some weight back on and my energy level is higher than it has been so I was able to go and participate in the festivities as simply a guest.

We've had a drought here for several months, so wouldn't you know it that it started raining before Tara's wedding and continued to rain the next day. In fact, it rained all the way up to NY and then all the way back down and stopped just as we crossed the state line back into Maryland. I'll be an optimist and believe that rain is good luck for the bride and we desperately needed rain too.

The wedding was beautiful and the ceremony took place in a very old Catholic church with beautiful stained glass windows and great big marble columns in the middle of the pews. Tara was a beautiful bride and was stunning as she made her entrance into the church. I am not Catholic, but I've attended several full Catholic masses and I still couldn't seem to figure out when to sit, stand, or kneel during the ceremony! Luckily we got to the church late (rain and traffic) so we sat in the back and I didn't embarrass myself in front of everyone. Mike said I was worse than a 2 year old because I kept fidgeting in my seat.

The reception was amazing. I've never seen so much good food in my life and it tasted incredible. When we arrived at the reception, we were ushered into a large room with a variety of food stations all around, including prime rib, ham, and turkey; chips, salsa, homemade guacamole, and quesadillas; a pasta station with three types of pasta; cheese, crackers, and fruit; and a seafood station. Wait staff also provided coconut shrimp and caramelized onions in a pastry that were awesome. I was completely content to stay there, but there was more to come in the way of a full dinner upstairs!

The formal reception was a lot of fun. Tara segregated the activities really well. We had our first course of salad and then the DJ started off the evening with Motown. Our second course was followed by disco. Our main course of sirloin steak, chicken, or salmon was followed by a mix of 80s and modern music. I saved room for dessert because it was chocolate mousse with ice cream and raspberry sauce and wedding cake. The chocolate mousse was so incredible. Mike typically gets bored at weddings, but we stayed until the bitter end, which was midnight. It was so much fun being able to dance after all these months. My feet felt like lead from the neuropathy, but I was out there doing my best to boogie. I was so happy to be able to celebrate Tara's wedding with her and her new husband, Greg. Tara's mom's husband died several months ago of pancreatic cancer so they made a donation in his memory, which was so sweet. Tara and Greg included their families by playing, "We are Family" in honor of family who traveled so far to be with them. Several relatives had flown over from Ireland so the evening ended with several Irish songs in their honor. It was great to be included and celebrate something so joyous as a wedding.

1 comment:

WashingtonGardener said...

Even though the Itish songs were totally unfamiliar to me - I thought that was a really fun part. But the best was that the entire wedding party really knew how to part-ay! It is so much more fun to be at weddings where every young & old, hip & nerd, get out there on the floor and boogie down.