Sunday, June 18, 2006

Wine and the Wedding

I was too tired last night to blog after we got back from the wedding, so here's a quick rundown of our weekend:

We spent some time yesterday morning driving around and looking for a local winery in the middle of nowhere. Despite our usual navigation misadventure, we found the place and were able to sample several wines and a couple of liquors. We bought six bottles, and Eugene signed up for the mailing list. There were a couple of other wineries in the area, but we had time to visit only one. Besides, it wouldn't do to sample too much wine before the wedding. ;)

After lunch, we changed and rode a specially chartered bus to a 19th-century church. It held over 260 people, and the place was packed. No wedding is perfect, and the ceremony had a couple of glitches: for reasons unknown, it started 18 minutes late (the priest pointed out in his homily that this was a church record), and a couple of the readers flubbed their lines. During the prayers for the faithful, the readers said that the bride's grandparents were no longer alive when they were very much alive; the audience laughed. The important thing, however, was that the couple did get married successfully , and they seemed quite happy. The bride beamed during the entire ceremony. This is the first wedding Eugene and I have been to since our marriage, so the vow exchange was quite meaningful to us. That didn't keep Eugene from asking someone with ESPN on his cellphone about the U.S.-Italy soccer game during the ceremony. Ah, I rib him, but I expect no less of my soccer fanatic. ;)

After the bride and groom rode off in a horse-drawn carriage, we took the bus to the reception, which was held at the bride's parent's summer home on a lake where the bride and groom got engaged. It was outdoors under a tent. Despite the predicted heat, it wasn't that bad, though the gnats did get annoying. The caterers did a great job. We wound up leaving early since Eugene's shoulder was bothering him. There was a post-wedding brunch this morning, though, so we got to spend a little more time with the bride, a mutual friend of Eugene and the bride, and some other Chicago-area guests. (I should also correct a previous blog entry: Eugene didn't meet the bride in vet school; they met during an internship he did at a surgical clinic. If I still didn't get that right, Eugene, feel free to explain it.)

We stopped to have a late lunch with Eugene's family before we made it home. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see my own dad today, so I called him instead. Hopefully soon we can treat him to dinner to make up for it.

I didn't get much writing done over the weekend, but I reviewed Sue's latest chapter tonight and went through some of Lennon's Line. Since Eugene did all the driving this weekend, I managed to read three novels this weekend--not that it makes much of a dent in my "to-read" stacks.

I'll post pictures tomorrow; I'm too lazy to upload mine right now, and Eugene's turned out better anyway.

2 comments:

Russ said...

Two days later, no photos. You're definitely slipping into the dog days of summer...I'm picturing you and Eugene lounging on an oversized hammock, sipping mint juleps, when you're supposed to be blogging! tsk, tsk...

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Ha! I wish. I got caught up in other things last night, but I guess tonight I have no excuse.

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