Ok, so you know how I said that this blog is mostly about movies that I watch and are important to me…this is not really one of those posts. I did give you fair warning and say that some of these posts would be autobiographical, and this post falls into that category.
Why mess with the movie format so soon you ask? Simple, I went to a wedding this past weekend. And not just any wedding, but the wedding of AJ and Ann. AJ is my best friend from high school and was also my Best Man when I got married. Coincidentally, I was his Best Man, so while everyone had an awesome weekend, not a lot of movies or television shows were watched. Unless of course you count us watching the Heavy Metal (1981, dir. Gerald Potterton) inspired South Park episode (Major Boobage, Episode 3, Season 12) while drinking champagne. Yep, we are a classy group when the occasion calls for it.
Now I have been to weddings before, in addition to my own of course, but this is the first wedding I was at where I had major responsibilities (again, not counting my wedding). As the Best Man I had to do some minimal organizing of different things for the groomsmen (all 8 of us, yep you heard that right, 16 person wedding party!), organize a bachelor party (we went to Mohegan Sun), and the part that I was possibly dreading the most, writing a speech. I am not afraid of public speaking or anything, especially not in front of friends, but AJ did an awesome job when he spoke for me, and many people who heard that speech would be hearing this one. I wanted to make sure I could hold my own against a superior orator while also saying something meaningful and true. I had been thinking of ideas off and on for a month or two, but nothing had been put to paper come wedding weekend. No problem, the wedding was not until 1700 and I was not required to be anywhere until 1530. Oh wait, we need to go out to breakfast as a group (and getting 13 people organized for breakfast is not a quick process), Men’s Warehouse messed up AJ’s tuxedo, so we had to make a 2-hour round trip drive to get a new one, and then all of a sudden it is 1400 and I still do not have a finished speech in hand. To shorten an already long story, I think I did a good job on the speech, but admit that I might be biased.
And before you say wait a minute, why is he talking about a speech when he mentioned a bachelor party at the start of that rambling paragraph? Well, that event was prior to this blog being created, so people’s secrets are safe with me. I will just say that we all had a rebirth of sorts and are now counting years in A.D.E.D. instead of A.D.
While the wedding was awesome, it even had an extended, surprise firework break, for me, the best part was seeing all of the friends that I do not get to see often (say for instance since my wedding two years ago), seeing all of my friends together (which does not happen often because we don’t all live in the same town anymore), and seeing lots of new friends.
As I am sure you can guess, the above picture took place during the rehearsal. After that we had a great rehearsal dinner back at the father of the bride’s house. There was pulled-pork, beer, and a camp fire complete with songs and skits. From there we went back to the awesome cottages that were set aside for us and partook in the aforementioned champagne and South Park night of “debauchery”.
The next day was the wedding itself, which, as mentioned, was amazing. They both said “I do”, there was free flavored vodka, I had steak and shrimp, and then there was dancing and a real after party.
And of course, the fireworks!
So yeah, the wild wedding weekend was a blast.
That was definitely a good speech! Thank you for everything, Jake!
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