I’m finally getting to writing about the big day from my point of view. It’s still mostly fresh in my memory, but we’ll see. For the record, this post is probably a bit short on jokes, and long on a straight rehash of what actually went down. Mainly, this is for me to remember in 20 years what actually went down the big day.
My best man John stayed the night with me (as Jess was staying at the Red Lion Hotel). We had stayed up late playing video golf on the xbox and I rolled out of bed about 9am or so. We sat around and watched a little TV and talked a bit, but then he headed off to his brother’s house (in our neighborhood) to prepare for the day. So, I was on my own.
I can tell you this now… I was very anxious. I wasn’t nervous, but I couldn’t sit still and couldn’t focus on anything. I basically wandered around the empty house wondering why time was going so s-l-o-w-l-y. Ugh, that was the worst. After about an our of that, which felt like 5 hours, I finally decided that it was time to hit it. I started to get ready about 10:30am and jumped in the shower.
I wasn’t in the shower 5 minutes before I heard a door close and someone shout. Thinking it might be John, I didn’t worry about it… Until I heard doors opening and closing multiple times. Since John would come in and park it on the couch, I knew something else was up. So, I rush through my shower to see what was going on. When I get out and walk into the living room I find Jess’ uncles Tom and Ron in the kitchen whipping up a storm for the brunch that was to happen on Sunday morning.
That threw me off a bit, just because I wasn’t expecting it and I have a hard time relaxing when people are in the house. I went back into the bedroom to finish up getting ready. Later in the day, I realized that in my haste to get dressed and see who was in the house, I neglected to put on any pit-stick. This will come into play later…
After I was dressed and put together, I started loading up the car with all of the stuff I needed to take down to the Linen Building for the service and reception. John rolled up and we were on the road. I needed to find $80 in singles to use for the photo booth at the reception, so I stopped and one bank on the way, but it was closed. No big deal, but we moved on.
We hit the Linen Building around noon and found Jess’ dad and a few aunts and uncles around. We put all of the tables together and and got all the various decorations out and ready. After about 45 minutes that was finished and I needed to go check in to the Modern Hotel across the street (the Bridal Suite). As I was doing this, my other groomsmen started showing up as we were scheduled for “guy” pictures at 1pm.
I still needed to get that cash, so I bolted out in search of a bank. The first one I stopped at wasn’t open. The second one was only open at the drive through and they couldn’t send that much cash through the tube. I went to the nearby Albertsons and asked the courtesy counter if I could by the singles, and they said they didn’t have that many. So, I had to jet 20 blocks to the nearest Albertsons with a bank inside.
I get down there and ask for the singles, and the counter lady I’m sure thought I had a stripper party that night or something. Oh well… I also picked up some beers and cokes for the guys in the room. I was going to stop and get something to eat along the way, but I was already 10 minutes “late” for the pictures to start in the room, so I just ran back to the suite.