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maystonePixel hit send on that last post. It's OK - it was getting long.
There was a wedding rehearsal Thursday night for Dar and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sparky77, sffan, vampirefan, and lunda. Afterwards the rest of us (skripka, finitejester37, janeeyre17, inalasahl, justblue0162, emungere, and sweet puffgirl_two) met up with them at a Lebanese-Italian restaurant for a rehearsal dinner. Tamarind Margaritas!
Friday was more shopping. More hours spent walking around a mall, but at least we all found what we needed. The wedding was on Saturday but not until 7PM. Dar and I decided to explore the neighborhood; we walked out of the door and into the prep for a parade. Woot! Turns out we were there on the opening weekend of the annual Stock Exhibition and Rodeo. There was a long, long parade with literally hundreds of horses and mules. There was a mule train! And marching bands. And at least a dozen entries for various branches of the Cowboy Church. The parade went on for hours and was lots of fun.
The hotel was right across the street from the Convention Center, and at the center that weekend was . . . a national cheer leading competition. The hotel was filled with young girls in various styles of short-skirted uniforms, most in pony tails, all ranging in age from 8-14 or thereabouts. Very cute group, but all of us were hesitant to take any pictures lest we look like stalkers. Such is the sad time we live in, eh.
The wedding itself was a joy. It was a perfect blend of formal and relaxed. The bride's gown was simple and elegant with a red waistband that flowed in back down the train; her bridesmaids wore red and carried beautiful cloth red fans instead of flowers. The groom was dressed in his black tux and his groomswomen wore the same style of gown as the bridesmaids except in black, and they carried black fans. The bride and groom also sported Rocket Dog sneakers - hers red, his white. The vows were original and delightful and so them. I remarked to Dar (who had been asked to read a piece as part of the ceremony) that I loved the laughter throughout the ceremony. It was delightful and charming and just . . . joyous.
The bride and groom each had a cake. Hers was covered in cherry blossoms and topped with the Chinese symbol for double happiness. (<lj user=kernelm is Chinese, in case you didn't know.) His was a smaller cake with the symbol for Serenity on it. The tables were clothed in red and white. It all was beautiful. We had to fly back Sunday morning at 5:45 AM. When we got back from the wedding, I didn't even bother trying to get any sleep. I changed into my travel clothes, packed my bag, and just relaxed until 4AM when we had to leave for the airport. (Maddie and Dar managed to get a few hours sleep in there.) A few of our friends were leaving at the same time, so we shared a taxi van. Delta once again changed gates without an announcement, and once again we almost missed our flight. They did it again at the Atlanta airport, but this time we were on to them. We took another taxi across the border in Buffalo. I was more nervous about trying to get back into Canada with my screwed-up passport, but it all went smoothly. Mark met us in Kitchener, and we were back home by about 6PM. It was a 14-hour trip from Fort Worth to Kitchener, but it was worth it.
There was a wedding rehearsal Thursday night for Dar and
sparky77, sffan, vampirefan, and lunda. Afterwards the rest of us (skripka, finitejester37, janeeyre17, inalasahl, justblue0162, emungere, and sweet puffgirl_two) met up with them at a Lebanese-Italian restaurant for a rehearsal dinner. Tamarind Margaritas!Friday was more shopping. More hours spent walking around a mall, but at least we all found what we needed. The wedding was on Saturday but not until 7PM. Dar and I decided to explore the neighborhood; we walked out of the door and into the prep for a parade. Woot! Turns out we were there on the opening weekend of the annual Stock Exhibition and Rodeo. There was a long, long parade with literally hundreds of horses and mules. There was a mule train! And marching bands. And at least a dozen entries for various branches of the Cowboy Church. The parade went on for hours and was lots of fun.
The hotel was right across the street from the Convention Center, and at the center that weekend was . . . a national cheer leading competition. The hotel was filled with young girls in various styles of short-skirted uniforms, most in pony tails, all ranging in age from 8-14 or thereabouts. Very cute group, but all of us were hesitant to take any pictures lest we look like stalkers. Such is the sad time we live in, eh.
The wedding itself was a joy. It was a perfect blend of formal and relaxed. The bride's gown was simple and elegant with a red waistband that flowed in back down the train; her bridesmaids wore red and carried beautiful cloth red fans instead of flowers. The groom was dressed in his black tux and his groomswomen wore the same style of gown as the bridesmaids except in black, and they carried black fans. The bride and groom also sported Rocket Dog sneakers - hers red, his white. The vows were original and delightful and so them. I remarked to Dar (who had been asked to read a piece as part of the ceremony) that I loved the laughter throughout the ceremony. It was delightful and charming and just . . . joyous.
The bride and groom each had a cake. Hers was covered in cherry blossoms and topped with the Chinese symbol for double happiness. (<lj user=kernelm is Chinese, in case you didn't know.) His was a smaller cake with the symbol for Serenity on it. The tables were clothed in red and white. It all was beautiful. We had to fly back Sunday morning at 5:45 AM. When we got back from the wedding, I didn't even bother trying to get any sleep. I changed into my travel clothes, packed my bag, and just relaxed until 4AM when we had to leave for the airport. (Maddie and Dar managed to get a few hours sleep in there.) A few of our friends were leaving at the same time, so we shared a taxi van. Delta once again changed gates without an announcement, and once again we almost missed our flight. They did it again at the Atlanta airport, but this time we were on to them. We took another taxi across the border in Buffalo. I was more nervous about trying to get back into Canada with my screwed-up passport, but it all went smoothly. Mark met us in Kitchener, and we were back home by about 6PM. It was a 14-hour trip from Fort Worth to Kitchener, but it was worth it.
