And then there were three

Being so close in age, my brothers and I have always tended to hit milestones at around the same time, and marriage has been no exception. This past weekend my youngest brother got married, marking the third marriage in 23 months for my family.

This weekend was so much fun! That it was completely exhausting at 38 weeks pregnant goes without saying, but it really was a blast. I didn’t take hardly any photos – let’s face it, at a family wedding that’s why you have a photographer.

Some memorable moments from the weekend:

• I stopped at McDonald’s on the way up to use the restroom (shocker…). As I was coming out of a restroom, I saw an employee who appeared to have Down Syndrome. He took one look at me and, eyes wide, exclaimed, “WOW!!!” It was hysterical…such an unfiltered and innocent reaction.
• So many memories driving back into Athens. It’s been several years since I’ve been up there.
• The wedding/reception were at the Classic Center and everyone stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn across the street. I’m telling you…that is the absolute best way to do a wedding. It is so easy and convenient.
• The rehearsal dinner was at Porterhouse, which is pretty much the “special occasion” restaurant in Athens. We were all excited because we’d never eaten there and the food did not disappoint…it was so good! I have to order my steaks 100% dead due to being pregnant – if a restaurant can make a well-done steak not taste like shoe leather you know it’s good.
• Porterhouse was approximately 2 short blocks from the hotel – a 5 minute walk. Unfortunately, it involved a slight hill. The bride’s dad called a taxi for the three grandmothers because they couldn’t make the walk back to the hotel. Guess who also got to ride back in the taxi? That would be yours truly. Getting the four of us into and out of the minivan taxi was…umm…interesting.
• You know you’re back in a college town when there are multiple signs in the tax stating, “You will be fined $100 for vomiting in the van.” (None of us vomited…)
• The hotel touted its down pillows and “adjustable softness beds.” Despite my best efforts, my bed only adjusted to a softness that can be best described as “hardwood floor.” And the pillows were so squishy they offered no support. Needless to say, I got almost no sleep both nights. The hotel was very nice aside from that!
• Saturday morning my parents went to breakfast and I couldn’t make the walk, so I went upstairs and crawled in bed with my grandma instead. It was so nice to have her all to myself for that period of time! Spending time with her was definitely a weekend highlight.
• I got to peek at the (beautiful!) bride before the wedding. I definitely recall the, “I’m just fine but this is a really big deal and let’s get this show on the road” look from my own wedding!
• In the midst of trying to cram the iPad into my purse, I managed to forget to put the reading back before heading over to the ceremony. That led to me being seated, waddling back out and then sending my brother to go find the officiant and see if he had a copy. He was taking forever, so I told Mike to run like hell back to the hotel (thankfully 100 yards away) to go find the reading. Turns out he had to write the first three lines down. Everyone returned to their proper spots in plenty of time, whew.
• The ceremony was short and sweet. When it came time to do the reading, my brother was so sweet and stepped out of the groomsmen line to give me a hand up to my spot.
• After the ceremony my brother (the just married one) celebrating by climbing the fire pole. Now that was funny!
• The reception was so nice! I’ve never been to that part of the Classic Center before. A lot of character in the building, and the decorations were beautiful.
• We all ate dinner surrounded by the soft glow of candlelight…and the soft glow of about 3 dozen cell phones streaming the SEC championship game.
• Mike was about to have a coronary because he couldn’t get the game to stream on his phone (due to everyone else doing the same thing). I told him he couldn’t prop the iPad on the table due to us being seated at the parents’ table…so he survived by eating dinner with the game streaming on his lap. (Of course I was watching it too!) My parent’s friends quickly figured out he had the “big screen” so they took turns popping over every 5 minutes to check the score. Yes, we are Southerners and we love our football!
• They had a live band at the reception – they played some songs and did some live. They were fantastic, and played so many great classics I remember hearing all the time at the bars when I was in school there. I might have actually gotten up and danced had I been able to. (Shocking, but true.)
• Baby boy also loved the music…some of the songs were a bit louder than others and he was just dancing away. It was pretty awesome!
• There were about 10 of us at lunch today…we were all so exhausted we looked like hungover college kids. You could see the “done” look in everyone’s eyes!
• I got to eat some of my favorite Athens food this weekend – Mike got me a hot sub from Little Italy for lunch on Saturday. Oh my goodness…it was huge and I completely devoured my half. It was so unbelievably good. Sunday my family went to Transmetropolitan for lunch, which was also as good as I remember it.
• Actually, the general theme of the weekend for me was food. I’m pretty sure I’m going to go to the doctor on Tuesday and have gained another four pounds.
• And, finally, I’d like to thank Mother Nature for cooperating with the weather this weekend. Sunny and mid 60s. Much better than my ice storm and my brother’s 95 degree/95% humidity!

It’s definitely time for bed. I hope I can get some good sleep tonight…otherwise I’m going to be completely worthless at work tomorrow. And speaking of food, I’m hungry again. Guess I’ll grab a little bedtime snack while I’m at it.