Viv and Devon’s Wedding
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007Thursday
Thursday we flew out to Boston and my parents picked us up. Steve was there, too, since he scheduled his flight to arrive close to ours. It was late by then so we just checked in and went to bed. One cool thing was when we checked in, we got these cute goodie bags put together by Devon’s mom. Stuff like cheese ‘n crackers, bottled water, chocolates, cookie things — little treats. In the bags were vouchers for a free brunch on Sunday from my parents. So the parents got together and made something nice for the guests, which was cool.
Before going to bed, I gave my mom one of the two dresses I brought with me because it needed some adjustments and she’s good with that. Through a long story, I ended up bringing two copies of the same dress with me so that if my mom messed up alterations on one, she had the other one as a backup. So she had the dress and I went to bed.
Friday
The next day while my mom worked on my dress and Steve, Michael, and Dad hung out, Viv took her bridesmaids, Jen H. and me, out for a bridal lunch. It was a yummy farm fresh kind of brunchy place in downtown Boston. Viv was all cool as a cucumber cuz she planned things way in advance, so we got to just chat and relax. My frittata was tasty; I was fat and sassy.
We migrated to the hotel and then headed off to the rehearsal at the Fruitlands which went fine. Got to meet Devon’s dad and stepmom and his paternal grandparents, who actually live over in Marin. The view was beautiful with fall colors that I miss being out west, and by the end of the rehearsal, the sun was setting a gorgeous red-pink-orange.
We drove to the nearby Mango Grill for the rehearsal dinner, where we mingled with family members on both sides and Steve and Michael played the saddest, longest games of pool ever. EVER. Granted the table was crooked but oy vey. Anyway. 
Back to the hotel, got my dress from my mom, all nicely ironed, including the shawl and the brown sash she made, and went to bed. (Well, okay, did email but same difference.)
Saturday
The next day, Michael and I tried to be good after breakfast; we went to the hotel workout room and did aerobic conditioning activities of varying intensity for about half an hour and weights for a few minutes. There is something very easy and soothing about a treadmill. Brain off, lungs on.
After washing up, Michael and I split up. I went over to Viv’s room to commence the beautification process and Michael got to chillax till he rode over with my parents. Viv’s stylist of 7 years, Angela, worked her magic while Jen and I did our hair and makeup. Before we knew it, over two hours had passed — it was almost 3pm and the wedding was at 4 — and I grabbed my stuff from my room to take with us to the venue in Viv’s car.
We arrived and I realized after about 15 minutes that I grabbed the wrong hanger (hence the detail about the dress above). No padded cups sewn in. No sash. No shawl. Wrinkled, not ironed. Great. I spent the next 5 minutes furious at my carelessness; on my sister’s big day, I would look a mess. But, no time to fret; the photographer kindly brought the venue’s iron and my mom and I took turns ironing this dress, the wrong dress. But that was the biggest snafu, so in the grand scheme of things, no worries. Just a shame that I wasted my mom’s time and resources.
Viv stepped into her dress easily and it fit like a glove. She had worked out for months to hit her target size and she achieved it. Go Viv! Suddenly she was all bridal and stuff.
Jen was easy breezy beautiful in her chocolate brown and pink polka dot halter top and she had the absolute cutest shoes — brown pumps with almost wingtip-like detailing that she got in Europe during her recent extended stay in Germany.
We headed down and minutes later were walking down the aisle! As I realized what was happening, I started beaming my widest smile as if to say, hey folks, that’s my SISTAH gettin’ married! When we were all up front and Viv started to walk in, I’ll admit, I got a tear in my eye and occasionally had the wobbly lip. I could hear Jen sniffling a few times throughout the ceremony.
The added bonus was that it was pouring down rain! The beautiful sunset from the day before was replaced with Hurricane Noel, which hit the coast and did a fair bit of damage. But Viv isn’t one to let things like that get her down. She OWNED the rain, made it her special wedding to remember. We laugh in its face, hah!
Pastor Melissa, the family pastor on Devon’s mom’s side, had very cool things to say. Touching on the passage that Viv and Devon’s friend read about “being clothed” in love for one another, she talked about wearing your love for your partner like your favorite pair of jeans, and how some days are harder than others and it’s not always going to be easy to do that. I’m not doing it justice, but the extra fun thing that Pastor Melissa did was to get a pair of each of their jeans beforehand set them out in the cocktail area, inside out, so guests could write messages and tips for a happy marriage to them using special clothing paint that wouldn’t show through on the outside. Very cute idea. I wrote “Fresh!” on Viv’s jeans and Michael wrote “laughter” on Devon’s.
After the ceremony, we had a fast photo op with all the permutations and combinations of parentage and siblings and bridal party. Both Devon’s parents are remarried so it was extra combinations, but it went pretty fast anyway.
I adored the cake — 3 square tiers in pink and brown (their wedding colors) with those cool swirly patterns. Two thumbs up. And tasty, too!
The rest of the night was relaxing and fun — good food and lots of fun dancing! The special dances were sweet; Viv and Devon danced to Kermit’s Rainbow Connection; Viv and Dad danced to What a Wonderful World; and Devon and his mom Joan danced to In My Life.
At the end of the night, Jen and I changed out to give our aching feet a rest but Viv said, hey I paid for this dress, I’m wearing it! So she wore it back to the hotel where a few people gathered in the bar to wind down. Funny girl.
(There was another wedding party at the hotel that weekend that was actually getting married at the hotel. On our way out that morning, we passed by them in the lobby and Viv said “Congratulations!” to the other bride. Jen and I echoed the sentiment to the bridal party. I don’t know why but they were kind of bitchy about it. And in my head I thought, wow, our bridal party is way more beautiful than your bridal party, maybe you can’t handle it! Maybe I’m vain but seriously, they were wearing these hideous cloaks that were mostly black with white detail in the pleats, and their bouquets were orange and brown. It was a freaking Halloween wedding. Whatever, serves them right. And when we got back from Viv and Devon’s wedding, they were partying in one of their bedrooms after having jumped in the hotel pool in their clothes. Classy.)
Sunday
Our scrumptious brunch was slightly tainted by my anxiety over having lost my little beaded purse that I brought to the wedding the day before. After much examining of cars and rooms and fussing about who would give us a ride, Michael’s friend Jason, who drove over from Worcester to meet us, gave us a ride and sho’ ’nuff it was there. Yay! We spent the afternoon in Lowell, birthplace and burial grounds of Jack Kerouac. Jason and Michael met in college and were English majors together so it was appropriate.
And after that, there was one more session of family dining at a seafood restaurant in Boston. So tasty, yummers! Many goodbyes and see-you-next-times were said and then off to bed.
Monday
On the way to the airport, Steve gave me a joint gift from him, Viv, and Devon — this hilarious book of Japanese cartoony characters used in everyday life in Japan, not just for amusement.
Back home the scenic way — Boston to SFO via North Carolina! Ugh, what a long day. But worth the cheap ticket, I guess. It’s good to be home after such a successful and lovely wedding.
