Dominica didn’t get any sleep last night. Dexter is a restless sleeper and insists on sleeping with us and it doesn’t give Min a chance to fall asleep. With my CPAP I can sleep through just about anything. Dexter probably jumped on me a hundred times during the night and never managed to wake me up. Growing up with Buffer as a kid (she was our Cocker Spaniel that I had from age ten until I was in college) I am used to dogs walking on me at night. Buffer used to wait until I fell asleep and then walk over me and leave the room. So Min was exhausted today.
Dominica had to get up early this morning so that she could go and get her hair done somewhere in Frankfort before the wedding. I stayed in bed with the dogs for a little while. It is very difficult to drag yourself out of bed when you have two snuggly Boston Terriers who want to snuggle with you!
Min and I drove to the wedding separately since we had to be there a little early because Min is doing a reading. We left the house at 10:15 and managed to arrive early enough over at Hamilton College that we stopped by the Nice’n’Easy and I picked up a quick breakfast.
The wedding was held in the Hamilton College Chapel which was built in 1827 and the interior was restored in the mid-1900’s as a war memorial. It was a really beautiful venue for a wedding. Simple and austere but elegant in its own fashion. The weather outside was perfect for an indoor wedding. It was heavily overcast but since the chapel did not have stained glass windows the overcast caused the light to be a cool, almost blue colour that worked perfectly. And the humidity caused the back windows to fog which kept there from being a clear view behind the priest which would have been distracting.
Dominica and I didn’t get to sit together. All of the readers sat together is the front left of the chapel to make it easier for them to get up and down without walking through the church. I sat on Min’s family’s side, the right, two thirds of the way back in a row with Joe and Brittany.
The service was very nice. Both Dominica and I commented on how impressed we were with the priest’s message. Towards the end of the service the rain really started. It was pouring by the time they were wrapping up and just about then the thunder started as well. So everyone stalled at the chapel as long as possible. Dominica and I had to stay for family pictures so that kept us out of the heaviest rain fortunately. After pictures we were over to “The Little Pub” which was on campus just across from the chapel where there was hot cider, donuts, sandwiches and cookies for lunch.
We went back to Min’s parent’s house to take care of the dogs and to change before the reception. We packed the car and watched a little television before we left. Oreo was very glad to see us. We are pretty sure that he gets pretty nervous when we leave him at Min’s parent’s house when we are not there with him.
We left for the reception at 5:10 which was a bit later than we had hoped to leave. Then, only minutes after locking the door and leaving, Dominica realized that the card that we had gotten for the newlyweds was still sitting on the kitchen table where we could not get to it. So we had to run to the store on the way out of town to pick up another card. That didn’t help our timing any. While I was in getting the new card Dominica was rumaging through my car and discovered her parent’s and discovered the house key that she has been missing for almost two years now. So that didn’t help much.
We actually managed to make it to the reception right on time. In fact, we were probably about halfway through all of the people that were arriving so it was perfect. From 6:00 until 7:00 was a cocktail hour. We hung out with Joe and Brittany and had snacks. “Snacks” is putting it lightly. We mostly “settled” for baked brie with raspberry drizzle, spring rolls, quiche, etc. There were a lot of really nice meat items as well but I didn’t pay much attention to them.
The reception was quite an affair. Save venue as last year, the country club at Turning Stone Casino. We had a really good time. Dominica and I were sat with the grooms parents, Min’s parents, Joe and Brittany and the priest. So we were one of the “mature” tables. Apparently Dominica and I have graduated from sitting at the kids tables. Dinner was awesome. Great service and presentation. Our vegetarian selection was some sort of ricotta based filling in a pan-fried eggplant wrap that was simply amazing. Last year we hadn’t been that impressed with the vegetables Napolean that they had done there but Min’s uncle Sam said that they had specifically made sure that the vegetarian selection was different this year and they had had the casino get this recipe from a different resort. Let me tell you: it was worth it. I only know of there being three vegetarians on Min’s side of the family: Dominica, Stephanie and I. One of the coolest things was a chocolate fondue fountain. It was a five or six tiered flowing fountain that you could dip fruit, marshmallows or rice crispy treats into. Very cool. The cake was amazing too. Kind of fudge layered with cake.
We partied until 11:00 and stayed just long enough to hear the last song and then we hit the road quickly to beat the rush out of the casino. Oreo had been in the car all night and we didn’t want him to have to be in there any longer than he had to be. We did go out around 9:20 and walked him and made sure that he was warm enough but we couldn’t do much to entertain him. We were on the road by 11:15 and home by just a little after 1:00. Boy were we tired. It was all that we could do to stay awake while driving home. If it had been any fartehr I could not have made it. Oreo was especially glad to be home.