September 2, 2006: Bob and Lisa’s Wedding

Today is a relatively busy day with no time to really sleep in. I was up at half past nine and started the day. First thing I did was finish reading “Behind Closed Doors: The Secrets of Great Management”. My reading bonanza continues.

Dominica and I ordered in breakfast this morning. We figured that we are blowing so much on the hotel that we might as well go all of the way and just enjoy the place for the weekend. It isn’t every weekend that we get to get room service in a top notch hotel.

Breakfast was awesome. Crabcakes and eggs over spinach with hollandaise sauce, potatoes and a bakery basket for us to share with some of the best danishes ever.

It is a beautiful day for a wedding – at least in my book. Almost exactly the same weather as Dominica and my wedding except that they rain was coming down more steadily. The view from the eighth floor of the Statler was just breathtaking. (We are in room 812 which faces the city.) At night the lights of the city lay spread out below you but the view is actually better during the day. Today was the absolute perfect “view” weather with enough rain and fog to be just perfect without so much that you couldn’t see the top of the facing hill. The weather was very similar to several of the days that Dominica and I spent in Halifax, Nova Scotia a few years ago.

We didn’t leave the room at all. We just hung out and relaxed for a while until Andy and Miranda got into town around half past one. They were not able to get into their room yet so they came up and got ready to go to the wedding in our room. It is handy having a hotel room so close to the wedding.

We took Andy’s car down to the church downtown, the four of us riding together. We made it just in time for the service as we had been running late. We actually arrived at just the perfect time as we had plenty of “buffer” before the service started but didn’t have to sit any longer than necessary waiting for things to start. It was a really beautiful service at First Presbyterian in Ithaca. Dominica spent most of the service trying to figure out why the minister looked so familiar when she realized that she had had him as a guest in one of the hotels that she worked at in the Geneseo area and said that he was possibly the meanest, rudest guest that she had every had in her years working in hotels! Doesn’t say much for Ithaca’s Presbyterian church. He was a bit rude during the service as well and a lot of people were pretty annoyed by him. The music during the service was amazing. Bob had a choir do a surprise performance of the piece that he and Lisa met whist performing several years ago.

After the wedding the four of us who had ridden together returned to the hotel to relax for a little while between the service and the reception. We got Andy and Miranda checked into their own room which was now ready. The hotel had managed to have gotten them the room directly next to ours, 814, which was really handy. Andy was quite excited to have gotten the same awesome view as we had.

We went down to the reception around twenty past five. That was about perfect timing as well. Pretty much everyone had arrived and things were just getting going.

We all had a really good time at the reception. I love weddings because it gives everyone a chance to hang out and visit with all of the friends and family that we never get a chance to see. The food was awesome. We did hardly any dancing tonight but spent the whole time visiting with people. There just isn’t enough time to hang out with everyone that you want to hang out with.

The wedding went until ten and then people milled until half past or so. Then all of the stragglers still looking to party headed down to the Regal Lounge and drank until a bit past midnight. Mostly it was the thirty and twenty somethings (Bob’s friends have almost all passed the line into the thirty plus category) and Lisa’s family that stayed up late. Once the lounge closed most of our friends went down to The Haunt to do some more dancing. Bob and Lisa called it a night after the lounge. Dominica and I stayed until the last remnant were leaving the lounge before going out of the hotel. Andy and Miranda called it a night there too.

Min and I tried to get a cab to go to The Haunt but there is only one cab company left in Ithaca and apparently they are acting like they have no competition and never will according to the hotel staff. The taxi dispatch said that the car would be there in fifteen minutes. After thirty minutes we called back and they said that they would be there in three. After fifteen minutes we just drove the BMW and managed to pull out just as the taxi pulled in behind us. We told the hotel staff to let the taxi driver know what we thought of their service. Forty five minutes we waited for a taxi!

We got to The Haunt just as everyone was walking out. We didn’t even get to hear a single song although everyone said that the music was crap anyway. People were hungry and luckily we didn’t have to wait an hour for a cab and just had our car with us so we all drove down to The Commons and got some pizza at Sammy’s. Sammy’s has some of if not they best pizza in Ithaca. At least for thin crust. The Nines has the best deep dish Sicilian style pizza of any place that I know.

Dominica and I didn’t end up getting to bed until four in the morning! Overall we felt that the whole day was very reminiscent of our own wedding. The weather, time of year, style of the wedding (Presbyterian for mixed protestant/Catholic families), a lot of overlapping guests, lounge after the reception and pizza for the latest stragglers. The similarities will continue tomorrow as we go to brunch in the morning.

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