My cousin, Teri, got married recently and it made for one
fast weekend. We left Oklahoma at about 10 o’clock in the morning, after taking
Sherlock for a ride because we found him climbing in the front window of the
Jetta. Clearly, he did not like that he
was being left behind. We drove pretty much straight through to St. Louis, stopping
for a couple potty breaks along the way before stopping for dinner at the Hard
Rock Café. All I could do was compare it
to the ones in Europe, since that was my only experience with the HRCs. It was small, and didn’t have as much
memorabilia as the one in Florence.
However, it was very similar to the one I ate at in Barcelona, so
there’s that. The food was fantastic
regardless!
We made it all the way to Bloomington, Illinois before we
stopped for the night. We stayed at a
Double Tree Hotel and walked what felt like a mile to get to our room. I’m pretty sure we went down three full
length hallways before we even got to ours.
And the elevator was on the other end of the hotel from our room, which
definitely made the stay interesting.
The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast at Panera Bread,
and hit the road to Kalamazoo. Thankfully, we were only about 4 hours away at
this point, which was nice. And the
people on the road were averaging about 90 mph, even though the speed limit was
55, so we made great time. Unfortunately, we also had to drive through
construction on the outskirts of Chicago, so 4 hours got to be a little
longer. We finally got to the hotel at
about 4 pm (Oklahoma time) and dad got in line to check in. It was a very busy
weekend for the hotel.
They had 900 people check out that morning and 250 were
checking in. Half of the rooms weren’t
even clean yet. However, we had to give
it to the staff as they were doing a great job considering the
circumstances. The valets were running
from place to place, trying to make sure everyone was covered and got a cart
for their luggage and whatnot. By the
time we got up to the room, it was 430 (still in Oklahoma time) and we thought
we had some time to sit down before we had to be at the rehearsal dinner. However, then we realized there was a time
change. It was 530pm Kalamazoo time and
the dinner started at 6. No sitting down
for us.
We were fashionably late to the rehearsal dinner, but so was
most everyone else. It was in a dueling
pianos bar near the hotel and was filled with people by the end of the
night. It was really great to see the
family again, although I didn’t really get the chance to talk to Teri, the
cousin who was getting married. The
drinks were great, the food was fantastic, and the company was alright (it was
awesome). We talked, we laughed, I met my uncle for the second time, and then I
was exhausted. Two days of driving made
for a very tired family. We went back to
the hotel and I worked on some homework before we went to bed for the
night.
Here's that uncle I mentioned.
The next day dawned wedding day. Thankfully, it wasn’t until 3pm, so we slept
in and then went to the nearby mall to walk around and get our legs
moving. We had a light lunch at Olive
Garden and had the most amazing waiter.
He kept our drinks full, checked on us frequently, and had a fantastic
personality. Definitely wish we could
have more of those back here in Oklahoma.
The Hindu wedding ceremony came first, which was on the roof
of a building, in the 50 degree, windy Michigan weather. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny and
no clouds, but it was definitely a shock after leaving 90+ degree Oklahoma.
Thankfully, I was smart enough to wear some fleece lined legging with my dress
and to bring a jacket with me to the ceremony.
Most of the other girls there were not quite so smart. There were many girls in their short dresses
and high heels and little lace shawls trying to huddle together on the roof to
keep warm. I was relatively comfortable
though!
It was a beautiful ceremony, although the Hindu priest was
rather clueless, along with the rest of the wedding party. He didn’t show up in Michigan until the
morning of, and even the Indian people present said that he was rather
scattered throughout the ceremony. Dad (mine, not hers) got to walk the bride down the aisle. Apparently it’s some sort of tradition that
no one knew about beforehand. Dad was certainly surprised! My cousin didn’t even get to see her wedding
sari until she was putting it on, but it was absolutely gorgeous. I have no idea what was happening in the
ceremony, but it was still fun to watch.
After the Hindu ceremony was over, we headed across the
street for a cocktail hour while the bride and groom got changed. I’m pretty sure the poor bartenders served a
couple hundred Moscow Mules, as that was Teri’s favorite drink. I’m really surprised they didn’t run out of
ginger beer and vodka! They also had
some fantastic little snacks going around during this, which was both good and
bad. The snacks themselves were delicious
and authentic Indian foods, for the most part.
However, they were so good and in such easy supply that I definitely ate
more of them than I should have. No
regrets, though!
Next, we went upstairs for the Christian ceremony and
reception. Again, Teri’s dress was
absolutely gorgeous and the food was amazing.
At that point, it was more or less like almost every wedding
reception. There was an open bar, an ice
cream bar, and a late-night mac-and-cheese bar, although we left before the
mac-and-cheese bar got set up. I was so
full at that point, though, that I’m not sure I could have eaten any more food!
The Wedding Party
They had also set up a really cool photo booth for the
guests, along with a bunch or hats and decorations for people to use when
taking the pictures. People would leave
one half for the bride and groom and take the other half for themselves, which
I thought was a great idea. Oh, and my
cousin Tommy put on one of those blow-up T-rex costumes and started wreaking
havoc, including tearing down a string of lights. At that point, we left since we had to drive
all the way back to Oklahoma the next day, but we heard that the party lasted
until at least two in the morning, travelling to a couple different bars along the
way.
Guess which one's my cousin Tommy!
We ate breakfast with the family the next morning before
hitting the road, which was an adventure unto itself with the Moses clan. People bustling this way and that trying to
get the food on the buffet, get everyone drinks, take care of the trash, make
coffee and mimosas, and just generally getting things done and getting in the
way at the same time. It wouldn’t be an
event with the Moses family without a little chaos!
Unfortunately, after breakfast, we had to start our 14 hour
drive back home so I could get to class for my presentation the next day. And work on homework in the car along the
way. And try to make sure my group members were doing their part. Oh, and work on my part of the presentation. It honestly wasn’t that bad of a drive on the way home. It felt shorter than on the way
up, so that was nice. Especially
considering we drove straight through.
The happily married couple at another
ceremony the next day!
