Eddie's Wedding

I flew back to NY this weekend to go to my cousin Eddie's wedding on Saturday. Yes, him and Rachel (Schaffer) tied the knot. Shannon let me stay with her on Thursday night and she took me to the airport before work. My flights were good as there were no delays and I met some neat people...which is one of the things I love about traveling (esp by air). On my flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago, I sat next to a guy from Frankfurt, Germany. At O'Hare (Chicago airport), I talked for awhile with a girl who had been doing field work in Nevada. She was also going to the NE for the weekend for a wedding and was applying to grad schools. Since she had just gotten her new MacBook (Macintosh laptop) and had some really cool pictures from Antarctica on it, she showed them to me. The pictures were from a field station that was something like 20 miles from where she had done some work. It was pretty neat talking with her.

I flew into Rochester where Kait picked me up and took me back to her suite. We ended up going out to a frat (Chi Phi) that her and her friend always go to because they have a friend in it and know the guys. It was my first frat party and I now know for certain that I haven't missed anything by not going to them...in fact, I would have missed a lot of I had gone in the past. Some guy did come up to me and asked me to dance so I did as Kait was on my left prodding me saying something to the effect of "he won't remember anyways, he's probably too drunk." Oh well, no harm done because at least he didn't try anything dirty (so I didn't have to leave till the end of a songor hurt him). We didn't stay too long because it was not the same for Kait and her friend Karen as it was homecoming/alumni weekend (aka Meliora weekend at the University of Rochester) and it was a little different with all the alumni there. So we headed to the frat quad for a bit (yes, UofR has a quad on campus for frats). Kait and Meagan played a couple of really drunk Russians in pool and still lost (though they had been playing better than the guys). The frat quad was pretty boring too so we didn't stick around too long. Eventually we made it back to Kait's suite where we crashed for a few hours of sleep before mom picked us up at 9.

Mom picked us up and we went to Carousel Mall before going home so Kait could get a dress. Amazingly, I had already bought one here (in Utah) and was more prepared than Kait...scary that I had bought a dress and Kait hadn't yet. We were at the mall too long but she and I got what we needed. I jumped in the shower when we got home and Kait attempted to do my hair before the wedding (aka blow-dry it) but we had insufficient time. We made it to the Church a few minutes before 2 (when the wedding was supposed to start). As we were walking up, my grandma Schulz and Aunt Sandy (Eddie's mom) were outside and asked what the heck had happened to my knee. I have some pretty nasty turf burns on my knee from indoor soccer and I couldn't get the gauze all the way off when I was in the shower so I had to go to the Church with a little piece still stuck on (I had cut most of the gauze off).

The ceremony was nice even though my angle was not very conducive to good picture taking. The two mom's (my aunt and Rachel's mom) did the readings which I thought was a neat idea. Of course, Krista (one of my 4 year-old cousins) was supposed to be a flower girl with Jenna (the other 4 year-old cousin) but she started crying and Melissa (Eddie's sister) had to carry her up the aisle.

It was a beautiful day and perfect for a wedding...didn't even need a sweater after the ceremony and the sun was actually shining in a blue sky! Amazing!

Before the reception, my family went to my Galvin grandparent's to drop off Chris and Dena's dogs and so Kait and I could see them before they leave for Florida. It was good to see them again even though it was only a few minutes. (I had lived w/ them while student teaching...still miss their cooking).

The reception was at the Labrador Ski Center as someone in Rachel's family owns it and they let them have the reception there for free as a wedding gift. Although it got quite cool outside, inside was nice and warm. On the way in, there was a table set up with bowls of various candies (caramels, candy corn, chocolate cirlces w/ sprinkles, Jolly Ranchers, etc.) that you could fill up a small decorative bag with (or a cup or your hand). Yummy and simple idea for a wedding favor.

I had a great time at the reception with my family...they are just amazingly awesome. Everyone was there except my cousin Jamie (who should be expecting to get reemed out by all of us as she only goes to school at SUNY Oswego and has a car there) so it was a typical Schulz get-together...lots of fun and some craziness. I danced a good deal of the night, rather exclusively with my cousins...especially Krista and Jenna...so I know how to dance w/ you if you are a 4 year-old girl. It was fun relearning the Macarena, etc.

Craziest part of the night must have been when my cousin Stephen (7 years old) was in a bridge position and started humping the air. Everyone was dying laughing, including his parents. My Aunt Anne Marie got down in a similar position and started kicking her legs out, I think trying to get Stephen to do the same, but he kept humping the air. No one told him to stop though so he did it for a bit longer, till the end of the song I think. For most of the night after that, one of Eddie's friends (he was an usher) attempted to teach Stephen some dance moves, some more successfully than others. Yup, that's my cousin...he's going to be a real ladies man when he's older.

Towards the end of the night, I was at the bar getting a cup of water when my Uncle Casey (Eddie's dad) bought everyone (who was at the bar) shots of Bailey's and toasted Eddie. I had a sip of Bailey's as I had refused the full shot...that kind of alcohol is dangerous because it tastes more like chocolate than alcohol. I wonder how many women get drunk off of it for this reason alone...

When I got home from the reception, i found some old pictures of Eddie and I when we were about 2 and 3. He has his arm around me in one and I think I might include them in the photo-type present that Kait and I plan to make for them. Although we aren't too sure exactly what we are going to do yet...at least my pictures came out really well. :-)

I flew out of Rochester today, through Chicago again, back to Salt Lake City. Shannon picked me up and it was good to have some more time (in addition to Thursday night) to catch up. I'm going to have to go down some night soon to meet her lieutenant friends that she works with, as they sound really cool.

I'm really glad that I went home even though I was only there about a day. It was more than worth it.

Check out my photos from the wedding.