Geoff and Evelyn's Wedding

The whole day went really well, it was great! For me it started not-too-early, I was actually searching for things to do in the morning prior to heading down to the wedding. Ended up arriving a few minutes late because of traffic, but i was still there before most. Didn't have much to do prior to the ceremony. The ceremony was pretty short, with a couple tension-breaking minor mistakes. Evelyn got a bit emotional but Liya had some tissue stashed away somewhere :)

After the ceremony the photos began. First were the family photos in a shady area behind the fort, while most of the wedding party stayed in the air-con. Eventually it was our turn, but it took a bit to track down everyone. For the photos, I'm glad we had some umbrellas to provide some shade, cause boy was it hot. Black tuxedos are great for 30 degree sunny weather! Got a few photos then walked to the Deanne House for some more. The photographer was quite good, at least his manner and style seemed to be (don't know about the photos until later!). Overall it was pretty fun, esp the bridesmaids (maybe cause I don't know them as well? Actually there was a big difference between the groomsmen and the bridesmaids, they seemed to see everything as a joke, while we seemed maybe a bit serious. It was good though.).

Geoff and Evelyn went off to take some other photos in different places, while the rest of us returned to set up the reception. I didn't pay attention to what everyone else was doing, but apparently it went pretty well cause people were finished pretty soon. The A/V equipment took a little longer, partly cause I was checking and double checking things. Got some more time to just hang out while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Most of the guests arrived before G&E returned, so there was no formal receiving line. I think the make-up touch up was a little late too, so we were all hanging out in the coat room, (which I liked to call "the bridesmaids' secret lair"), deciding on how to rearrange the schedule a bit. Cause people looked hungry, didn't want to make them wait through many speeches. So food was put out, and a trivia game played to determine which tables got to go up first. Being at the head table, we had priority! I piled my plate kindof high, and enjoyed the food. I'm no connoisseur though, so I can't say if it was truly good food or not. But I went for seconds. I felt a little guilty that I seemed to eat more by far than anyone else at the table. Some speeches were fit in after dinner but before dessert, and some were later. After all food, and some mingling, we got the photo slideshow media presentation thing going. It was really good, I think Geoff did it all himself. I'm sure it brought a tear of happiness to many people's eyes. Oh we got the shoe game in there before that too. During the dinner, instead of clinking glasses, people had to say romantic phrases in different languages. This worked okay overall, but it was definitely quieter. I was most impressed with someone who thought to use sign language.

Then along came the dancing. Geoff and Evelyn performed a nicely choreographed waltz, after which the parent-child rumbas were also good (the parents seemed to know what they were doing!) Got the bouquet and garter toss out of the way, and started up the general dancing. Early in the dance was a break for cake cutting, earlier than expected since we seemed to be losing people. It was really good cake though, I went to that table a couple times that evening. The dance went quite well in my opinion, had a fair number of people out there throughout the night. The "adults" seeemed to leave pretty quickly without dancing much unfortunately. As for the rest of us, there was a bit of a division between the ballroom group and the freestyle group, but it wasn't a harsh division by any means. I was very impressed with people like Justin who were very 'versatile', appearing to excel at both sides of things and going all night long. I don't seem to be able to go out and be crazy fun on the dance floor like some people. I did do more dancing than I had expected, considering I'd only been dancing twice in the previous year, I was able to remember a reasonable amount. I kindof miss it, maybe I will return to dance sometime. It'd feel pretty weird to return to it though. I think I got into dance at just the right time, circumstances were ideal, had tons of fun and came away from it with several valuable friends. Somehow being older and having more experience, I don't think I could get that same experience again.

I was kindof sad to see members of the wedding party dropping off throughout the night, since I'd had fun with them throughout the day. It was understandable that some of them would be tired, but I still kindof imagined being around to the end and then going out for bubble tea or Sun Chiu Kee or something despite extreme tiredness. Geoff and Evelyn headed off shortly after midnight. I of course stayed to the very end. I say 'of course' for a couple reasons... a) I felt a little responsible for some of the A/V stuff, but more b) that's just the way I am. Just like being out with people in a fun setting as long as possible, much more valuable than things like sleep. I remember the early days of dance, staying to the end of U of C ballroom dances, then heading out with people to places like Banana Jaks (I don't think that place still exists unfortunately) (I think U&Me was the first place I ever went to with dance people).

Anyways, back to the wedding... It actually ended a little early. There were just a few people around after Geoff and Evelyn left, and eventually they too decided to head off. When Bernard saw everyone seemed to be heading out, he called last dance, but by that point, it was just Matthew and Marianne left to dance. If there'd been a girl there, I'd have asked her, but there was only Bernard and Justin, and they're not quite my type. I should have called for last dance when the final group of people started talking about leaving, there were a few couples and even an extra pretty girl for me to ask. Oh well. I helped pack up equipment and take away centerpieces, gave Justin a ride, and continued on home. Well, I stopped somewhere with a nice city view and hung out for a while, would've been nice to go for a walk with someone, then went home and slept. Showered first of course, just spent the previous 12 hours sweating :) But still such a wonderful day!