And it was raining.
For 30 seconds!
Seesh, what a relief; not that I was too worried about the weather. I knew that things would turn out splendidly, and sure enough, they did.
It was an awesome day. We got there about an hour early, which gave me a chance to take some pictures and scope out the dish lineup. Yup... plenty of pie for everyone. We waited around for a while (excitedly, not bored), until the actual wedding of husband and wife began. I convinced my sister to give up her isle seat so that I could get the best snapshot possible of "the kiss". Turned out pretty good, too. Actually, I must have snapped at least 50 pics of the two before they even kissed.
Afterwards, they sent us off to the dinner tent, which instantly got me excited (I was already feeling hungry). And, SURPRISE! "Dinner won't be for 'a while'. Help yourself to some cheese puffs and celery!"
@_@
They had a photo-shoot of the couple and their families after that... so at least I wasn't left to starve to death with nothing to do for the next hour and a half. Finally, they called us back in to the tent, and then, (oh, and then,) I dined. Well... actually, I ate. The main course wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped. Beef and chicken, drowned in gravy; diced potatoes, that weren't very good; carrots; they did have pre-buttered bread, though, which I think was an ingenious notion. The second after I finished my meal, I was ready to gobble down my first slice of pie, too. But, OH, NO, heaven forbid we actually eat something unless we've first crawled through the mud, dragging an aching, empty stomach along with us. They shooed us out after that, in order to allow us more time to "converse", and whatnot.
The next time we got called back in I didn't even bother getting my hopes up... because it was time for the best man and bridesmaid to make their speeches. And, of course, right after they were done it was time for DIRECT FAMILY MEMBERS TO GET TOGETHER FOR THE GROUP PHOTO and for EVERYONE ELSE TO HELP THEMSELVES TO THE DESERT TABLE.
@_@*
The first chance I got, I bolted for the tent. In seconds flat, I had dished up my piece of cherry pie and topped it off with whipped cream. Then my dad shows up, with important news: "We need you for one more picture!" It's a miracle no one stole my pie before I got back. That was the most delicious thing I had looked at all week.
Upon taking that first bite, I felt special inside. Like everything was finally as it was supposed to be.
I had four pieces.
The wedding went pretty swell from that point on. With my stomach full and my taste buds satisfied, it was much easier to enjoy the after-party. Thanks to her, my sister and I totally owned the dance floor. We were popping-and-locking and... well, I should probably stop there. I got really tired towards the end, but I was happy, too, so I didn't mind tuning into conversations for the next two hours. At the end, I even hopped back up to do the chicken dance (three times in a row). It was definitely a day to remember for years to come.
I'll upload some more pics later, but I simply couldn't delay the posting of this one: