damont

alienor and

fenrir1323 got married this past Saturday. I had the privilege of being in the wedding party, along with

soucyn,

kfitzwarin,

lady_guenievre,

melaniesuzanne, Talina, Brittney, Steve, Malia, and Fletcher. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about it; among other things, I hadn't met

fenrir1323 yet (the bride-to-be had asked me to stand up for them), and I honestly didn't know if I would know too many people present, and was anxious about being a fish out of water. (Curiously, it appears I wasn't the only one who was feeling that way about themselves.) I made arrangements with Bruce and Cheryl to crash at their place, as I didn't want to deal with the distance home, *and* the Beltway between home and the wedding would be under severe road work all weekend.

Things started on Thursday, with a truly ugly trip through traffic to the opposite side of the Beltway, where Steve's house was the rendezvous for the bachelor party (to be held up near Baltimore). That went fairly smoothly, though it was amusing that halfway down the road we were suddenly going 120 mph, with a stone cold engine running at 0 rpm, and no gas in the tank. (That van apparently is known for having wonky dashboard wiring.) The trip back was made in pouring rain, but the tornadoes went south of us -- I gather those at the bachelorette party were a little nervous for a while.

Friday, while the ladies did their bridal shower, we ran about Prince Georges and Charles Counties picking up tuxen and other stuff needed for Saturday. We then retreated to the bride and groom's house to shower and dress for the rehearsal dinner. After dinner I drove a bunch of people back up to Bowie, then retreated back south to Bruce and Cheryl's to crash.

The bridal party converged upon the Mix House Saturday morning to decorate the place. The men then went back to the house to dress, accompanied by Brittney to make sure we got stuff right, while the other women changed on site (there being only room enough for the women to change). Once dressed, we returned to the Mix House, and took pre-ceremony pictures inside. The ceremony itself was brief but wonderful. The reception was the first time I'd really felt a bit out of place; Brittney invited me to sit at a table with her, which helped. And there were quite a few people there that I knew; beyond the wedding party there were Scott (aka Hubbyfink),

duchessmel,

mmcnealy,

azpapillion, and I know there were others but I'm blanking. Once the reception was over and we'd cleaned up the hall, we changed into casual clothing and headed over to the bride's parents' home for a ~~post-revel~~ after-party with BBQ, tropical drinks, a half-keg of cider, and other potables. I drank a fair bit, but made an effort to stay at the point where I could sober up on an hour's notice, since I was driving back to B+C's afterwards. Others drank more. Some drank a *lot* more. Significant hangovers were reported the next day. However, nothing got ugly, everyone appeared to have fun, and only two glasses got broken (from being dropped). We scattered to our various homes or crashpads around 1 AM.

Sunday I said my thank-yous and goodbyes to B+C, went to sing at Sharon Chapel (about which more later), and eventually got back home mid-afternoon. Then in the evening, I met

montuos and

killernurd to see Iron Man; see this post for things I said while watching the movie (only vaguely semi-spoiler-ish).