Katie's Wedding

On May 24th, my sister got married. I wish I could have blogged about this earlier, but I have been so busy.
We are 100% Irish (Thus the "Mc." at the end of my nick-name) and have several relatives in Ireland. They actually came over for the wedding a few days prior to the event. I was a part of the welcoming committee at the airport. My mother was on the Welcome Wagon as well. She hates jeans. When she saw me in mine, she took one look and shook her head saying "The Irish are coming." I asked her if they were coming by land or sea, because that would determine how many lanterns I was supposed to hang.
We had the rehearsal the day prior and I was shown that I would walk my grandmother, mother and my soon-to-be brother in law's two sisters down the aisle. At one point the wedding director asked "Who are the ushers." My sister informed her that there were none. "Then who is taking up the runner" the director asked. My sister quickly looked around and picked the two groomsmen standing close to her (me and some other guy) as the ones to take up the runner.
I was going down the aisle four times the next day.
We concluded by having dinner at a fancy suburban Italian place. The food was awesome. (How can you go wrong with Italian food?!)
The day of, I showed up close to on time and the photographer and video guy got all sorts of shots of us. The video dude asked us to walk up as if we were in Reservoir Dogs or something. He had the camera low to the ground and we were to walk over it. It was strange.
The ceremony went off without a hitch. Everything was flawless.
Then it was time for pictures. The pictures were ENDLESS. It got to the point where I almost recommended that we take individual pictures of everyone and have them photo shopped together into the groups that were suggested.
After the many pictures at the church, we all piled into one of two vehicles (other than the limo that my sister and her new husband took) and it was off to a local park for more pictures. This is pretty standard.
Once my face felt as if it had been botoxed into a smiling position, we concluded our pictures with the trees and it was off to the reception. I made a quick stop at a Target. It was weird being in my tux, but I wanted to get a card for my friend Kate. She had agreed to be my date for my sister's wedding, and I though that it would be a nice gesture.
I got there shortly after the start of cocktail hour. Kate met me there. We hung out for a short while until we got some pictures taken. I was encouraged to get pictures with everyone that I walked down the aisle with (Which was 54 at last count) and my date. So, we got that out of the way before the dancing started and I lost my jacket and tie.
Dinner was remarkable. Toasts were great. And it seemed as if very quickly the dancing started. Not much time wasted. The first dances were perfect.
As soon as they were done, we got a family picture taken. Then one with the cousins. Then the cousins from the other side of the family. Then with all the aunts and uncles. Then with the grandparents. Then with the waiters and waitresses. It seemed that every 5-10 minutes another picture needed to be taken. AND the time it took to take the picture was anywhere between 10-20 minutes depending on how many people we had to line up and get in line.
I apologized several times to Kate to let her know how sorry I was that I couldn't spend that much time with her. However, that is the cool thing about Kate, she is very easy going. Just a sweet lady. I'm lucky to have her as a friend.
The whole day was perfect. I honestly didn't notice a single error. And if there had been one, no one in my family noticed it.
A much delayed congrats to my sister and her new husband! Thanks for a great day and may God bless you both!