In which we learn what the hell we're supposed to be doing

All right, by this time I had arrived and had about half a night's sleep.  I rode with Mom and Dad and Grandpa and Grandma to Yarrow Golf Course where the wedding would be held.  They had a nice lodge building with plenty of room for events.  The first step was to do some flower arranging to decorate the dinner tables.

Here's where we were having the rehearsal dinner.

People find my habit of photographing everything a bit silly, but I find the results are appreciated.

Much wine was consumed to decorate the tables.

This is where the wedding reception was held the next day.  Note the dance floor on the right.

Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and I found some comfy chairs and waited for the rehearsal to start.  I think I was rambling about traveling or something.

Grandpa.

This is the wedding tent.

Bridesmaids, assemble!

The families were gathering and learning how they would be seated.  Parents and grandparents are usually formally escorted to their seats before the wedding begins.  The groom usually helps out with this since he has to be there first in order to stand at the front anyway.

My grandma and grandpa with the mother of the groom.

We learned where to walk.

And where the family members would be seated before the ceremony.

Dad would walk Emily down the aisle.

Here we were making fun of the patriarchal implications of the giving away the bride tradition and speculating on how many goats Emily was worth.  They modified it so it was Mom and Dad both giving their blessing, not so much the transfer of female chattel property between male owners.

The person officiating was very nice.  She's the Rev. Kristin Combs.  According to Emily, she runs a business called Simple Ceremonies.  Everyone enjoyed the content of the ceremony and it didn't go on too long, so I think Emily would recommend her to others.

Each member of the wedding party was given a card with a blessing.  Each of us would read our blessing in turn.  I got Laughter.

Next Day:

Me: You know, I really think this blessing needs a punchline.

Emily: No it doesn't.

Me: Pleeeeeease?

Emily: NO PUNCHLINES!

Me: *sigh*  Okay...

The pavilion was next to the first tee on the golf course.  This resulted in some annoyance when the plan to block off the tee times didn't work, but we ignored it.

Practicing our exits.

After we had some idea of who would be doing what where the following day, it was time for the actual dinner part of the rehearsal dinner.  We were given menus to write on.  We circled what we wanted then made notes if we didn't want certain toppings, and they kinda messed up our orders anyway.

Clockwise from front left: Maggie (brother's girlfriend), my brother Jamie, Mom, Dad, Uncle Floyd, and Aunt Lori.

Emily and Kyle sat with the various grandparents.

Burger and yummy fries.

 For desert, there was a cake which showed the various places Emily and Kyle have lived.  For those not familiar with Michigan geography, the lower cake is the Lower Peninsula where we live (I think the pink heart is supposed to be Kalamazoo), the big cake at the top is the Upper Peninsula, the big cupcake is Alaska (totally not contiguous with Michigan but Kyle lived there for awhile) and the little cupcake is Mackinac Island, a resort island between the two peninsulas where Emily worked for awhile.

At this point I was completely exhausted and my feet hurt.  It was a cool enough evening that I could lay down in the car without cooking myself so I excused myself and took a nap.

Another view of the lodge from the parking lot.

After the others finished the cake they came to the parking lot.  I tried to sleep but the other people in the car were not being cooperative with the not talking plan.

Then in the evening I got bored and tried to take a picture of Gracie being cute in the sink, but she wasn't cooperating so I have a bunch of Annoyed-Gracie-Exiting-Sink pictures.

Up next: I make stuff!  I get only three hours of sleep! I get locked in a room for six hours with nonstop country music and somehow have an awesome time.