The wedding went off WITH a hitch (and a glitch), but it did happen nontheless. The wedding was at 1pm and we arrived at the church about 20 minutes early. We took our seats the in pew with the rest of the family that had already arrived, and soon we had a few relatives squeezing their way to the end where we were sitting to say hi. Meanwhile, there was a pianist and two different (folk music-style) soloists who took turns playing and singing to us. At 1pm, we noticed the pianist kept looking at her watch and would periodically call someone over or simply step out for a moment. By about 20 minutes past 1pm and still no wedding march, the groom went to the alter to make an announcement: Yes, the bride and groom were still planning to get married, however, the preist had been "detained" and the wedding would begin as soon as he arrived.

That was a relief to know what the hold-up was, and everyone seemed to relax a bit and chit chat. Patrick's aunt (mother of the bride) started walking around saying "hi" to people and grabbed Patrick as soon as she laid eyes on him. She took him to the back of the church to see the bride, who was holding herself together by a thread. Apparently when she saw Patrick, it was what she needed to regain her composure and really gave her a reason to smile. She had not seen Patrick since he was in the hospital on a ventalator, and lets just say Patrick has changed dramatically since then. Patrick joined me again a few minutes later, feeling proud that he had "saved the bride" from a complete meltdown. (in talking with the bride later, she told us the preist had the wedding time down as 2pm, and was in the middle of a haircut when he found out. Boy was the bride PO'd before the wedding)The priest finally arrived at about 1:40, and despite being a Catholic wedding, it seemed to be a short, simple ceremony that was quite touching.

The reception was casual, partly due to the delay of everyones arrival. There were horderves just inside the door and within 15 minutes of arriving, they were cutting the cake. Just after that, the groom made the announcement that there was no need to wait on the wedding party to start eating the dinner buffet as it was already set-up, and to just go for it. So we did.

Bride and groom were dancing the first dance about 15 minutes after that, and the party began after that. People were constanly coming over to say hi to Patrick, and he was as I predicted, almost as popular as the bride. It was nice to meet so many relatives I had only heard about, and I will admit, amusing to listen to the family politics from someone ELSE'S extended family.

The bride and groom were so sweet and acknowledged Sunday as being my and Patrick's anniversary. We were given a big round of applause! They finished the evening with an hour or so of kerioke (this is how the bride and groom met, so it was very approriate). We left for the day, extra cake in hand, at about 6 pm. All and all, a short, simple wedding/reception and relaxing day!

Kristen

p.s. I wish more couples would feed you right away at the reception like this one did. How many times have you went to a reception and been stuck waiting for what seems like hours without anything but peanuts because the couple are taking pictures and cruising the town in the limo before they show?