Wedding day
Saturday, September 22, 2007
This entry should be titled "why I will be missing from writer's group today". Hopefully there is enough detail here that it will not appear contrived.
Ah, yes, Karen—I should have sent a postcard.
We stayed downtown for this event. That kind of made it a three-day wedding. Not quite the 8-day version you might find on the other side of the world, but quite fun. Before the wedding we went to Garfield Park Conservatory to stroll around and see some of the unique sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle. Garfield Park Conservatory is always wonderful to visit, but Niki in The Garden pushes it to a whole other level of fun.
While we were there, one of the wedding party phoned and as my wife was answering, I had this flash of pre-wedding makeup event gone awry. I imagined that she was one of a swat team of volunteers called the FERT—Fingernail Emergency Response Team that is on standby in the tense hours before a wedding to help with impossible repairs. But it was only a request to pick up a pashmina. The request was to pick it up at Macy's, but since the New York chain took over Marshal Fields, there are those among us who refuse to go there. Slight drama ensued.
The weather forecast said that the high would be over 80. In Chicago, that can be uncomfortable. But the actual high that day was probably not over 72 with nice humidity.
The wedding was in the Great Hall of Cafe Brauer nestled in Lincoln Park and is a fine example of the Prarie School architecture and was an incredible site for any event and in particular a wedding. I am told that the reservation had been made two years in advance for this event.
The service was wonderfully done by Jacqui Meli whom we knew from an internship at our church. Music was provided by string trio.
After the service, we went to the loggia for cocktails, and there was a second musical outfit with a keyboard and drums. During dinner and dance, there was an orchestra. My my.
And there is more--there was an orchestra for dinner!
For the first dance, the Bride and Groom performed a ballroom dance that was just delightful.
Partying ensued until midnight.
Marvelous, marvelous, marvelous.