is what I shouted at Melissa upon seeing her at her reception. My powers of observation are not to be underestimated.
Remember Melissa, Internet? You'd have to have been around for years to recall her blog that she sadly (and entirely without regard for my entertainment needs) stopped updating a few years ago. But she's still on the Twitter.
I met Melissa over seven years ago (WHAT?!?!) when we were both sort of misfits in a church singles group. For instance, we were over the age of 22 (and STILL SINGLE oh noes!) and also used obscenities and consumed alcohol. Also, we were not sweet. Plus she was the only person I knew in San Antonio who watched the West Wing, which was an important qualification. If you enjoy reading this blog, you probably should thank Melissa, since she was pretty much the person who got me into doing this.
I wouldn't leave Owen's birthday party for just anyone (particularly pre-cake) but for Melissa, sure. So Raj and I l drove to this castle.
I mean hotel. That's the JW Marriott Resort in San Antonio, where Melissa's wedding was to have been held in this lovely outdoor environment:
Except because Melissa planned an outdoor wedding, Texas got its first rain in months or maybe years. So the ground was all muddy and the wedding had to be held in a ballroom, which was also quite lovely, but had to be a bummer since it wasn't what she'd planned.
After the ceremony, Raj and I got some giant glasses of wine and unabashedly stalked the servers bringing around the hors d'oeuvres (ok, mostly the crab cake guy) for a while, before heading out to check out the grounds. There was a group of high schoolers all dressed up for homecoming, having a Mom-driven photo session by this waterfall. We asked a guy sitting nearby to take our picture.
During the ceremony, the minister had said Melissa and Craig would wear rings to announce to the world that they were married. This guy didn't need a ring to announce to me that he was married. He went ahead and assumed that we'd want close up and full length shots and that I'd want to check them before we left. A woman taught him that. (From the looks of things, one of the homecoming moms.)
When we went back in, it was time for dinner. You guys. You know how wedding food is a lot of times pretty much the same? Kind of standard? Passable? This was one of the top five steaks of my life. Raj switched from white to red wine in order to please his steak. It was that good. And then?
Hello, lover.
Here's why I love Melissa: You know how most couples do the cake cutting and the feeding each other a bite and that's it? Melissa, after the first bite, informed us all, enthusiastically, how good the cake was and then she and Craig ate the whole piece. And let me tell you what, I could see why. That was some damn fine cake right there.
Plus there was a candy table. We danced off perhaps 1% of the calories we consumed and had an outstanding time until I crashed. Precipitously. The end of my sugar high combined with not having gotten to sleep until after three that morning and, if you must know, a wicked case of the PMS to convince me that we needed to leave Right Then or I wasn't going to stay awake long enough to drive all the way back to my parents' house.
Party over, oops, out of time.
(Congratulations, Melissa and Craig!)