Thursday, July 19, 2007

Jess and Ben's Wedding

So after months of planning, very little of which was done by me, it was finally July 14... the big wedding day. We chose the St. James Hotel in Red Wing as the venue for the Event of the Year.

We rolled down to Red Wing on Friday and took care of a few details. I brought down a PA System from EMI Music in NE Minneapolis and we checked in to our room at The Historic St. James.

Saturday rolls around and we're feeling good about things. The PA is set up at the rooftop patio across the street from the hotel, where the ceremony would be held. Microphones check out fine, iPod works, weather is great... we're golden. I head back to the room and watch a little Tour de France while Kay and the girls get their hair done.

At 2PM I decide to check out the suit and I discover that I left my pants back in Minneapolis, 1 hour away. I panic and sweat, then call Scott. He hadn't left and was able to pick up the pants. Disaster avoided.

Then its photos, photos and more photos. We eventually settle in for the 5PM ceremony at the rooftop. I walk Jess down the isle, give her a kiss and tell Bell that I'll kick his ass if he causes a situation where Jess even thinks about crying... and we share a laugh.

The meal was great, so everyone told me. Salmon and chicken were the main entrees'.

I was fortunate enough to book Kaiser-Cartel, a band of 2 musicians from Brooklyn that Kay and I had seen twice. The band was passing through from Minneapolis to Madison and didn't have a gig that night. I'll confess that this was a selfish move on our part, meaning that I knew Kay and I would enjoy the band and I had no idea how Kaiser Cartel would be received by the other guests. To bottom-line it, the crowd really digged the band. Lots of dancing and they sold a lot of CDs after the show. They do their own material and mixed in a few covers, including Lucinda Williams' "Something About What Happens When we Talk. The band seemed to enjoy themselves too. Courtney and Ben are so cool and talented.

At about midnight we headed over to the nearest dive bar for the mandatory and ceremonial post-wedding-party-at a-dive-bar. There was karaoke and Ben's kin and my own family were dancing up a storm. I think Ben's family must come from a farm because they were sort of mimicking the animals on the dance floor, if you know what I mean. Good people doing stuff rated NC-17.

To finish the evening Me and K1, and Tom, walked K2 too her nearby B&B. We share a nice conversation as we meander the quite streets of Red Wing at 1:40 AM on a pleasant night after a fabulous day. We're exhausted, we smell from a lot of dancing and we couldn't be happier. Congrats to Jess and Ben.

See the link to my Flickr site for photos.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

I think...