Day 143

Great weekend in ctown. As you know, we went home for Sean and Nancy's wedding. We drove in Thursday night and Friday had a lot of things to do including the inspection of our new house. Things went pretty well, all things considered. We were told its no better or no worse than any other house inspection. It was amazing though to be walking through "our house." Great stuff.

Now on to the weekend festivities. The rehearsal dinner was at Maggiano's. I will say this - it is a great place to have any sort of big party. The room was upstairs away from the restaurant and was a huge room. The food there is great. Fried Ravioli, Calamari, and Bruchetta teasers were available. Easy and well located bar in the back of the room. Plenty of room for a cocktail hour and the tables weren't on top of each other. The dinner was family style; Caesar and the Maggiano's salad; Two types of pasta and Chicken Parm. The food was great. During dinner, I actually haven't laughed so hard in years. Between our running "It seems like yesterday that Sean....." jokes, watching the Buatch and his father in action, and the alcohol, it was classic. The highlight of the evening by far was the Buatch's speech. For those who don't know him, he is definitely one of a kind. Like Stiffler in the American Pie movies, his defining characteristic is that he uses the F word incessantly. But nobody has a bigger heart. Between Sean, Sean's dad, and me, we had all talked to him about not cursing during his speech. Deep down though, I was hoping for vintage Buatch. He ended up giving a hilarious speech and finished with this gem: "I know everyone was worried that I would drop a ton of F bombs, so I am going to make up for it now." He unbuttons his shirt and shows a t-shirt that says "Fuck You, You Fuckin' Fuck!" It was amazing. Everyone loved it.

The wedding day was pretty hectic. We had a brunch with all of the boys at 10:30 at Corky and Lenny's. As good as the food was - I could not believe how empty it was in there. We got there right at 10:30 and no joke, there were about 15 tables available and no line. This was a Saturday morning. I know they are coming off the salmonella incident, but now people should know it has never been cleaner and the food is still good. Our friends Jeremy and Amy stopped by the house so we could see their new baby Molly. We played some fetch with Casey on the driveway and the backyard. Then Leah, Mark P and I hit up Dairy Queen on Chagrin before taking P on a mini-tour of the c-town burbs. I had to be at Oakwood at 3:30 for pictures. I forgot how painstaking that whole process can be. Trying to get 50 people or so to stay in the same place, having the bride and groom take a million pictures, and dealing with the nazi-wedding planner is tough. The wedding didn't start until 7, so we had a lot of down time.

Finally when the guests started to arrive, we had to do some ushering. What was cool for me was that I really knew a ton of people at this wedding, between my friends and all of the Clevelanders. Jordan, the other co-best man with me, and I had to light three candles and pull this piece of cloth down the aisle. Of course, with my shaky hands (thanks to the Warren family!) and nerves, watching me light the candles was an adventure. Then the way the cloth was folded, everytime one of the folds came up, it was a serious yank, and I dropped my side, not once, but twice. It was strange - I don't remember being that nervous since my wedding day when we were waiting to walk down the aisle. It had major flashbacks all weekend from our wedding since it was at the same place. Watching Sean walked down the aisle with his parents was great. It also made sad - I made that same walk with my father on one of my arms more than 4 years ago. Nancy looked beautiful walking down the aisle, and the ceremony was short and sweet. One other thing that happened was my constant battle with my yarmulke. I hate wearing them. I always am so uncomfortable with it on and it always feels like it is going to fall off. So I didn't wear one walking down the aisle so I could be normal. When I got up by the chuppah, I put it on. Leah says I looked so uncomfortable and stiff. You want to know why? Because I was. My back was so tight. I couldn't wait to take it off. The ceremony was luckily short and I took that thing off my head within 3 seconds of Sean breaking the glass.

There is nothing better than that Oakwood cocktail hour. Great teasers (Mini-Burgers, chicken skewers, shrimp, sushi, mini-potato pancakes with Salmon), and stiff drinks. Lots of Grey Goose went down my gullet Saturday night. The reception itself was a lot of fun. The band was solid (the lead singer was an unconfirmed Eric Dickerson) and the dance floor was packed all night long. They served a pretty good sized Filet, cooked to my liking. I gave my best man toast and introduced myself as "co-best man, and co-president with Nancy's mother of the Move "Sean to Cleveland" Club." I told this story which is 100% true. When Nancy first moved here, we went to lunch, and I was telling her about my friend Sean who I wanted to set her up with. She asked me "what is his last name?" I said "Fox." She said, "Nancy Fox, that's sounds pretty good." And there we were 4 years later at their wedding. Some final highlights of the evening: Kim Fox and Mark P on the dance floor; watching Buatch attempt to break dance; seeing the wedding planner attempting to move one of Nancy's friends from her chair because it was "blocking the aisle" (which wasn't true) and seeing that friend telling her to "F Off."; dancing with Leah all night; seeing the video of me and the lead singer tearing up the dance floor the next morning on Jordan's camera. Jordan - burn that tape! Lastly, I have to mention how beautiful Leah looked Saturday night. The dress, the hair, the makeup - the entire package was amazing babe....

To Sean and Nancy - I know I speak for all of our friends when I say that the wedding was so much fun and we hope it was everything you could have asked for. Have a great time in Maui.

A P.S. to the weekend - I came home to a broken Tivo. I called and them and told them what was happening - they said its dead. A new one is on its way....

Song of the Day: "My Friends" by Red Hot Chili Peppers