The Wedding

Saturday, June 28, 2008

It is two weeks later and I still don't know how to put into words the wedding experience. I can very simply say it was the classiest wedding I have ever been to. I can also very simply say that it was probably one of the most moving days of my life. But none of that even comes near what I feel about all of it.

First and foremost, I have to say that the bride and groom worked so hard to pull off a first class event and it all paid off. Everything was amazing. The location was awesome. The girls' dresses were gorgeous. I don't know what word describes more than beautiful but whatever it is, that is what Janet was. Her gown was so gorgeous and her change dress was awesome. The food was amazing. The music was great. Everything from start to finish was perfect. Besides being so classy, I think what made it perfect was that everyone had so much fun. Nick gives all the credit to Janet and her attention to detail which gave so much polish to the day. I can't wait to see the pictures as I have heard about a lot of things I missed. Food/ice carvings? OK, not to be left out, Inki, the best man, added his own very distinctive touch to the day. Actually, his speech can be seen on You-tube.

I spent a lot of time listening to music, trying to find

"the perfect song" to dance to with Nick. I finally settled

on "Forever Young" by Rod Steward. The words were perfect. I don't know who cried the most, Nick or I. But they cut the song short, leaving out some of the best words--"whatever road you choose, I right behind you win or lose....forever young.....forever young". Whatever--it was still such a heartfelt moment, one not soon to be forgotten.

It was the first time so many of my family have been in NY all at the same time. I think it was also the first time so many of us have been together in a long time for something besides a funeral. I am so thankful to everyone who made the effort to share the day with us as it mattered so much to all of us. It was a good time hanging around the pool for a couple of nights and the day after in my home. We never really have the opportunity to share our home with family so that made it even nicer.

Uncle Nick also came all the way from Florida and had piled up 1438 miles by the time he got to the hotel. (But who's counting, right?) His presence made Liz and Nick and I even more aware that their dad was floating around there somewhere, hopefully being very happy watching what was going on. He was certainly in all of our thoughts during all the happenings in the last couple of weeks, particularly at the wedding.

Once we have the opportunity to see the photographers' photos, I will be posting more here. I know they will be excellent but they will still fail to capture all the emotions whirling around that day.

Nick and Janet, I could not have been prouder. Thank you for so many things.

Now, I have a very long list of things to do/take care of "ATW"--after the wedding. But as Nick so kindly pointed out to me a couple of days ago-everything is ATW now.