This past weekend was a whirlwind trip up to New York, to see our friends Michael and Joseph tie the knot. I met Michael and Joseph through Charlie and they’re both such sweethearts. So even though I had to be back at work on Monday morning and the wedding was on Sunday night, well, there was no way that we were going to skip it.

As an adult I’ve found myself forever analyzing every wedding I go to, trying to recognize things I would like to have at my own. Fortunately I’ve been to a lot of fantastic weddings over the years, so there’s a lot of inspiration out there. (I’m almost afraid to admit that I do have a favorite wedding because I don’t wany anyone else to get offended that I didn’t pick theirs! But I do have to say that despite the huge range of options out there, my cousin Karin’s wedding was quite possibly the absolute perfect event. I’ll have to try and describe it in detail one of these days.)

Anyway, Michael and Joseph had a great ceremony. The wedding itself was supposed to be on the roof of their building, but the rain pounding down for several hours put an end to that. So, we went over around 2pm and brought all the chairs and the glasses (fortunately keeping dry under tarps!) into their living room and helped them and the wedding coordinator re-arrange everything so that we could fit 75 or so people there. A tall feat, but it worked out well.

After promising to prend that we’d never seen the set-up before, we headed back to the hotel, changed, and voila! The rain had stopped. But it was too late to shift everything back upstairs, but honestly? It didn’t matter, it worked out really well.

The moment that I knew it was going to be a good time? About 30 seconds before the wedding was due to begin, I turned to look at Michael and he was almost quivering with excitement, shaking his fist with glee. The mood was infectious too, I’ve never seen so many people be so clearly overwhelmed with joy.

The ceremony itself was simple and sweet; two readings (Song of Solomon and Walt Whitman), the lighting of a candle, some brief words from the Unitarian Universalist minister, and then the vows. After the ceremony, people milled about for a while and then it was off to Jazz Standard, which is the jazz club in the basement of Blue Smoke.

I’d been to Blue Smoke two years ago and it has really delicious southern barbecue, and that’s exactly the kind of food that we had for dinner. Ribs, salmon, hush puppies, cheese fries, corn bread, macaroni and cheese… it was heaven on a plate.

Afterwards, we had several great speeches, including one from Michael about Joseph that just touched my heart. And then? Paula West and her band performed a jazz set, and it was a beautiful way to round out the evening. Never mind that we were a tiny bit tired at this point, or that we had a 7am flight back the next morning so that we could both be at work on time. It was great to just sit and listen to her sing for a while.

Getting up to New York and back (yay for bomb scares delaying everything at LaGuardia on Saturday, hmph) may have been hectic, it was a nice weekend. It was great to see not only the grooms but also meet their families, as well as seeing Kyle and Pepper again. Plus, so many of Michael and Joseph’s friends were great to meet and talk to as well. It was a really good time.