Saturday, August 21, 2010

Drew and Alison!

The first weekend in August was Drew and Alison's wedding weekend extravaganza!  A fair number of '09ers were back in town for this wedding, and it was so wonderful getting to see so many of them.  And, of course, we had a wonderful time celebrating the happy couple!

On Friday (8/6), we were invited to the rehearsal dinner, which was held at Quad (one of Princeton's eating clubs).  It looked like they had invited pretty much all of their out-of-town guests, plus PEF staff -- we were honored to be included.  :)


David and Joshua with Tsheko and Gordon, two of the groomsmen
 

Some of the great class of '09
 

J-bear with Uncle Bill
 

Laura and Annie giving "Twitter toasts" -- a brilliant concept, well-executed
 

The happy couple

Then Saturday (8/7) was the wedding itself.  This was also the first time we hired babysitters and left Joshua with someone not related to us... We both wanted to be at the ceremony, but we also knew that Joshua wouldn't have handled it well -- having to be quiet and still for an hour, in a non-airconditioned space, in August?  That just wasn't going to happen... So we hired Katie and Rachel to come over and watch Joshua during the ceremony.  They all had a good time -- we didn't get a single call from them, even though I kept making sure David had his phone on him and easily accessible at all times.  :)  Thank you, girls, for taking such good care of our little man!

The ceremony was held in the University chapel.  Now, most weddings feel a bit dwarfed in that space -- the chapel can seat 1900, and the area up front is huge and spacious.  This wedding?  There were ten bridesmaids and ten groomsmen, who went a long way towards filling up the front.  :)

This was the first wedding we'd been to that was officiated by Father Tom, the Catholic chaplain at the university (though it wasn't a full Catholic mass).  They also had Drew's dad, a Baptist minister, give a charge to the couple -- so it felt like there were two substantive homilies preached at this service.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and just so joy-filled!


Bill and Debbie leading the responsive reading
 

Father Tom's homily
 

The beautiful bridal party
 

Exchange of rings
 

Greeting the newlyweds with bubbles

And then the reception was over at the Princeton Marriott.  We swung back home to relieve our babysitters, and brought Joshua to the cocktail hour and reception, where he immediately charmed all and sundry.  :)  We actually made it through to the entree, which was much longer than we were expecting -- our little boy is growing up, and getting to be more sociable!  It helps that the band, while very talented, was also within a reasonable decibel range.  And that there were so many kind friends who wanted to entertain Joshua.  :)


Melissa got a smile out of Joshua!


Lovely '09 ladies: Melissa, Katrina and Lucy


Drew and Alison sharing a sweet moment


The newlyweds, beholding their future?  ;)
 

Keddies and Dixons!

All three of us really had a lovely time at the wedding.  :)  Congratulations again, Drew and Alison -- many blessings on your life together!!

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