Thursday, October 02, 2008
Something to live up to
Recently I drove all the way up to Keene Valley, NY for the wedding of two of my friends, Batman (Dave) and Pickle (Kerry). It was, without any doubt, the wedding that all other weddings this year will need to live up to.
The drive was a bit of a pain. For me, it would be about 10 hours to get there, and the better part of 12 to get back. But fortunately, due to a half day and Rosh Hashanah, I was able to take a 4 day weekend without much trouble. Of course, all of this meant that there was no way Jillian was going to be able to attend. But Keene Valley did offer a beautiful location. The fall foliage was nearly in full bloom, and the rain was yet to hit. The mountains were surrounded in a gentle fog and the temperature was perfect. The wedding took place on Pickle's family's farm, a beautiful old farm house.
When the ceremony started, we all gathered around a few chairs set to the side of the farmhouse. Within a few minutes, we were greeted with the Batman theme. Slowly heads started to turn, and we saw Batman climbing a ladder, in his tux, with a cape.
He even had a perfect landing. Pickle entered more traditionally, with her father, to Here Comes the Sun. The rest of the ceremony was short and full of humorous stories.
Afterward, those of us that had played Ultimate Frisbee together gathered in the nearby field and tossed a disc while we waited for the wedding party to finish. There were more then two full lines of former Funksters, so turn out was even better then the average alumni team. There were even a few people I hadn't seen in several years.
By the time photos were over, it was nearly four and high time for the reception to start. After a delicious dinner, Dave put on a kilt (frisbee thing or Scottish thing? We'll never know), and everybody hit the dance floor.
When it was time for the mother-groom dance, the song chosen was very interesting, and yet so perfectly frisbee:
Following the traditional dances, and the toast, where the groom's brother told us all sorts of stories about fighting with his brother as a kid, it was time to cut the cake. The cakes were awesome. One featured a bride on top of a castle, the other had a knight standing next to a dragon. The dragon cake had a smoke machine below it, and a butane torch so that it could breath fire.
But then, a dragon ran onto the dance floor, to kidnap the bride!
A violent sword fight ensured, with neither Batman the knight nor the dragon able to gain the upper hand. But Pickle had an idea, and kneeled behind the dragon, so that when Batman pushed him back, he tripped over the bride and was vulnerable. Batman and Pickle both jointly swung the sword down as hard as they could and chopped off the head of the dragon cake. Then there were celebrations.
After more dancing, there were fireworks above the field outside.
Things finally wrapped up around midnight, and everyone spent the night somewhere in the farm house. The next morning we got up and had a delightful breakfast. In the dining room of the house there was a nearly 16 foot long complete family tree attached to the wall. Though I missed it, I hear Dave was ceremoniously added.
After a somewhat failed attempt to get a frisbee game going, and many rides by everyone down the zip line, we got our wicked awesome gifts and headed home.
Of course, I didn't head home, and Jester, Emily, Steve and I hung out in Lake Placid for the rest of the day. After Emily and Steve went home, Jester and I spent the night at the Cascade Inn, which I highly recommend. The following day, we did a rather lengthy hike on the Range Trail in the Adirondacks. I'd like to say that it offered stunning views, but the fog was thick, and we were never able to see more then a few hundred yards. Exhausting hike, though.
There were a number of people that said "that was the best wedding I'll ever go to!" only to get hit by me. But yes, definitely going to be challenging to match that.
| posted at: 16:00 |
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