Jesse's Wedding: Day 2
Got up butt early for the 24 Hours of Lemons race that both Matt and Shing were in-- Matt's team with a shark-toothed Miata, Shing's team with an "axles of evil" VW Rabbit cabrio.
Watched them get setup and run their first session each before handing things over to other drivers on their respective teams, then ran back to shower and change for the wedding. (and less you forget that Texas is a big place... yeah. We drove a lot...)
Jesse and Jennifer's wedding was at a beautiful modern church in Sugarland. It was huge; I think they could've fit three times as many people inside. The pastor clearly had known Jen and her family for a long time. Some interesting comments such as "Today I come not to give fried rice" and a few other more colorful remarks had us dying trying to restrain our laughter in the back... not to mention Jesse's earlier hug and comment to DeAnne as we entered the church...
The procession, the readings, the Unity candle lit, the vows and rings exchanged, the first kiss as husband and wife... awww... *sniff*
After they walked down the aisle, we could even see the bridal party exchanging hugs off to the side of the church as they waited for for the rest of their guests to file out.
Since a bunch of us had never been to Shing and DeAnne's house, most of us headed over to enjoy their house, cars, TVs, guns, red envelope making skills, beer and scotch, and their hospitality in general til the banquet started. t'was a good time, double-fisting Modelo and Glenlivet 12.
The banquet was at Fung's Kitchen, where an impressively sized group of Jesse and Jen's friends and family showed up to continue celebrating. 36 or 38 tables? Not the biggest I'd been, but definitely on the crazy side, especially with 3 tables of Jesse's Sugarland PD coworkers and enough of us to dent the Shiner Bock supply so hard it was virtually gone in an hour! (and kudos to the waitress who said "oh, I'll find some more for you!")
The wedding party entered with plastic sunglasses and to the theme song of their choice, then food and beer continued to flow. A rather enthusiastic speech from the best man, and a touching one from the maid of honor gave a nice personal touch. Most of the meal was pretty decent, although service could've been faster (or perhaps we were just hungry). Fortunately we made up with that with more beer, and instead of a traditional cake, Jesse and Jen had a dessert table filled with an impressive array of sweets.
The night closed with the bouquet toss, garter toss, some singing by the bridal party, and of course, dancing. Congrats to the newlyweds, Jesse and Jennifer!