… and we’re gonna get ma-aaa-aaa-ried!

Oh my, it’s been a busy couple of days. They say no news is good news, and I suppose it holds true in this case, because the past five days have been absolutely fabulous. My dear, dear friends Hans and Laura were wed this Sunday at the Duke Chapel, and yours truly was one of the bridesmaids.

The weekend kicked off to a great start when my parents arrived in town Friday evening. We went to Uno’s for dinner (a real treat, since they hadn’t been to one since we moved from Michigan!) and spent the evening catching up. Saturday was my day to hang out with the ‘rents, since the rest of their time here would be occupied by wedding-related duties. That evening, while I was off at the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, my parents went off on a dinner date with my friends Thomas and Eva, who the ‘rents had met back in November when T&E came home with me for Thanksgiving. Once I got them off on their "date", I left for Hans & Laura’s, and from there it was off to the chapel for the rehearsal. It went amazingly smoothly, and we were gone to dinner at Durham’s Four Square Restaurant in no time. The dinner itself was wonderful – a fancy array of hors d’ oeuvres and bottomless glasses of wine. Hans’s parents wrote wedding-appropriate lyrics to the tune of "Silver Bells" following in Dutch tradition, and it was great fun to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in ages as well as meeting members of the bride’s family I hadn’t met before. Following the rehearsal dinner, a few of us gathered at Hans & Laura’s (til the bride kicked us out in favor of her beauty sleep) and then at my place til the weeeeeeee hours of the morning (we definitely watched the clock skip from 1:59 am to 3:00 am).

Sunday was the big day, but things went very smoothly and no one seemed too on edge, all things considered. We drove to Hans and Laura’s after lunch, helped them gather everything they’d need, and then Hans, Laura, Kristen (Laura’s sister and the maid of honor), and I rode to the chapel in the limo while Laura’s father and my parents followed in their cars. Once at the chapel, we girls changed into our dresses, posed for more photographs than I think I’ve ever been in in my life, and then walked down the aisle. The ceremony was beautiful. I was good and held back my tears for fear of streaking my mascara and eyeliner.

The real party started afterwards, though. Once the limo took all of us in the wedding party to the Carolina Inn, where the reception was being held, we gathered in the bridal suite until it was time for the reception to begin.

The reception was held in the Old Well Room, and it was stunning. Music was provided by a jazz group composed of some of the head of Duke’s jazz program (they were great), and the food was divine – a baked brie appetizer, a chilled vidalia onion soup, salad, raspberry sorbet, and then the main course – either salmon or beef. And the wedding cake, of course – an elegent chocolate-cappuccino cake. And of course there was more partying after the reception. In a way, it’s a good thing I’m between jobs right now, because I’ve been quite glad to sleep in these past two days to catch up on all the sleep I missed this weekend!

The rest of the few photos I was able to take and clean up in photoshop are here.

The only down-side to all this wonderful partying is that I haven’t had a chance to pick up my needles at all in about a week, and I’m just too tired to do it tonight. We’ll have to remedy that tomorrow. But I do have a new toy!

Mom brought me one of her old spinning wheels this weekend when she and Dad came up for the wedding. I can’t wait to start playing with it! (And yes, that is my Christmas tree still up in the living room. I’ve been lazy and haven’t gotten around to taking it down yet. It’s March, you say? I say hush. <grin>)