A Waco Wedding

The fourth of July, America's day. Normally filled with barbecue, accessive amounts of red white and blue accesories, my mom's famous beans and a sprinkling of fireworks rather than a spectacular, was instead replaced this year with a Baptist church, a string quartet and a dance party. That's right, I went to a wedding this hot, sweltering Independence Day in Waco.

The first friend of mine to get married, Katie Plu as she is lovingly referred to by many, walked down the aisle looking absolutely radiant in her elegant dress and mile long train to meet her finace now husband, Ross, at the altar.

I don't cry and luckily I didn't cry, but I came close when Ross couldn't spit out "I, Ross, take you, Katie, to be my WIFE" without sobbing into his microphone. Adorable. Luckily the tears subsided for a second when the minister, breaking up the vows so Ross could "repeat after him," mispronounced the word "poorer" as "puhrrer." Ross repeated it as the minister said it and after a giggle from the audience, corrected his pronunciation. Katie then flubbed her vows when she repeated, "Katie, repeat after me." Might as well spice up the vows, you know?

Looking very dapper in a blue and white searsucker suit and red tie (very patriotic), J.Lew and I commentated throughout the ceremony. "Oh, she's nervous!" "They're so precious!" Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something...something moving steadily across his shoulder. Without thinking I slapped the nape of his neck, killing the itsy bitsy spider that then left a itsy bitsy blood stain on his new suit. Oops.

After the wedding we proceeded to these beautiful gardens I didn't know existed in Waco. Still about 100 degrees at 7:30pm, Katie had thought ahead and had fans and moist towellettes for us guests. Cocktail hour catered by local Waco haunch, George's, entertained us until the bride and groom arrived. Georges also catered the lovely dinner of chicken, potatoes and green beans that we ate at assigned tables with names of places in Waco: Alico building, Scruffy Murphy's, Panhellenic building..how creative!

Not ignoring the fact that it was the 4th after all, Ross' cake had red, white and blue stars with two fireworks looming out of the frosting! Then when he and Katie were leaving to begin their honeymoon all the guests created an aisle by holding massive sparklers. Good thought, but not a good idea to give drunk wedding guests sparklers. With the amount of hairspray in my hair, I should have held up a sign that said, "Flammable, keep back, 20 ft."

Sweaty from dancing, sore from 6 hours in 3 inch heels (props to me for waering them), and full of wedding cake, we headed home happy to see our friends in love and married, for richer or puhrrer, till death do they part.