Wedding Pictures - December 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9008654@N04/sets/72157611739272283/
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December, 13, 2008
Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008
4:45 a.m. — Ed takes Anne to the airport for her 6:00 am flight. The rest of us got up, and walked down College to go to La Farine bakery and get lattes. A beautiful, crisp, sunny day with lots of people out. Afterwards, we went to the Berkeley Farmers market, and then “The Crucible.” The Crucible is hard to describe, but it a huge warehouse dedicated to “fire arts” — glass blowing, blacksmithing, welding, and even “fire performance” (dancing, fire eating). It was their holiday open house. A lot of fun to see. As we were leaving, Jim pronounced it, “the highlight of the trip.” Then realizing we had gotten married yesterday, quickly corrected himself, “a highlight, a highlight”.
All too quickly, it was all over. We dropped them off at the airport about 2 pm (26.5 hours after we got married).
We planned to leave the next day for our road trip up to the Northwest, but a big storm was coming in, with “steady snow” expected on the N. California and S. Oregon passes. (I don’t like driving in snow!) We got the bright idea. Let’s drive up the coast. Okay. “Why don’t we leave tonight!” “What?.... Okay.” So after a frenzied, somewhat stressed couple of hours of packing, we were on the road a little after 5 pm.
We made great time up 101, reaching Willits, an old logging town about 8 pm. We had dinner at a friendly local burger and beer joint, and crashed in our hotel room about 10 pm for some well-needed rest.
4:45 a.m. — Ed takes Anne to the airport for her 6:00 am flight. The rest of us got up, and walked down College to go to La Farine bakery and get lattes. A beautiful, crisp, sunny day with lots of people out. Afterwards, we went to the Berkeley Farmers market, and then “The Crucible.” The Crucible is hard to describe, but it a huge warehouse dedicated to “fire arts” — glass blowing, blacksmithing, welding, and even “fire performance” (dancing, fire eating). It was their holiday open house. A lot of fun to see. As we were leaving, Jim pronounced it, “the highlight of the trip.” Then realizing we had gotten married yesterday, quickly corrected himself, “a highlight, a highlight”.
All too quickly, it was all over. We dropped them off at the airport about 2 pm (26.5 hours after we got married).
We planned to leave the next day for our road trip up to the Northwest, but a big storm was coming in, with “steady snow” expected on the N. California and S. Oregon passes. (I don’t like driving in snow!) We got the bright idea. Let’s drive up the coast. Okay. “Why don’t we leave tonight!” “What?.... Okay.” So after a frenzied, somewhat stressed couple of hours of packing, we were on the road a little after 5 pm.
We made great time up 101, reaching Willits, an old logging town about 8 pm. We had dinner at a friendly local burger and beer joint, and crashed in our hotel room about 10 pm for some well-needed rest.
Wedding Day, December 12, 2008
Wedding Morning, Dec. 12, 2008
After some much needed rest, people started rising around 8:00. I made lattes, Kate made fruit and yogurt, Jim whipped up eggs, and Kathy made toast. (Good job, Kathy).
Kathy reminded me of the bet we had made 25 years ago when I was best man at Jim’s wedding: I would get married before she would have a kid. I lost out by 11 years.
For the day of the “big event”, things we’re relatively calm. Kate was absolutely bubbling — so happy. She shared something about this morning was the being the beginning of the Winter Solstice season, with the full moon rising. It is a “season of rebirth, moving forward, and a time of moving past those things that you have been unable to move past before.” (Appropriate for us: 13 years of being together, and never tying the knot.) Kate was listening to and singing a song “Dance, dance, wherever you may be….”.
Everyone showered. Got dressed. I gathered up cameras (an extra one as a backup). Kate had a nice black dress, and I wore my tux with black tie. We hopped in the car about 10:45 to go to the courthouse in downtown
What a system. You check in at the front desk. A woman took us over to a computer screen, where we put in our own information for the marriage license. Get a number. Wait five minutes to be called to another desk, sit down, answer a couple of questions, write a check. Go back to the lobby and wait 5 minutes for the “commissioner” (justice of the peace). During that time, lots of people in the lobby were smiling at us and wishing us well. (Stupid guy question: It was nice, but what is it about weddings that has this effect on people?)
A bearded man in a ceremonial robe, saw us in our formal clothes, walked up to us and said, “hi, I’m Joe.” Joe took us up to the “wedding room” on the second floor, a simple room with a couple of pews / benches and a podium. He stood at the podium. We stood facing each other a few feet away. Up to that point we had all been joking, laughing and giggling. But at that moment, it started to hit home. I made it through about half the vows, staring at Kate. Then I flubbed a line and had to repeat it. Then I started getting choked up. Same thing happened with Kate. Smooth sailing to begin with. A couple of tears. And before we knew it, we were pronounced “husband and wife.” We took a few more pictures, picked up our license, and were out of there in less than 45 minutes door-to-door. No stress. No fuss. No muss. Kate’s comment: “This is the way to go.”
(We both recognize that we have a lot of friends and family who will be disappointed they could not participate. We feel kind of sad about that, but hope you will understand. I’m seriously allergic to hoopla and attention. This was really part of our mobilizing to move to
After the wedding, we drove down to
We went into
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Day Before the Wedding, Dec. 11, 2008
Wedding Eve Day, Dec. 11, 2008
A crazy day for Ed at work. My last day in the office for the year, a holiday lunch with my team, and deadlines for our fourth business plan submission this year. I announced the Cape Town job offer as dessert was arriving at our lunch. Surprise. Happiness. And the beginning of lots of questions:
• “When are you going?” — Not sure. Need to get through all the paperwork. Probably February.
• “What will you do?” — Advisor to the Vice President for the Region and helping train mentor their strategy and planning staff.
• “How long?” — 1-2 years
• “Are they replacing you?” — Could they really? (Joking)
Between the well-wishers and the questions, I spent most of the afternoon frantically trying to get stuff done before leaving. To top it off, I forgot my credit card at the restaurant, and needed to get to the airport to pick up the “wedding party” (a.k.a. “our people”). It all worked out okay.
Wedding Eve Night, Dec. 11, 2008
Kate was able to pick up her sister (and matron of honor), Anne, at the airport. I suggested a wine bar that was doing champagne tastings, so they went there. I managed to get out of the office about 6:30pm, pick up my “lost” credit card, and pick up Jim (best man) and (wife) Kathy at the airport. We all met back at our place, and dropped off bags.
Afterwards, the “girls” went to Oliveto Café, while Jim and Ed went” to Ben n’ Nicks for beers with the boys. It happened to coincide with our monthly “GO-BIG” night. It stands for “Greater Oakland Boys Investment Group”. In reality, it is an excuse for a bunch of 40’s/50’s guys to go out and drink beer (and occasionally we even discuss finance.) It turned into an impromptu bachelor party, with the odd twist that the guests didn’t know it was going to be one.
It was crowded and loud at Ben n’ Nicks, so I had to take turns telling the 10 or so folks there, that I had two surprises: a) we’re moving to Cape Town, b) we’re getting married … tomorrow! Big responses: “WOOOWWW!” “You’re kidding!”
After a couple of hours, Jim and I returned home to find girls in the bedroom, in the middle of a fashion show. Anne was amazing. She packed probably 10 outfits in her hanging bag, and Kate was trying them all on. Kate’s fashion conscious sister was not going to let Kate just “pull something out of the closet” for her special day.
Amazingly, we all stayed up ‘til about midnight. (Most of us had been up since 3:00 or 4:00 that morning.) All of us had this kind of happy, giddy vibe going. And Kate and I felt extremely fortunate to have our dearest friends with us for the next day.
A crazy day for Ed at work. My last day in the office for the year, a holiday lunch with my team, and deadlines for our fourth business plan submission this year. I announced the Cape Town job offer as dessert was arriving at our lunch. Surprise. Happiness. And the beginning of lots of questions:
• “When are you going?” — Not sure. Need to get through all the paperwork. Probably February.
• “What will you do?” — Advisor to the Vice President for the Region and helping train mentor their strategy and planning staff.
• “How long?” — 1-2 years
• “Are they replacing you?” — Could they really? (Joking)
Between the well-wishers and the questions, I spent most of the afternoon frantically trying to get stuff done before leaving. To top it off, I forgot my credit card at the restaurant, and needed to get to the airport to pick up the “wedding party” (a.k.a. “our people”). It all worked out okay.
Wedding Eve Night, Dec. 11, 2008
Kate was able to pick up her sister (and matron of honor), Anne, at the airport. I suggested a wine bar that was doing champagne tastings, so they went there. I managed to get out of the office about 6:30pm, pick up my “lost” credit card, and pick up Jim (best man) and (wife) Kathy at the airport. We all met back at our place, and dropped off bags.
Afterwards, the “girls” went to Oliveto Café, while Jim and Ed went” to Ben n’ Nicks for beers with the boys. It happened to coincide with our monthly “GO-BIG” night. It stands for “Greater Oakland Boys Investment Group”. In reality, it is an excuse for a bunch of 40’s/50’s guys to go out and drink beer (and occasionally we even discuss finance.) It turned into an impromptu bachelor party, with the odd twist that the guests didn’t know it was going to be one.
It was crowded and loud at Ben n’ Nicks, so I had to take turns telling the 10 or so folks there, that I had two surprises: a) we’re moving to Cape Town, b) we’re getting married … tomorrow! Big responses: “WOOOWWW!” “You’re kidding!”
After a couple of hours, Jim and I returned home to find girls in the bedroom, in the middle of a fashion show. Anne was amazing. She packed probably 10 outfits in her hanging bag, and Kate was trying them all on. Kate’s fashion conscious sister was not going to let Kate just “pull something out of the closet” for her special day.
Amazingly, we all stayed up ‘til about midnight. (Most of us had been up since 3:00 or 4:00 that morning.) All of us had this kind of happy, giddy vibe going. And Kate and I felt extremely fortunate to have our dearest friends with us for the next day.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
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