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| Tried to capture the three-generation photo here . . . I liked the thought. |
And what a fine time we had. Evidently: meticulous planning every step of the way. Charlie & Beth spared nothing in making sure everyone had a great experience. Kristen, Michael and Mark incredibly helpful, accommodating. And I was proud but not surprised that we had 100% attendance among the now-nine of us. (Which I suppose was the least we could do given the support Charlie, Beth & family displayed for our recent Arizona weddings (though I suspect we would have turned out in force anyway just for the fun-potential here in PA).)
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| With some of the more notable guests, and host. |
Most everyone arrived on Thursday (including us), and after checking in at the Lancaster Marriott (conveniently located in downtown Lancaster, as one might say), we headed over to Charlie-Beth's place for a backyard cookout. Lots of just-right food and drinks, perfect arrival event for everyone to catch up with each other. My parents showed up with their helpful escorts, so that was nice to see them. The evening of course ran on pretty late . . . but then we later gathered at the hotel bar at the Marriott (thanks, EPG) . . . and even our hosts from earlier in the evening (that would be Charlie, with Michael) joined us for a bit. So that was a delightful evening.
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| I like this photo of our delegation. |
Friday - not tightly scheduled, which was extra nice. PJ and I found some good coffee and breakfast at an Italian-type place a couple blocks from the hotel. She and the girls went to lunch with the bridal party, I caught up with some work stuff (and then, unfortunately, missed the cue for an Amish-country tour (though at least I had seen same a few years back)). Met up with various folks at local bar, got ourselves organized, walked over to the rehearsal dinner at a private club a couple blocks from the hotel. Very nice event, including a chance to catch up with Romie & Joy a bit. Duckpin bowling (with Yuengling) followed the rehearsal dinner - my skills have not advanced since trying the duckpins on Glee Club tours in the late 1970s. But it was fun to try.
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| It was obvious: they owned the dance floor. Lime Spring Farm. |
Beautiful wedding Mass on Saturday. (Including a good-faith performance of Franck's Panis Angelicus). Followed by reception out at "Lime Spring Farm" - which turned out to be a great venue. Yup, a good time was had by all (per a couple clips below). Maybe the sunglasses had something to do with this? One of the better wedding bands we've encountered. Charlie gave a fine speech (per clip excerpt). A big chunk of the group later reconvened at a downtown Lancaster bar and this continued for quite awhile, pleasant as could be!
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| After the reception, with my godfather and Joy (Guinness-equipped, both); PJ, Cecilia, Jeremy. |
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| Later that evening . . . with Jim, Barb, Charlie, Carol, Therese. |
We gathered at Charlie & Beth's house one last time on Sunday morning and were quite sorry the weekend was already over. Kerry drove us back to the DC airport - it was now day nine of our trip, hard to believe how fast it all went, and how much fun we had. The car ride gave us a good opportunity to recap all of the fun with K. It's an understatement to remark that we were sad it was time to say our goodbyes.
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| Even later . . . a photographer appears in mirror at right . . . capturing the very fine next-gen. |
(A final thought: for me, it was nice to have this wedding event to get together with everyone a relatively short period of time following our February get-together in Iowa - which was right after we lost Mary. Everyone was thinking about this at one or more points throughout the weekend, to be sure.)
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