Wedding - Part II

It is my stance that Sarah's dad may have chosen the wrong profession. Please don't get me wrong because I know he is a great locksmith. After we got in the accident he told us that bad beginnings made for good endings and that made us feel better. He has a way of making things better. So my thought is that he should have been a doctor because he could make any bad situation sound like there was a positive to come with it. This gift would turn out to be useful again.
My Friday was pretty low key. In the morning about nine of us went to the Waffle House for breakfast. Yes, you read that correct, on the morning of my wedding of all the places I could have invited my closest friends and family I chose Waffle House. It was delicious. The rest of the day I spent on my butt in my room shooting the breeze with my friends. I showered and got dressed and my groomsmen and I loaded into the limo at 4:20. At the same time Sarah and her girls were getting in their limo at the front of the hotel. What we all did not not know was that earlier in the day the chance of precipitation jumped from 10% to 60%.
When we arrived at the gardens it felt like it was going to rain. You don't have to have achy knees to know when it is going to rain sometimes. The gardens staff got the chairs all arranged and then since we were taking pictures before the ceremony I got to see Sarah. She was breathtaking. We took some pictures and then Sarah said, "I felt rain." We then all huddled under the pergola and then my groomsmen shielded Sarah and took her to another gazebo that was more secluded from the rain (thanks guys). In the South, summer storms can be here and gone in about 10 minutes. This was not one of those storms and we ended up getting married at the back up location in the Hilton. It was still great and we all adjusted the walking in for the new room.
Afterwards, we finished the pictures while they took a little longer than I would have liked people were waiting in front on the porch eating chicken puff pastries and bacon wrapped scallops. They were both delicious and it seemed like nobody thought of bringing them to the people taking the pictures for a long time! The reception was a blast. The food was delicious. The only issue was that the rain got us behind schedule and we had to rush some things like the cake cutting and toasts so the photographer could get those pictures before her time ran out. Oh yeah, and when it came time for the mother-son dance my mom was nowhere to be found. Therefore, our dance got cut a shade short. One of the highlights of the reception was my mom and stepdad waltzing across the floor, it was awesome. The other highlight was my father-in-law's toast. You just had to be there. After the reception we went to our room and decided the night was young and went down to the bar. At the bar, we continued to drink more than was wise, but hey, it was our wedding.
All in all, I think everyone had fun and everyone got along. Sarah and I could not have been more pleased. I will post pictures as they come and I will now leave the next part of the story to Sarah.

Wedding - Part I

I am now a married man, kind of a trip when I first think about it. However, it was my idea after all (I did propose) and Sarah is great so it is pretty cool. All weddings have to be an adventure and full of excitement, but it sure did seem like ours was way full of it. We left for North Carolina on Sunday the 17th. We planned on getting the wedding license on Monday and that would have allowed me to play Pinehurst with Todd. We had already left Maggie at the kennel. We were a little over an hour out of Birmingham when we heard a pop. Sarah and I looked at each other and I asked, "What was that?" It turns out "that" was the sound of our left rear tire blowing out.
Next thing I know we are fishtailing on the interstate. When all is said and done we move across both lanes and stop after hitting the guard rail on the right side. We stopped on the shoulder and some people stopped as well to make sure we were fine. None of our stuff broke and we were fine, but the blown out tire was not the only issue. My back and front bumper are in bad shape and tail lights and headlights bashed out. I fear that while the damage does not seem extensive, insurance will just total the car since the repairs will exceed the value of the car.
I wish I could have handled the car better since as I mentioned it might be a total loss. Yet, all things considered, we are fine and we didn't hit anybody. The thing that seems to be bothering me the most is the concern over the guard rail and the idea that my insurance said that potentially the state could come after my insurance to fix any guard rail damage. I wish that did not bother me but it does. I can just see some huge claim to fix a guard rail because it seems government always over pays for such projects.
We ended up getting a tow back to our apartment in Birmingham and using Sarah's car cover to cover my car until we get back. Sarah's dad rented a car for us and that turned out to work pretty good. We drove a Chrysler Pacifica to North Carolina and it is way bigger than my car or Sarah's. The car is actually sitting in the parking lot of the hotel since it is significantly cheaper to let it sit there than do two one way rentals. Since I didn't play golf with Todd I didn't bring my clubs and now we have more room to bring back presents. Not only do we have to bring back the gifts from the wedding but also the gifts from the shower Sarah had back home in April.
We stayed in Richlands until Wednesday afternoon and then drove up to Durham. Most people started arriving on Thursday. The lone exceptions were my family (arrived at 11pm) and my friends Art and Todd. Art actually took Todd, Sarah, and I out to a phenomenal place called the Angus Barn. It is a steakhouse that has a lounge called the Wild Turkey Saloon. As the name suggests it specializes in Wild Turkey and it was all great. So thanks Art! I highly recommend it if you are near the RDU airport and want a great meal. Just as a warning though, it can be a shade expensive. As you can see in the following picture with Art, Todd, and I Wild Turkey is always a great idea.
When we got back to the hotel my mom, step dad, brother, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Yaro, and Aunt Janis had just arrived. They all seemed pretty bright eyed for 11:30pm and that was only because it still felt like 8:30 to them. We all knew they should try to sleep or else they would be hurting in the morning, but we stayed up a little while and talked. On Thursday a vast majority of guests arrived including Sarah's family. Thursday my guys and I went and got out tuxes and made sure they fit. Poor Scott had pants that came past his feet. They told us to come back tomorrow, an idea that Roger and I did not like because road work turned a 15 minute drive into an almost hour long adventure. This seems like a nice place to stop. Sarah and I will alternate posts on our blogs. We will try to catch up over the next few days and also blog about New York as well.