The Wedding

Last night was the wedding, and it was wonderful!

Initially, when I saw the invitation, I wondered what on Earth I was going to do with myself before the reception started. The wedding was expected to begin at 3, with the Assembly of Barat. Now keep in mind, I have no idea what an Assembly of Barat is, and therefore couldn't guess how long it could take. I saw that the reception didn't begin until 6, and I pictured us wandering around Woodfield Mall or something in order to kill time until the reception. Or maybe grabbing a quick bite to eat at McDonalds, to keep my guys happy. At least, that's what I figured, until I arrived at the hotel.

I was informed that the Assembly of Barat was exected to last up to three hours. Three hours! I was worried at that point. I had never brought my son to a wedding, let alone one that lasted three hours, and had no idea how he would be able to handle the long ceremony. Oh well. It was too late now to worry about it. We had to take our seats.

The ceremony took place in this structure they called a tent. However, this was really more like a half-building, half-tent. Thank goodness, because it was incredibly windy, and a standard tent would not have been able to withstand the unusally strong winds yesterday. There were times I really wondered if the tent would come down. Even the chandeliers were swaying, right above the heads of my family. The stucture proved quite sound, however.

The ceremony started with the groom being presented to, and welcomed by, the parents of the bride (my brother and sister-in-law). It was a lengthy ceremony, with some lovely traditions and hymns. The man who officiated over the festivites was kind enough to explain all of the traditions and symbols and prayers as they went along, so those of us unfamiliar with the ceremony were able to understand what was happening. I really appreciated that. It was all quite lovely.

When I realized that the ceremony was coming to a close, I was pleased to see that it hadn't lasted all that long, and my son had been an angel through the whole thing. That's about the time that they announced that the SECOND cereomony was about to start. This would be the traditional American ceremony. Oops, only half done.

But the two ceremonies together lasted about an hour and a half or so. It wasn't all that long, after all, and my son did wonderfully! He never acted up once. I was so proud of him!

We then gathered in the lobby of the hotel, where there were snacks and drinks set up. We ate and drank while the tent was being rearranged with a dance floor and dining tables for the reception. Formal pictures were taken of the bridal party, then the bride changed into her second dress, a traditional American white bridal gown, and came down for more pictures. We returned to the tent after that, and the party really kicked into gear.

Nathan did quite well, right up until the dinner began. Then he started to melt down. I got him out of there quickly, but as soon as we returned, it happened again. They weren't full blown meltdowns, but he did start to get ornery and crabby, and began to make faces at us, and talk back. I took him out twice, and dh took him out once, before I was finally able to persuade him to eat. After that, he was fine! I guess he was just hungry. (He refused to eat the snacks in the lobby- a little too exotic for him). Can't blame him for being hungry - we were all starved! He was just fine after that, and had a great time playing with his cousins.

It was so wonderful to see my family together again! It's rare for us to all be together. And it's so much fun to see everyone having a good time. We stayed later than we planned, but it was hard to leave.