Nick and Jen's Wedding

For some reason, Jen had all of the bridesmaids go to her place to get their hair done at 7:30 AM, so Jess woke up at a ridiculously early hour to shower and dry her hair before going out to get ready. I once again thanked my lucky stars that none of my friends have ever asked me to be a bridesmaid, rolled over in bed, and woke up again several hours later.

Since I still had some time to kill before I needed to get ready for the wedding, I walked down to Michigan Ave, went to Walgreen's (cheap cosmetics!), had lunch at Chipotle (not quite Anna's Tacqueria, but better than anything in London), and then Payless (got a pair of lovely cheap black boots, with no idea how I was going to fit them into my carry-on to go home). Yet the whole time it was pouring rain, and I kept thinking about how unfortunate it was that it had rained on the Jen's wedding day. Yet would you believe it, just as I was walking back to change into my dress and go to the wedding, the sun came out? The timing was so perfect, there was no question in my mind that someone upstairs was watching out for this couple...

Got to the church, and it was a lovely wedding. Incredibly classic Catholic mass, the priest forgot to do the rings (but luckily someone reminded him!), and everything went beautifully. Afterwards we went outside to take pictures, although it was so cold that everyone eventually insisted on going back inside!

Eventually we finished photos, and then we went out to take a bus tour of the Hyde Park neighbourhood, the highlight of which (for me, anyway) was driving by Barack Obama's house. I'm sure his neighbours must be so over having their cars constantly searched by the Secret Service, but I did notice with delight that he had a basketball hoop in his driveway.

We also had a funny side-trip on my tour, as the bus drive pointed out the former location of the groom's grandfather's drugstore, but apparently got the location wrong, which since I happened to be on the bus with the groom's entire family, meant they insisted on directing the bus driver around this random Chicago neighbourhood, until eventually we found the correct vacant lot where the drugstore had once stood. Quite an amusing bit of family drama!

After the tour we went on to the reception at the Chicago Cultural Center. As I arrived into the cocktail hour, I saw waiters standing on the left side of the doorway with glasses of wine, and on the right side with glasses of champagne. Given how much I love champagne, I reached for a glass, only to be told by the waiter that they were for the bride and groom.

Why on earth do catering places always do this, pour champagne hours in advance of anyone's arrival, so that by the time you get there, there is only one sad little bubble left in the glass? Indeed, when I arrived upstairs for dinner, every single place-setting had an utterly flat glass of champagne sitting next to it. Argh. Takes all of the delight out of drinking champagne!

Anyway, whilst I was still downstairs at the cocktail reception, I spoke to the only other young person I really knew, the wife of one of the bridesmaids. (Yes, they were lesbians). Had a very interesting discussion about how they'd had two weddings, one a ceremony with their families, and the second an actual legally binding ceremony when they moved to Massachusetts. Makes me once again grateful to live in the UK, where things such as gay weddings are utterly commonplace, and you don't have to be living in a particular state to be married.

Interestingly then while we were standing there talking, this 13-year old boy with freckles and orthodontics took my picture, and then came up and introduced himself to me. I thought it rather bizarre, but took it in stride. It was only after he went away that my conversational companion said to me, "You realise he just totally took a picture of your chest, right? As he didn't even spare one look at me!"

Indeed, she was dressed in a manner that I'm afraid is far too typical of many lesbians, fiercely without make-up of any kind, no attention to her hair or appearance, and wearing pants. I can sort of understand why so many are not hung up on their appearance (freed from the burden of looking attractive to men), but still it almost seems like some attempt to make a point of it. Although as it did spare her pervy photos from adolescent boys, perhaps she was on to something there...

After the cocktail hour ended, we went up to dinner, and I have to say that it was the first time I'd ever come up to the top of a staircase and absolutely gasped. It was an awe-inspiring location, with a beautiful glass rotunda ceiling, absolutely amazing.

We then sat through the toasts, where the father of the bride did an absolutely amazing toast, telling the story about how the groom had flown to see him in person to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. It was a lovely romantic and amazing story. Then we had one of the first wedding dinners I've ever been to with truly amazing food, and then went dancing. I actually danced only a little, spending most of my time talking to the other people there, having a few G&Ts, and taking pictures all around.

We finally headed home at around 2 AM, but not quite wanting to have the party end, we all stayed around in the hotel lobby having a few more drinks. I ended up sitting next to the father of the groom, talking about when the groom was born. The groom would tell me the next morning that his father is normally a very conservative and reserved type, not the type to have such deep and emotional conversations with random strangers. But I guess it was that kind of night, as two sets of parents wished their children well in marriage, and on to starting their own family. The bride's father then told me about a line in his toast he had forgotten to say, for after saying that “Jen will always be my little girl", he meant to finish with, "And Nick, you’re my favourite son.” How lovely that this father loved his new son-in-law so much. Just about the most wonderful way to have a wedding.