Wedding Reflections.6

After the wedding, we greeted everyone in a receiving line at the back. I wanted to have the chance to hug everyone right away; I'm glad we did it--otherwise there was no way to ensure that you even got a chance just to say hello to everyone there.

We stayed in the church and took some family pictures. That seemed as slow as molasses to me--I had been through hours of pictures already and just wanted to get over to the reception hall to celebrate with everyone.

Francisco hates being the center of attention and didn't want to be announced when we arrived at the reception. He just wanted us to slip in and join the party. It's a bit silly of us to think that would've worked, though--everyone clapped as we walked in (of course, I don't mind being the center of attention). We got to visit with lots of people, but never long enough. It's agony to me to be only able to talk to one person at a time.

Francisco and I danced to our first dance, which I think very few people realized was named after me. It turns out that the song we chose is quite a long song. Then, I danced with my father, and Francisco danced with his mother to "What a Wonderful World." I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've danced with my dad, and I wasn't about to pass up the chance; he's quite a dancer: who knew? I also got to dance with my grandfather to "Unforgettable," which we played in honor of my other Poppop, who died last summer. I got to dance with Jim and Chip, friends from L'Arche. And I got to dance with my uncle who read at our wedding and my little cousin, Peter (4), whose birthday it was. He exclaimed to me: "I invited someone to my house!" Indeed, it turns out he was setting up his own after party at his pool with all the pretty girls. And Mrs. Lawrence dancing was one of the highlights of the reception--I think she calls it a combination of dancing and musical theater. Whatever it was--it was great, and people loved it.

Francisco and I fed each other whoopie pies (although just in front of my mother and Diana, who took pictures--not a big to-do). I remember I ate a pulled pork slider--which was really more of a full-sized pork sandwich (we're a bit like Texans in Williamsport: it's hard for us to make small-sized food). Other than that, I never saw, nor tasted any of the food (food I spent months coordinating). Thankfully, I did manage to make it to the bar.

NK's toast had a wonderful quotation on love and marriage from Wendell Berry; Sayers' toast had a wonderful memory of skinny dipping at college. The reception was lovely with Hopkins' flowers everywhere. The only sad thing was that it was really too hot to use the enormous back porch at all. And I wish we'd made them turn the air conditioning down to about 30 degrees.