Wedding Close to Home

About 3 weeks ago, I flew back home for a weekend for a good friend's wedding. This makes the 4th wedding in 2 years (5th wedding since starting this blog), but it's just as special as all the rest. My friend, Taylor, had been my next-door neighbor for almost 10 years growing up. Even after I moved to a different part of town we remained friends. This wedding was not one for me to miss.

There were many familiar faces that I saw at his wedding, many of whom I hadn't seen since high school. The nostalgia was palpable as I saw people moving on with their lives yet a part of them still unchanged since high school.

The wedding was held in Farmington Hills, MI, at a lovely Methodist church. It was a fairly short wedding between Taylor and Jana. The groomsmen all people I know, two of whom were Taylor's brothers, Jared and Pierce.

I love stained glass windows!

Ring-bearers! They were quite adorable (and hobbit-like, lol).

Lovely flower girl.

The bride and groom (Jana & Taylor), standing with them the groomsmen (Jared, Steve, Pierce, Matt) and Taylor's parents.

Exchanging rings and vows.

Newlyweds!

Best man, Jared. My camera doesn't do justice to how stained glass light falls upon people.

After the wedding, I caught up with some people I hadn't seen since high school before we all headed over to the reception in Bloomfield Hills, MI. The reception hall was somewhat oddly laid out in a long rectangular area. Most of the people at the reception were, I assume, family and extended family members. Those of us who were friends with the newlyweds sat at a table as far back away from the head table as could be. We weren't exactly pleased, but we understood and had fun anyway.

Table 16/20. The young to mid-20s table, lol.

This was how far back we were!

Hmm, maybe this is why we were put in the back . . .

The newlyweds, Jana and Taylor! :-)

There was no wedding cake, oddly. But instead, there was an array of yummy dessert options like this hazelnut creme brulee here.

Blueberry bread pudding and a new drink the waitress named "Table 20" in honor of us sitting in the back (and right next to the bar), haha.

Me and Taylor.

Taylor and Jim.

Me and Jared.

Dancing to "Shout!"

All in all, it was a great night. I had a lot of fun catching up and just laughing. It was great being around completely non-medical people. I wish I could've had more time to chat with Taylor and Jared, but that's alright. I must've had 5-6 alcoholic drinks that night . . . and then had to drive home. o_O Thankfully I stopped drinking fairly early in the evening so I could sober up a bit first, haha.

Backlog: 09-24-11