Vacation: Part Three

Saturday:
The marathon wedding day started at 8:30 for Scott. He headed to Mama & Papa Streiff's new house to get ready for the wedding.

Grandma, Grandpa, Mikey, Shelby and I got to the church at 11:00. The Church of the Saviour was just gorgeous - an old Gothic church with a LOOOOOONG aisle! Even Shelby signed the guestbook! Since music is such a big part of Fritz's life, his gift to Alison was the beautiful music played during the ceremony. There was a trumpet voluntary and organ music before the processional. Then, alumni from Fritz's classes sang some wonderful choral arrangements Fritz picked out. When Alison walked down the aisle with her dad, Fritz had the biggest smile on his face. It was so cute!!

Shelby saw her dad up front and said, "Dada" every 10 seconds. And, during the 90-minute ceremony, it got to be a bit much! Grandpa walked up and down the side aisle with her. They stood in the narthex, and had the coolest seat in the house with the cross breeze! They checked out the playground and outdoors, too. The groomsmen released each pew to go through a receiving line of the bride, groom, and their immediate families. With 450 guest, it took over an hour to release the whole church!!!

The FIRST reception was in the church's new (air-conditioned!) Great Hall. There was a live band, dancing, six-tiered cake, and a wonderful lunch spread. Poor Shelby (having been kept up late by her party animal grandparents the night before*) was starting to poop out. She got to enjoy the food and the music for a while. But, she was sent home with the grandparents to nap.

Scott and the bridal party left for portraits in the sanctuary, and soon left for more pictures at the country club thereafter. Sarah Kaplan - my wedding widow friend - and I helped deconstruct the reception hall. Then we headed to Beechwood Mall to kill some time before the next reception. Sarah and I were dressed up in our pretty wedding clothes and jewelry and heels. I tell you the truth: I have never gotten as much attention from sales staff as I have on that afternoon! We were stalked and doted on in every store we went in! It was crazy!

In the evening, we went to the SECOND reception (an intimate 250 people) at Manakiki Country Club. It was fantastic: wine, gin and tonics, cheese, and crackers for the appetizer. We had a chance to talk to the Streiffs and our other friends. The "young people" (Fritz's definition: 33 years and younger) sat outside. It was a bit stifling at first. But, we finally got a breeze. The cake was a delicious cassata cake from an Italian bakery in Cleveland's Little Italy. You can't go wrong with strawberries and cream inside the cake.