I Found the Registry, But Money is More Fun.

On Saturday, May 16, 2009, my niece, Amy Sweeney, married David Goldberg at St. Michael's Church in Hudson, MA. It was a dignified event. The weather was pleasant with the temperature in the low 60s. Rain was limited to a few drops before and after the reception. The ceremony was less than 45 minutes long. The Flower Girl was my great-niece Amy Marie Sweeney, daughter of Dan JR. and Laura. She stole the show as she "ran" up the altar. Her father ran up the altar after her. We all enjoyed the act. After all, she is not quite two years old. We'll skip the rest of the wedding party for now because there are more interesting stories to tell (I hope I didn't offend any of the Wedding party.). The readers of the Scripture are in the same boat. I will mention that my nephew Patrick was a huge part of the ceremony. He escorted his mother (also Amy's Mother) during the opening procession, read petitions, joined his brother, Dan JR., in bringing up the Eucharist, and acted as the reception's DJ. An interesting note is that since the servers were "AWOL", Amy and Dave handed the gifts to the priest. The wedding went pretty smoothly, other than the difficulties in rolling the bridal pathway down the aisle at the beginning of the ceremony. Amy and Dave were officially married by 3:00 P.M.

After the wedding, we congratulated the bride and groom. Personally, I congratulated Amy's parents. We eventually went back to our hotel (The Embassy Suites in Marlboro, MA). Bob and I watched TV. After the opening pitches of the Cleveland Indians game, we headed towards the "pre-reception" at the hotel, but we ran into family members who were headed for the reception in Stow, MA. This was done via a round-trip shuttle bus from our hotel. This ensured that we didn't get lost as we have been known to do in the past.

The reception started with a cocktail hour. I didn't have any cocktails, but the appetizers were delicious. Eventually, the Wedding Party was introduced to an instrumental version of Coldplay's "Vida La Vida." My brother-in-law (the bride's father) gave an amusing toast that included a fumbling of her new last name. Amy Marie enjoyed the speech very much, and kept the spotlight most of the night. The Best Man, Dave's brother, Bryan, gave a short speech because he realized that Dan SR is hard to follow. The speech was ripped to pieces. The blessing was performed by my sister Kathleen. She also tore up her notes. The food was delicious and very Italian (Don't Ask!). The cake was just right! The reception was mostly dancing, although Amy's classmates at Stonehill College were "reunited" in a picture. In general, the whole day reflected a fun but classy, once in a lifetime event. I am glad that I was able to be there.

The next post will reveal more about my personal experiences during the trip.

By the way, WBZ TV has joined the RSS-Widget list of this blog. The Copy-Paste function was a little more difficult than with WHDH, but I was successful.