(I will include photos from DC and the rest of the crew at a time later than now because I have to leave work and this is all I've got so far.)
EoFF Wedding Crew Adventures, Pt. I
What an incredible journey. I'm still utterly exhausted from it, but it was worth the flights halfway around the world.
It took me three plane rides to arrive in Scotland - Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Edinburgh. Such a long ride! I only slept an hour of the journey on my first plane ride and was fully awake for the rest of it. Additionally, I experienced the worst airplane meals I've ever had in my life. I haven't had many to compare to, but these were not great.
Customs took a million years because I had been directed into the wrong line at first. There were apparently two lines for non-UK and EU residents - what's up with that? Grabbing my luggage was super easy, though. As I approached the belt, it was coming right around to me! I grabbed it and set off through the security doors, where I was greeted by Pontus and Daniel. Daniel made a beeline for me and audibly told Pontus he had to wait his turn (a very Daniel thing to say and do), and I had the biggest hug from one of my oldest and dearest friends. Pontus was next, of course, and it was great to see him for our third meetup.
As we exited the airport, Daniel told me that he had the opportunity to have had a car come pick us up but he wanted to punish me by forcing me to ride the public bus system because I had never done so before.I was less than pleased about this because I had been up for about 24 hours by that point and was toting around a very heavy suitcase, bag and purse. The bus ride was fine, though, and allowed us to get a nice view of the city. Daniel was a little trouthead, though, and dragged us all over the goddamn city with our luggage and I was even more less than pleased about that because I was so goddamn effing tired.
We hopped off the bus and walked for what felt like ages to get to Pontus' flat (later when we made this walk several more times, it was considerably shorter).
By this time, we were running very late for a family dinner Daniel was supposed to be at, which he graciously invited Pontus and myself to. We dropped Pontus' bags off and made our way as quickly as we could to Daniel's flat, which also felt like it took ages. And the walking! My god, the walking. Up for over twenty-four hours, dragging bags around, dead tired. I was ready to kill him, but we finally made it to his place to drop my bags off. Unfortunately, we didn't have any time to rest! I hurriedly washed my face to reapply makeup, did my hair and changed my clothes so we could set off to the restaurant where everyone was waiting for us. I can't speak for Pontus, but I was incredibly intimidated by walking in with Daniel to greet both his and Danielle's sides of the family. That feeling was soon put to rest because each and every one of them were so inviting and warm and it was impossible to feel like a stranger. And this was my first time meeting Danielle! (I suspect she was a bit boozy at the time.) Her mother was so sweet and kind to me, and her brother came to sit with Pontus and I and we had a good long discussion about cinema and film. He's a super cool dude and he spent a bit of time with us later at the wedding. Daniel's family was also incredibly warm and welcoming - his mother and sister and father chatted us up quite a bit. And the food! Oh man, the food was delicious. I was very much ready to go into a food coma afterward.
After the dinner, Daniel, Pontus and I scrambled a bit to catch Lev from the airport. We managed to get a ride from his step-father Murray (who is a hilarious fellow), but Murray had some place to be so we were on a time constraint. Our journey once again involved chasing down Daniel as he sprinted through the airport (seriously, he should be in the smurfing olympics or something, fastest person ever). Lev finally came through the gate at the last minute before Murray would have had to leave, so we were very thankful he spared some time for us to give us a ride back to Daniel's flat where I could finally sit down and smurfing relax. We spent some time making some drinks (Daniel is a ridiculous lightweight) and we all sat around listening to music for some time, unwinding from our long day as Daniel blew up Lev's air mattress. The time came for Pontus to go to his flat, so Daniel escorted him via bus while Lev and I climbed into our respective beds on air mattress and couch (I saw him in his underwear, tee hee!).
The next morning, we stopped at Pontus' flat before picking up Paul and Ashley at their bus stop. We said our hellos and headed toward the shared flat to drop everyone else off before Daniel and I set out to have lunch at the place we had just dined at the night before. We ate and chatted. It was nice! Toward the end, though, the phonecalls started coming, and when we returned to Daniel's flat, and hope of one-on-one talking was blown out the window. So yeah, I napped on the couch while he argued with Danielle and made calls for arrangements and phoned a plethora of people. Didn't matter to me, I was catching up on my sleep! After that, we ran off to pick up Marion, who is the sweetest little thing I have ever seen in my life! We checked out her B&B and walked down to Abden house, which was literally a 30 second walk from the B&B. (I would be staying in Marion's exact room the next week after she left!) Later, we headed back to the shared flat where we met DC and heard about the adventures of Paul, Lev, Pontus and Ashley heading out around town for a little bit.
Paul and I were rooming together in a hotel downtown, so we headed to check in and inspect the room. We were just across the street from a fairly loud local pub so we stood at the windows people-watching for quite some time. As he mentioned, throughout the course of the night we saw Neo walking around looking like he owned the place and a woman in a red cape with a super long pointy hood that looked as if she had just robbed Melissandre blind and couldn't be more content to walk about the streets of Edinburgh looking like she stepped out of a George R. R. Martin novel. Later that night, I awoke to a bunch of drunk nerds singing Sweet Home Alabama across the street at the pub as loud as they possibly could and I just laughed at the irony of it. On Sunday night, I'm fairly certain it was, we witnessed a couple in a very intense and heated argument with many hand gestures, pointing and huffy folded-arm action to which Paul acted out and monologued his own lines to. There was much people-watching and laughter involved from the Carlton Hotel third floor.
The wedding was the next day! I got up damn early to start getting ready. We had to be to Daniel's by... 10am, I think it was, so we finally set off to meet everyone there. There was far too many people crammed into Daniel's tiny apartment by that point! Daniel, Lev, Daniel's father, his brother and sister, myself, Paul, and Daniel's damn cat. The boys were getting their suits gathered and I ironed my dress and helped iron shirts a little bit. When Paul had finished putting his vest on, it was noticed that a button was missing! Daniel was on the phone with the tailor in a smurfing second and I thought to myself that it was mighty silly to be stressing about a silly little button. But it wasn't my wedding! If Daniel and Danielle wanted it perfect, it should be perfect. Paul and I dashed off to the tailor as quickly as we could to get it straightened out, which they did a superb job of. They even helped him with his tie and pocket square! We grabbed a cab back to our hotel and dropped off our clothes we had brought to change out of, then went to pick up Pontus and headed off to the wedding venue!
Abden house was just utterly gorgeous. We were some of the first folks to arrive, and Paul and Lev broke off to go do their Groomsmen Duties. Pontus was rushed off to start setting up the media for streaming and whatnot, so I found myself a seat nearby. Jordan, Danielle's brother who we had met the night before, came to sit next to me and we chatted for some time while he took some test shots. He is quite the enjoyable dude, and one of the funniest people I had the pleasure of meeting during this entire trip! More and more folks started to arrive, and I think it was at this point where I actually got to meet Shauna and Mr. Shauna for the first time. All of us EoFFers of course stood and sat around together. Bubba and his friend Chris arrived a short while later, and this was the first time and of us had met him! The dude is suave as all hell, let me tell you. I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive about how his friend was going to fit in with our group, seeing as none of us knew him or his personality or anything. We all got along like a house on fire. Bubba and his companion were so well-suited to bounce off eachother and after we all got to know eachother a little bit better, they couldn't have fit in better.
The procession began, and the beautiful bridesmaids entered out into the yard, followed by Danielle herself who was just dazzling in her amazing dress. The ceremony began, and it was unfortunately a bit difficult to hear what was being said at the back of the setup.What I could hear, though, was very touching, and the officiant was great. When she pronounced them man and wife, the happy couple sucked face for a bit longer than I think the rest of the crowd expected, and it became so uncomfortable that we wondered if we ought to start looking away.
Mingling time! There were nice sparkly drinks served (non-alcoholic, to my dismay) and we all stood around chatting and taking photos for quite some time while the bridal party prepared to run off to get their photos done. DC snagged some pretty awesome groups photos of us during this time. After waiting around for atleast forty-five minutes or so after the ceremony ended, we snagged two cabs and caravaned it to the Scotsman Hotel, which is where the reception was held.
Upon entering the Scotsman, we weaved through doorways and thresholds and stairs until we found The Towns Party gathering site where champagne was being offered! Everyone dumped their bags (Bubba and Chris, their luggage) at the door, snagged a flute and I led everyone through the goddamn tiniest Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole door I've ever seen in my life to the patio outside where there was more room and fresh air and space to talk. The patio tables were huge, but somehow we managed to fill every seat at ours, and needed more squeezed in! We all had a great time sipping on drinks and chatting away. Bubba and Chris proceeded to order drink after drink and subsequently became funnier and funnier. Jordan joined us at our table for a short while as well. We were quite the popular crew! Eventually, some of the wedding party arrived, and Paul, Lev and Josh (I think) joined us at our table. Sitting around the table there with almost everyone present was one of my favorite moments of the day. I ordered a gin and tonic and around this time I decided I needed to change out of my pumps into flats that I had intelligently brought with me, because we had done far more standing around than I originally anticipated and I was not prepared for it. Soon, though, Paul and I had to dash across the street to our hotel so I could try to pull out my laptop to assist with streaming or something, but my laptop gave me the finger and didn't want to be woken up, so we went back empty-handed. Shortly , Daniel and Danielle showed up, and everyone was escorted into the dining room to find their tables.
Fat Chocobos table! I was sandwiched between Pontus and Ashley. Our placemarkers were on these dainty little white birds and we all deemed it necessary to sport them on our persons in one way or another. Mine would not take, and after several failed attempts of clipping it to my dress, it found its home back on the table. We talked and laughed and joked while the guests found their way to their seats and the projector was set up for Nicky's speech. After what seemed like ages, Daniel and Danielle arrived and everyone cheered.
The speeches were incredible. Danielle's father was so absolutely hilarious and told outrageously amusing stories about Danielle as a child (cats and moles were mentioned), and I hope that someone can post a transcription or the speech itself at some point (I am fairly certain Jordan recorded it). Daniel's speech was equally as amazing, and ended hilariously, as Paul mentioned, in song. Paul's speech was next, and between the EoFF table and Daniel's relatives loving the punches he was getting, it was an overall hit, and he even ended it on an incredibly touching note. The speeches for the night concluded with Nicky's fantastic video speech, and I am wondering why the hell I have not yet seen it posted in this thread, for god's sakes.Nicky looked classier than anyone at the wedding, pulled out several fantastic anecdotes about Daniel in their time together at school and delivered and overall air of fresh wit and sparkling charm to top off all of the speeches. It was very well-received, and ended in applause. (We wish you were there, dear.
Food, finally! We had such a great time with our table. Conversation seemed to flow effortlessly. A couple of times I became concerned that we (read: I) was being too loud, but the rest of the room was equally as involved in their own loud conversations as the night went on and we all just focused on having a great time with our tables. We were visited by so many people! Once again, the cool kid table reigns. Daniel's father and his sister Stephanie and Nikki came to sit with us, Danielle's brother Jordan joined us and eventually Paul and Lev got up from their Special Table at the head of the room to join us. Also, I'll just come out and say it - there were too many fancy utensils. Ridiculous. And somehow by the time we got to dessert, I was missing not one but both of my fancy forks! I don't even know where they went! I had to manhandle my amazing pear tart with a spoon and it ended up in utter shambles. The wait staff were great about refilling drinks, and I was feeling pretty good and buzzed by this time, and also ready to go into a food coma. I think I may have finished someone's glass of wine, but I do not remember. So much had happened so far, how was the evening not over yet!
After and amazing dinner and, as I will speak on behalf of everyone, the guests feeling extremely full, we were ushered into a large room across the hall which served as the dance hall. Somehow a full band had squished themselves into the corner with enough room for a dozen or two folks to get their groove on, with tables lining the walls. Daniel and Danielle took the first dance, followed by the dance with the parents and the groomsmen and bridesmaids joined (I think that was the order it went in) and slowly but surely, more folks started joining in with the dancing. Lev was such a sweetie and asked me for my first dance! At any given time, I feel about half of the EoFFers were sitting at the table, cautiously avoid eye contact with Auntie Joan who was snatching up guests left and right to dance with. Another one of my favorite moments of the day/night was after Paul had asked me for a dance and I was getting ready to go sit down when the band started playing Human by The Killers, to which he promptly stopped me from leaving and we had ourselves another dance that trampled the one we had just done. We had so much fun singing and dancing and jumping around to it (because we both love that song). Despite having taken ballroom for a number of years, I am a terrible, dorky, goofy dancer in anything that is not choreographed, but for The Killers, I cared not! I was ridiculously out of breath and jump jump jumping around so much, so I stepped outside for some air. Paul reported back to me that Bubba and Chris immensely enjoyed our dance, which made me feel pleased and much less dorky about it.
The evening went on and more dances were had. At some point later that night, some of us found ourselves outside at the tables through the itty bitty Alice door on the patio and we talked for a bit in the cool night breeze. Back inside, two particular great songs that involved group dances were Shout by the Isley Brothers and 500 Miles by The Proclaimers. I'm pretty sure all/most of the EoFFers were up for both of those two dances. A couple of songs later, Valerie by Amy Winehouse came on, and Pontus and I both love that song so we both jumped up to dance to it. I cut out a bit early, though, because I needed some air. I think it was at this time that Shauna and Mr. Shauna danced to Queen, because I missed it
When I returned, the group had migrated out to one of the waiting rooms and I cuddled up on the couch next to Bubba. He and Chris were being hilarious as usual, and it was around this time I was introduced to handicapped ghost. We all had an amazing time relaxing after such a big day and after getting our groove on. We must have spent atleast an hour out there. As usual, most folks who passed us by sought to join us, and soon we were pulling chairs up around us to fit others into the group. I think our group had such an amazing dynamic and each and every person fit so well with it just like a perfect puzzle piece. It was incredible how we all just flowed with eachother and even if we had momentary cliques of conversation with one or two people, everyone as a group was just phenomenal. It really worked, and I was so glad to have been a part of it with everyone there.
After spending our hour or so out in the lounge, we began to see people leaving and decided it was time for us all to bid our farewells. We said goodbye to Bubba and Chris who had to get up early to leave in the morning and as such, we would not be seeing them again. Everyone got their coats and bags and we lingered outside the Scotsman for a few minutes before we all went our separate ways. I worried about Pontus and Marion walking to their hotels because they were both so far away and in complete opposite directions, but they both insisted on doing it! Paul was a gentleman about getting me to the room because I think I was still a little bit boozy, even though it was wearing off. I do not remember if we did any people-watching that night; I suspect we were both in bed fairly quickly.
And so, the wedding of the year/decade/century ended with everyone going to their respective accommodations and crashing into bed, I'm certain. Who knows what sort of mischief Daniel and Danielle got up to. The hotel added on an extra suite to their honeymoon suite, so they had two entire smurfing floors all to themselves! Could have invited the entire crew up there and had more space to do their dirty work, if you ask me.
(Note: This is day 3/8. More parts to come.)
Master of the Fork
Originally Posted by Shorty
