A Philadelphia Wedding

Kim & Evan Morris

It's a story that starts with my cousin calling me about a year ago, in which a game of phone tag ensued where we both left long, rambley, mostly insulting messages on each other voice-mail: his asking if I was knocked-up and/or on drugs; mine hoping that he wasn't in jail and wasting his one phone call because eff family obligation, I wasn't going to drive to L.A. to bail him out.  Eventually I found out he had proposed to girlfriend.

I was immediately excited.  I have always liked Kim, my Cousin Evan's girlfriend.  This isn't the best story of me, but the first time I met Kim, we had all gone out to a bar where my cousin (un)fortunately knew the bartender.  36 Sea Breezes later (I might be exaggerating that number), Kim sat with me in the bathroom as I puked purple.  I think Wayne Campbell said it best: "If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be."  Of course, in this case "yours" means Evan's. 

The wedding was outside of Philly, near where Kim grew up.  We stayed at The Joseph Ambler Inn, where our whole side of the family was in one building so we wouldn't disturb any other guests while we post-reception partied until 3:30am.  It was such a cute place and, oh my god, the bath tub in the room was to die for.  I was expecting it to be in the middle of nowhere, but it was actually in populated place.  And the ceremony and reception were at a nearby country club.  It was all so beautiful.

One thing you should know about my family is that we take our Weddings seriously.  The party started on Thursday night.  While the Wedding Party had their Rehearsal dinner, the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins hung out in the tavern (the Wedding Party joined us later, of course, for more drinks).  The Wedding was on Friday night and we started the Reception around 6pm at the country club and, as I mentioned, continued back at the Inn.  There was a lot of drinks, dancing, and fist pumping (for some reason). 

I had the change to dance with one of Evan's friends, Raven, who I had met years before while helping Evan move from an apartment in Berkeley.  Raven's wife couldn't make the wedding and Boyfriend wasn't there, so we were each others dance partners for part of the night. I don't know if I've ever had such a good dance partner.

I immediately text Boyfriend:

Me: One of Evan's married friends, whose wife couldn't make it, slow danced with me. He dipped me! We need to take dance lessons.

Boyfriend: Yes. I'm down for that.

Me: Keeper.

Boyfriend: I like how you mentioned he was married. Otherwise I'd have to kill him.

And if that wasn't enough of a celebration Saturday was Sports Day.  We had a Frisbee Golf Tournament (the wedding favors were screen printed frisbees!), a Croquet Tournament, and a game of Ultimate Frisbee.  And Yours Truly won the Croquet Tournament!  I might have won mostly due to lucky shots and gravity, but don't tell anyone... And I may have held my mallet up in the air and yelled "Croquet!" when I won... It's a classy game.

 It was such an amazing weekend.  We rounded out the festivities with a tour of Historical Philly.  And that's a story that ends with my Uncle handing my 12-year-old cousin a paper map of downtown Philly and assuring us that if we follow him, we'll have no problem getting out of the city – and no, we aren't taking the same route we took to get in; this is a new, better one.  Evidently, he did not trust my iPhone's ability to provide accurate directions. 

My mom and my Sister couldn't make it, so I was representing my branch of the family.  It's a shame because it was so good to see family I hadn't seen in years, and I know they would have had a blast.  I always have fun with my family, but these special events seem to seem to radiate fun.  The silver lining was that I got to spend some sister-esque time with my 15-year-old cousin.

Since Evan is my only older cousin, my Aunt, his mom, spent no time in reminding me that I should be next to get married...  Of course, Evan's wedding was so awesome that if I am next, I have a ton of ideas that I might borrow for my own!

Cousins! Conor, Me, Evan.  Perhaps I should photoshop Bear into this..

Coming soon: hopefully a post about the amazing dress I wore to the wedding, but more importantly, a recap of my trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!