Karen’s Wedding

And may I present Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Karen Dias (that is pronounced, “Dye-us”). The big trip and big day for Karen and Mark’s wedding is here. This has been on our calendars abstractly for a number of years and more exact for the past year. From afar we have helped Karen plan this big event (mostly by telling her everything is going to be okay and it is worth it), and without exception it was executed perfectly. Around that day, we spent 10 days out in Norfolk staying with Karen and Mark to both get a good visit in with them and to help in any way we could with the logistics. It was a good trip, a working vacation to be sure, but it was a lot of fun.

Before I get into the details, the pictures we took of the trip are here. But, these are not the pictures of the wedding itself. Most of those came from the wedding photographer who I feel deserves some notice. James and Stephanie from 88lovestories.com, did a remarkable job capturing the big day from early in the morning to late at night. They were attentive, thorough, polite, and most of all, talented. Which is more that I can say for our wedding photographer who took some half-assed pictures and disappeared the next day. See if yourself at http://88lovestories.smugmug.com/Weddings , scroll down to the “Dias” wedding and make sure you look at the each group, “Formal”, “Reception”, etc.

So, the trip. First, getting to Norfolk by any other means than military aircraft or Navy vessel is a pain. Takes at least two flights and a fair amount of time. We got a good deal on American (never a favorite) and sucked up paying for luggage. With Grandma Myra coming with us this time, the journey out there was as expected. Our kids were stellar travelers and enjoyed the chaos that is air-travel. We got to Karen and Mark’s house at a reasonable time and demolished their house with our mountains of crap. The kids took one room, we took another that we shared with the ever building collection of wedding gifts and supplies. Big thanks to Karen and Mark for letting us stay with them. Not only does that save us some serious money, but who in their right mind takes in a noisy family on top of the hectic pre-wedding activities? We had lots to do in the next week before the wedding, not only getting this and that and checking up over there, but we had to play on the beach, see the sites, and have us some fun. But first; wedding number 1.

Yes, it just so happened that exactly one week before my sister got married, my cousin Josh was getting married in the near-by town of Blacksburg, VA at Virginia Tech. I say near-by cause it looks close on a map, but it actually is a 6+ hour drive to get there. So the day after we got there, myself, Karen, Mark and Grandma packed into Karen’s car and hit the road for a very brief stay on the other side of the state. That was a good start for the wedding to come. The ceremony was on the Tech campus followed by a reception at a golf club in the hills over-looking a river, very pretty. I enjoyed the company and we enjoyed the trip. Sort of the calm before the storm.

Katy and the kids found a great beach near the house while the rest of us were away. It is actually on the Chesapeake Bay and was not crowded, had fairly warm water and the kids could walk well into the surf before it got too deep. We visited this beach at least two more times this week. Of course the kids could have done with 10 more visits. We were also able to take the opportunity of being out east to visit with one of Katy’s college friend’s and her family. Kelly, her husband Bhavik and their two kids Deven and Dylan made the trip down from their home in Maryland to go to the VA Zoo with us and invite us over to their parents house in Newport News for a pool date. That was a lot of fun.

I am not going to remember everything here, but another thing I am proud of is the present we bought Karen and Mark. We waited until the visit to see what they really needed. Only took a second to see that these kids needed themselves a BBQ. So we trekked out to the nearest Lowe’s Depot and meticulously picked out a BBQ too big for our rental SUV. We managed to assemble it and surprise them with it a few days before the wedding...cause they obviously had to still cook for us.

So the wedding planning and activities absorbed the rest of our time. That is not a bad thing, we actually had a lot of fun with all the events and details. Karen did a great job the past several months getting this altogether. We just helped execute. One of the highlights for me was the Bachelor party out on the Atlantic Ocean. Mark is a big time fisherman and he decided he needed to catch him a shark, by hand. This means getting some rope, some big hooks, and a mess of big bait to troll of the back of the boat. It only counts as real fishing to Mark if he is going one on one with the animal, no rods to get in the way. The rest of us (12 other guys) enjoyed a nice big boat with rod reel (and a LOT of beer). It was beautiful, fun and fairly uneventful with the whole fish catching thing save for a 5-foot Tiger Shark caught by one of the other guys! I kind of got the fishing bug again and am hoping that having Mark in the family means annual fishing trips!

Katy went out with the girls that night for the Bachelorette party after I returned (kid hand-off). I am not sure all that happened there, not sure I am suppose to. And so that is that. However, when Katy got back to the house at 2am she was promptly greeted by a “Hi Mommy!” by Molly who was to say the least; not a great sleeper on this trip.

Next key event was the Rehearsal and dinner at the venue and nearby restaurant in Virginia Beach. I should jump way back and discuss our rolls in this big day. Katy was a beautiful bridesmaid (bridematron?), Caden was Ring Security (Ring bearer) and Molly was the “Perfectly Picked Flower Girl”. I picked up the roll of anything else that might happen. Actually, more importantly, Karen asked me to say a few words during the ceremony--that was a real honor for me. I don’t think I actually said anything I wrote down or practiced, but I think it was well received just the same. Outside of that, I made sure things rolled along on schedule and Karen’s whims were attended to. Back to rehearsal, nothing spectacular, just a quick run-through at the venue which was a all-inclusive “light-house” on a beautiful inlet near the beach. The ceremony took place on the docks outside and dinner and dancing three steps away in the light-house itself. It was really nice. After the very windy and soon monsoonish rehearsal, we cut over to a restaurant to visit and eat with the wedding party and family. I must say, my experience with our wedding and any other I have been involved in is that the rehearsal dinner is one of the most important events in the wedding. This is where all the people most important to the bride and groom and can relax and actually visit with one another. The wedding and ceremony are always way to busy and rushed to do that. This was no exception. We met, in more detail, all of Mark’s family and his friends and really enjoyed it. Food, drinks and, of course, another slideshow (included in this link), made for a great night.

Wedding Day. Even to me, who was not getting married. The day was quite a blur. Karen and the other girls had prettying to do (I think that can be a verb). I had a list of things that I had to make sure happened. But I can’t remember anything significant that happened good or bad. Myself and the kids got to the spot earlier to get details in place, including hanging a large wooden Marlin to be the back drop of the ceremony. And then this and that and then showtime (seriously, I am sitting here and can’t really remember what else happened). But the ceremony was perfect. The kids were beautiful only second (just barely) to the beautiful bride. The weather was perfect if not SUPER hot in those suits and tuxes and the guest were happy to be there. The dinner that followed was delicious and well presented (including potato martinis!). And dancing and cake were thoroughly enjoyed afterwards. Our kids danced so long and so often that Caden actually threw-up because of that (and too much cake). He rallied of course and partied on. And then we cleaned up with two comatose kids and saw off the new couple to the after parties.

Next day, recovery day. Karen came crawling into her house late the next morning supported by her husband (they had fun) and we enjoyed the day visiting with departing guests...and trying to give away the serious amounts of extra cake (bet they still have some). Mark can Karen split later that afternoon for a pre-honeymoon at the OBX (that is the Outer Banks to you out of towners, me) and we headed downtown for one last touristy activity. Big boats and another splash park, followed by dinner and home for a very early departure the next day. We got to the airport and home pretty uneventfully (except for our rental car getting damaged the previous night at a parking garage and all that).

Excellent trip, it was good to be home and we were ready to take a break and get back to work...no seriously, it was a lot of fun amongst the plentiful activities. We are so happy to have Mark in the family now and look forward to the promise they made to move out to Colorado in the next few years. More family to come!

The new couple listening to the Father of the Bride reminisce about his beautiful daughter