I have a brother-in-law

My sister got married on June 1st.

My sister has a husband.

I have a brother-in-law.

These are all hard concepts for me to grasp, even weeks after all was said and done. Lets not even discuss any future possibility of me becoming an uncle. All that aside, it was a surprisingly enjoyable weekend.

It started with Toys R Us having a big pokemon give away from Noon to 4PM on Saturday that I refused miss out on. It took me so long to get to the TRU, though, that I was nearly late for the rehearsal. Luckily, I arrived one minute early. After we had done a quick and dirty rehearsal, most went to a restaurant for a rehearsal dinner thrown by the groom’s parents. I did not attend. I went to the airport instead. I asked Brenna if she would be my guest for the weekend and to my surprise and delight, she acquiesced. While I waited for her flight to come in, I parked in the Cell Phone Lot at the airport. I only recently discovered this lot, but now use it every time I go to the airport. I had gotten a text earlier from her.

“I hope my luggage makes it between planes. I just got into DC due to delays, and had to run to make this one.”

Ruh-Roh. Thats foreboding. And sure enough, her baggage didn’t make it and she had to file a claim so it could be brought to Boston and delivered to our hotel.

We finally got back to the hotel just in time for cocktail hour. Brenna and I sat down to eat in the bar because we had not yet had dinner. We caught up and mingled a bit while we waited for our food. And by mingle I mean we sat at a table at the other end of the bar from the rest of the wedding party and let them come to us. The bar menu had some delicious clam chowder that I pretty much inhaled. Once we finished dinner and the cocktail hour ended for our party, we headed back to the hotel room and called it a night. Or at least I did. Brenna insisted on waiting up for the front desk to call us to let her know that her luggage had come. She eventually fell asleep after it was obvious we weren’t getting a call.

The next was the day of the actual wedding. The front desk didn’t have Brenna’s suitcase until almost 11 that morning. While we waited around for stuff to happen, we ordered some room service because it was clear we wouldn’t be eating again until much later in the evening. We got more chowder and I had an awesome grilled cheese. It was a good way to kick off the day, if you ask me, even if it was midmorning by that point. After eating, we got dressed up and headed to the lobby where we met more of the family and proceeded to the Gazebo outside where the pictures would take place.

The pictures seemed like the longest part of the day. Pictures were taken of just about everybody in endless combinations of family members, future family members and friends of the family. Brenna was kind enough to help me take some pictures during this and that is mostly prevalent in the gallery for the occasion.
Most of the time spanning from the pictures to the signing of the Ketubah are a blurr. A Ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract that is signed by the couple and several witnesses. The ceremony itself was pretty decent. I didn’t fall or trip in the middle of the aisle as I walked down so that was a plus. I had to stand next to the chuppah (a canopy that the couple stand under along with the rabbi. it symbolizes the home the couple will make together.) so I had snuck Brenna out earlier to my cousins so she wouldn’t be awkwardly sitting by herself. I couldn’t see her in the audience. As it turned out she was sitting behind some older woman with hair that reached at least six inches above the topmost part of her scalp.

After the ceremony, I waited outside for Brenna and saw more people in the span of five minutes than I even thought I knew. Once we found each other, we headed to the function hall. At the start of the reception and after the whole wedding party was introduced, Elysa and Rafi entered and immediately went into dance to a Queen song that I’m embarassed to say escapes me at the moment. It was fun to watch, particularly knowing how much work they had put into getting it right. Once the hora was finished we all sat down to eat. The rest of the night continued with some good conversation and dancing. The open bar was a plus, but I was getting more ice than anything else. Brenna seemed to make a good impression with the family and vice versa.

All said and done, it was a really nice weekend.

As I mentioned before, the gallery can be viewed here.

Congratualtions to my sister, Elysa, and my brother-in-law, Rafi!