rehearsal | rehearsal dinner | before the ceremony| ceremony | reception | day after the wedding
Sunday, May 27
The
day after the wedding dawned grey and dreary, and it drizzled on and off. Maria’s
parents hosted a brunch for the families the morning after the wedding, at the
Tarrytown House at 9:30. Many people were driving or flying back to their homes
that day, so it was nice to get to see people and say goodbye at breakfast.
After breakfast, we went to an Animals and Acrobats Colonial Circus day at Van Cortland Manor, a nice restoration nearby, with Sal and Sue, Jenna and Annie, Chris and Jeff, and my parents. We toured the house and grounds, listened to costumed guides talk about the rooms and the crafts of the period, watched a demonstration of blacksmithing and spinning, tried our hands at Colonial games and toys (at left are some of the participants), and attended a fascinating talk on raptors and other birds of prey, including a free-flying exhibition of a falcon. Of course, we took pictures and videos, had some snacks, and made a stop at the restoration gift shop before heading back to the hotel. All of the pictures here and at the top of this page were family snapshots taken at Van Cortland Manor.
That afternoon, Jenna did homework, Jeff stopped by the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary for a photo op, Annie hit the pool, Robert and I read, wrote, and napped, and we all regrouped with Carla and Steve and Aunt Mary and Aunt Grace a little after 5pm for dinner. There were fourteen of us at dinner, at Albie’s American Grill at the nearby Marriot. The service was abysmal, with Robert going into the kitchen to get my mother hot water for her tea after a twenty-minute lapse, and Steve taking to pouring coffee for himself and even offering some to the table next to us (bizarrely, another family group of exactly fourteen). After dinner and before dessert, I made every second person at the table except for the four in the very center switch seats with their mirror image across the table, so as to mix people up and give everyone one last chance to visit with everyone else. Still, the food was good, and we had a good time, but I wouldn’t go back to this place if we were ever in a hurry.
By this time it was actually raining again, and when we got back to the hotel we all assembled in Aunt Mary and Aunt Grace’s room. Robert had specially requested a TV with a video-in port, and the hotel accomodated us, so we were all able to see slides from my digital camera, my mother’s, and Sue’s from the wedding the day before. Here we all are watching slides and videos. We also watched a little of Chris’s video of the wedding, and laughed about all the pictures and funny events the second time around. We finished off the last of the Aunts’ Italian cookies, and then said goodbye to Chris and Jeff, who were going to leave early the next morning to drive to Newark for their flight back. Here's a great group shot, with everyone in our family in it who was at the wedding except for Maria and, now, Bentley--click on the image to go to a high-resolution (slow to load) version if you want to see it more clearly.
Monday, May 28
At breakfast, it was just twelve of us this time, and afterwards we said goodbye to Bentley’s parents and aunt, as they were leaving for Oklahoma that day as well. Robert and I got our stuff together and loaded the car, saying goodbye to the cousins and aunts. Then we drove back to Boston, making excellent time and not running into any traffic at all, and my parents, aunts, and the cousins all caravaned to New Jersey, where they left the California cousins with Carla and Steve, to have lunch and go to the airport for their plane later that day. The weekend was over—we were thrilled to have this chance to share their day with Maria and Bentley, and it was wonderful to be able to spend time with the California cousins together with the Aunts.
We really hope you enjoyed viewing this webessay! It should be noted that, due to advances in technology, this is the first trip journal I’ve written and posted here that hasn’t been composed in its draft stages on a Palm Pilot of one version or another (though two Palms were of course with us at every wedding event): instead, it was entirely composed on my new iBook, Crystal, who was one week old before the wedding weekend. Crystal also entertained us with .mp3s in the car on the way down and back.