On Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning I was in Akron, OH to perform the wedding ceremony of my best friend, Fred Mongenel. I flew out Thursday morning and got into Akron around noon. I had every intention of doing a little blogging with my laptop but I couldn’t get the Wi-Fi to work in my room but I did get some other work done so it was great to be portable. Thursday night there was a get together for all the bridal party at a hotel lounge. It was great because I haven’t seen Fred since my wedding day eight years ago but it was like we never missed a beat. I have a few friends like that which I am very proud about because I know that they are hard to come by. I got to meet Fred’s beautiful fiancé for the first time and she was everything that Fred had been holding out for. Fred was always very picky. I would date people for practice but not him. He knew what he wanted and wasn’t going to settle for anything less. As the best man said in his toast, “he still hasn’t settled.”

There were a few more acquaintances from high school there that I hadn’t seen in 13 to 14 years so that was kind of cool as well. We hung out until the early hours of Friday and had to be together at 8:45 for breakfast. We went from breakfast to the rehearsal at Stan Hywet Hall which was a great location for the ceremony. We had a few hours before having to return at 3:00 for pictures and then the wedding at 4:00. The weather was great and I think everything went as planned. I have to say that this was one of the most emotionally difficult ceremonies that I have ever performed. My wife tried to warn me but it didn’t really hit until the pre-ceremony prayer with the groom and groomsmen. I think we got it all out of the way then because we guys held it together through the ceremony but the girls were quite emotional, except for the bride, she was calm and collected. This was a big change from the night before when her nerves got the best of her.

I was fairly well behaved for a majority of the reception but a little Vanilla Ice was all that I could handle. It took a few minutes to get into the groove but as you can see in this clip we got the party started, at least as much as two uncoordinated white guys can. I am very excited that my wife wasn’t there to embarrass because this would have sent her under a table for sure. After the reception was over at 10:00 we went back to the previous nights hang out and stayed out way past my bedtime. I think I finally got to sleep around 3:00am which made for the out of town guest breakfast at 9:00am pretty rough.

With all of the remember when stories, pictures of Freddie and I at graduation, talking to his parents and friends that I have known since early childhood, there is no way I would have wanted to miss this. I am so excited for Fred and Amy and I know that they are enjoying their honeymoon in Hawaii.