IT WAS A (QUADRUPLE) FAMILY AFFAIR

WHEW! So I got through a truly momentous weekend; the occasion was none other than my brothers wedding, which I obviously was an integral part of (albeit in the background). It's been 6 days since my lovely Sister In Law (God, that seems weird! But awesome) made an honest man of my brother.

Last week was nuts; my Father stayed at my place, in my bed to be precise, which necessitated a thorough deep cleaning of my linen, and reduced me to "sleeping" on my lumpy couch, which resulted in the strain in my neck and back that I still feel, but since I'm a team player, I went along.

Anyways, I'm not a big wedding guy, or at least I wasn't. My chief concern was the confluence of my then current family (divorced/Mom/Dad/Stepdad), my new family (divorced/New Mom-In-Law/New Dad-In-Law/, New-Step Mom-In-Law, etc) and my existing work "family" that pervaded every inch of this party.

About that last bit: a waitress I work with is a stealth baker, who makes the only cupcakes I'll ever eat, my fellow Bar Back is a semi-famous graffiti artist who made all sorts of artwork for the venue, my direct manager secured 2 kegs of very rare beers, and the 2 guys that own the places I work at were omnipresent.

And then there was my family; HOLY SHIT. It's been at least 16 years since my Dad and Mom were in the same room, and my Dad never met my Stepdad (and my Dad did not bring his partner). Nor have I seen my Aunts and Uncles in years. And I had not yet met the majority of my New Family (on the Bride's side).

If this already sounds stressful, it's because it was. My "date" was my female Polish Roommate (whom my Dad doesn't like), the other guys in the Wedding Party were shocked to discover I was gay, my Mom hates my Stepdad's sister...you get the picture, I think.

And yet...the endeavor went off with only a hitch or 2 (my manager placed a noted on the 2 kegs of "special" beer with a noted about how my brother is gay...I mean...what the WHAT?). So basically, I was a Social Fireman, putting out these weird fires.

Anyways, let's get to the pictures!

Above is my brother and my Dad, and others not in the frame trying to figure out who knows how to tie a double Windsor Knot, in a trendy hotel that was seemingly imported from Berlin. The boys (myself and my Dad excluded) were smoking herb. Oh, and the tuxedo rental place forgot to issue 3 of us Groomsmen vests (they had to make a special delivery at the last minute).

This is an image of the sliver of a balcony where I sought refuge and chain smoked; sweet view, no? I thought so. I figured it was better to hang out here instead of getting high and drunk...right? Shocking.

The soon to be Happy Couple near the beach on a typical overcast day; it was cold and windy as FUCK, and the photographer paraded us around for 2 and 1/2 hours....those pictures better turn out better than my cell phone pics. And it was all I could to keep my mouth shut about his techniques.

This was kinda cool, and keeping in with the overall trend of an "urban" wedding. We took a hundreds of pictures in this alley...Yellow is SO trendy. Again I chain smoked and kept my mouth shut. Around this time I also realized that the Photographer's younger brother/helper was not hot, as I first thought.

It's too bad my brother is 6 inches shorter than me, because I want that suit he bought. My Sister-In-Law looks/looked so beautiful! Cool mural too, right? And that's there beloved dog drawn in between them. Cute! I love how they posed for this picture. Shit was planned out.

As for my Best Man speech...to be honest, I "wrote" it in my head during the ceremony, and discovered gold. My sub-conscious memories of both of them flooded out in a succinct 2 minute speech, for which I did not stutter, and uttered a "I love you both so very much" and thankfully did NOT shed a tear (which was very difficult to do considering the audience).

Whew. A whirlwind it was. I was cashed out by 11pm and mercifully passed out in the back of Roomie's car. As great as it was, I'm so glad it's over. I've been stressing about this for almost a year!!! But I'm very happy for them, and also for me...I love my NEW family!

PS-The happy couple are spending their honeymoon in Africa. How fucking awesome is that?

PPS-I never wanted to get married until this event; I want to fall in love so fucking much.