Oh, the Wedding I've Seen part II

Ok, where was I? I think I finished with Sarah and Gary's last time...

James and Angie: You'd figure an outdoor wedding in September would be pleasant, but man was it HOT. Especially since James had me dressing in a monkey suit for this one. The cool part about this wedding was where it was held. It was up in Kleinburg at the McMichael Art Gallery. Between the ceremony and the reception, everyone had a chance to view the collection featuring many works by The Group of Seven without the "public" getting in their way. Other highlights of this wedding were James' uncle's speech, (this is a LARGE orange juice?) and his Dad relating to everyone how James and I were the biggest nerds in highschool. Yes, we spent almost every afternoon after school at his house on the computer, what of it?

Todd and Linds: This wedding was loads of fun, too! (I gotta stop saying that, I think they're all mostly fun.) The wedding party on both sides have all been friends for so long that it felt like a real community up there seeing these two come together. I have two most memorable moments from this one. First is when Todd leaned in to kiss the bride and Pastor Mark had to stop him by saying, "Whoa whoa whoa...I'm not done here yet." Todd got so embarrassed he actually took a walk around most of the stage. I think he wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. The second memory is on the way from pictures to the reception. We had three BIG SUVs for the wedding party and we were in a caravan on the way to the reception hall when Van Halen, Jump comes on the radio. Todd and his bro Brent are the biggest Van Halen fans so the next thing we know, there are three SUVs, windows wide open, blaring Jump as loud as it will go with us honking along on the truck horns. And the best part? The groom is hanging out the window to his knees with Linds holding on to his feet.

Traceee and Steven: I was in this one, too. It's kind of hard to tell from this photo, but if you look closely on the left side. Yeah, see the guy in with the three girls. That's me. That's right, I was a bridesmaid. I have been friends with Trace for a long time and when she asked me to be in the wedding I was thrilled. When she was determined to break tradition and have me stand on her side, I can't say I was surprised. Tracy has always been known to do things a little different and I love her for that. I would put up with any amount of teasing to do that for her. The other "Highlight" of this one was Pace's hair. The day before the wedding, she goes to get her hair done and have some red highlights put in. Boy were they red.

Paul and Susan: This wedding was the very next day after Tracy's, which made for a busy and expensive weekend. Paul was my Youth Leader when I was in school, so it was really cool to see him get married. At the reception, they changed up the rules for getting them to kiss. You had to stand up and sing a song with the word love in it, which isn't that unusual, but they added a twist. The song had to be accompanied by a donation of at least $5 to Sick Kids Hospital. The first few songs were sang and it somehow became the standard that for every dollar raised, the kiss would last that many seconds. Never one to back down from a challenge, I went from table to table gathering change. Then Gary and I got up and sang Fools Rush In, (like Elvis of course,) as Uncle Wally counted the donation...$75!! Let me tell you, Paul was stunned.

Mark and Kaillie: Mark has been my closest friend for a lot of years, so I was glad I got to stand for him at his wedding. I got to give a speech at this one, too, where I had the chance to outline some of the...adventures that Mark and I have got into over the years. I did have to be careful though. Let me explain why. There are a few of us guys that have been friends for so long that every bad story we have about another, they have an equally bad one about us. So while I could have had the entire place roaring with the situations Mark has found himself in, I know that it would only come back to bite me if I ever get married. The worst part now is that whoever is the last guy is done for!

Angela and Kevin: This wedding took place in PEI where Ang and her sis Maureen grew up, so I got to make a road trip out of this one! The pic is Kev on the left, Ang on the right, and Maureen and Me in the middle. This is our curling team in the winter, (Yes, curling.) If you have ever been to a party on the East Coast of Canada, then you know how much fun this was. I got to sit beside a real live fisherman at dinner! Not just a sport fisherman, but someone that actually does it for a living. He was nice enough to put up with all my stupid questions about it, too. Plus the morning before this wedding, I got to play at Brudenell, one of the nicest golf courses in all of Canada.

Kristen and Andrew: I already told you about this one. So I won't repeat myself.

Oh, I still haven't told you about my cousin's wedding. This is my favourite, but also my most embarrassing. I think I was about 13 at the time and my cousin Kim asked me and my sis, (who as 8,) to be in her wedding. I thought this was pretty cool at the time. Kim's brother Paul was also in the wedding and I always liked hanging out with him when I was younger. We had our tuxedos and my sis had her little bridesmaid dress. At 13 though, I had no idea how a tuxedo was supposed to fit. They did all kinds of measuring for the jacket and the pants and I thought they had it all right. Turns out the shirt collar was just a little tight.

During the ceremony I was standing straight as a board and looking straight ahead, you know 'cause I didn't want to ruin anything at my cousins wedding. But then I started to feel a little warm. I nudged Paul on my right, (who was also standing rigid and looking straight ahead,) and said, "I don't feel so good." His response to me was, "Shh!" I think he was worried about ruining the wedding, too. The next thing I remember is sitting on a milk crate in the hall.

I had fainted. Fallen straight forward onto my face right in the middle of the vows. My Dad and Step-mum's account of the story is pretty good. Cheri sees me go down and immediately my sis starts to ball.
She says to my Dad, "Kevin fainted!"
"Yeah I see that!" he replies.
"So go and help him!"
"What, run up there to the front?"
In all honesty, I think he was in shock that it happened. Much like my cousin Paul, who reportedly stood there and looked down at me for a good amount of time before realizing what had transpired.

So like I said, the next thing I remember is being in the hall with my Dad, sitting on a milk crate, with a sore hand, face, and severely bruised ego. I did make it back out for the end of the ceremony where everyone walks back with the girl across from them. In my case is was my sis who was still balling.

A lot of people came up to me the rest of the night to ask me if I was ok, and to let me know that it was one of the most exciting weddings they had been at thanks to me. The worst one was the guy with the video camera who came up to me to say, "Could you do that again...I missed it!" Wow, I wanted to poke that guy in the eyes...

All for now,
Kef...