Team Awesome

I spent last weekend in Atlanta, officiating the wedding of Jay and Patti, two of the very best people I know. I’m not quite sure what led them to believe I should be trusted to get up in front of a bunch of people and talk about love, since the last time I said “I love you” to someone, their response was to start crying and then immediately get on a plane and fly 3000 miles away, a reaction that I’m sure caused no lasting damage to my confidence or sanity. To be fair, the last time someone said “I love you” to me, my response was to make an urgent WTF face into my pillow and then say, “Uh… likewise?” Smooth. Anyway, I didn’t just talk about love during the wedding; I also waxed nostalgic about punching the groom in the face and said the word “awesome” at least twice. Warlords on Atari 2600 was also mentioned, but not by me. There was not a dry eye in the house.

It was a really beautiful and really fun wedding: in their own backyard, close friends and family, homemade Chinese dumplings and lots of booze. We had a tornado watch the night before, woke to a thunderclap at 7 am, and it rained most of the morning, but the sun actually came out at the exact moment Patti walked down the aisle, to (you’re not going to believe this) “Here Comes the Sun,” and it stayed out the rest of the day. This means everybody won: I got to be in the south for the spring and smell a tornado watch again, and Jay didn’t waste the past six months landscaping his backyard just to have an indoor wedding. Go team weather!

For my reverending services, Jay and Patti got me this awesome ring that doubles as a bottle opener, with EMANCIPATOR engraved inside. I also ate an entire lemon, rind and all, on a dare from Alexis and Blake. That little trick paid for my cab ride home from LaGuardia AND freshened my breath! All in all, an A++ experience.

Here are my pictures from the weekend. Highlights include a beautiful bride, a gun full of tequila, Jason Royal stripping down to his wife’s underwear in a bar, and Sturge. If you are my mom, I would maybe not click.