I called this past weekend, the "Weekend of Wedding". This is because we had two weddings to attend this weekend, Chris Fortin's and James' sister's. Chris' was in Waterloo on Saturday, and Jen's was in Hamilton on Sunday (for which James was a groomsman). Fortunately James and I both survived the weekend! And if we can survive that, I am confident that we can definitely survive our own wedding!

The weekend started off with James and I driving to Hamilton in our new little blue car, whom we have dubbed "the Kid" (since it is our first child together). This term has become fairly humerous, especially when you say things like, "this weekend I'm going to wash and wax the kid", "i hope the kid doesn't get in an accident", or "if the kid gets keyed, I will be furious!". Upon arrival, James quickly drove me to Catherine's house (his sister) for Jen's bachelorette party. It was a relaxed evening of good food!

Saturday morning we had the rehearsal for Jen and Graeme's wedding. With 12 in the wedding party, the stage at Bethany Gospel Chapel was full! Fortunately everything went smoothly and we could tell the ceremony was going to be beautiful. We then drove to the Barry's for the rehearsal lunch. James and I wolfed down some appetizers and even took some food "to go" because we had to drive to Waterloo and arrive before 3:00pm.

First of all, I have to mention this: I hate Waterloo. If I ever have to go back to Waterloo again, it will be too soon! Not only is it an awful city to drive in, but the directions to Chris and Bec's wedding were not very good. This made for a bit of drama in "the Kid" between James and I. I was driving. I think we drove all the way through Waterloo and then down this long long country road. We even stopped at a Home Hardware because we were sure that we had driven too far. Fortunately, we hadn't. We were just being impatient, since the church was just past the next intersection. Chris and Bec's wedding was great! The ceremony was nice, with all the Mikes from Forestbrook lending their musical talent! Bec looked stunning in her dress... but Chris looked a little high strung or frantic on the stage. It was visible that he was nervous. Fortunately there was no bolting from him or the bride!

After the ceremony we went out for drinks with some of the Forestbrook crew, but upon leaving for the reception, James and I got stuck at a red light... and no one waited! I had directions to the reception, so I thought we were fine. We weren't. We were looking for a North Campus Drive off of Columbia Avenue. There is absolutely NO SUCH THING as North Campus Drive... so as a result we drove way too far down Columbia and had to turn around. I'm glad that James had the good sense to turn into the University of Waterloo (where the reception was located) and found a map of the campus to bring us to our destination. The rest of the evening went as planned. The site for the reception was awesome and the company was even better! Once the country tunes came on, James and I were out of there, and with a new set of glasses! Thanks Bec and Chris for a great night!

Sunday was Jen and Graeme's wedding. James felt a little frantic that morning as he left in a rush to drive to Graeme's. He hadn't been informed about the groomsmen pictures that were happening early that morning. Fortunately, James is a master at getting ready in 5 minutes! He made it there just in time! After he left, I started to get ready with the house quiet. BUT that didn't last long, because the 6 bridesmaids, the bride and mother of the bride came home to get dressed and do their makeup. I never realized how crazy a house can be with 9 women trying to get ready!

Jen arrived at the church in an old school convertible. It was the coolest thing ever! And she looked radiant and so happy. Everything during the ceremony was picture perfect... except that it was fairly hot. Due to the heat, Graeme's younger brother, who is about 11 or 12, fainted right off the stage! It definitely created some drama, but in the end he was alright and the ceremony was okay to continue. Afterwards, we all headed over to Liuna Station for the reception. Liuna Station is a great building. It used to be the old train station in Hamilton and they've restored it, but also kept its historical integrity. It was a beautiful venue.

So at the end of the weekend, I think James and I were a little worn out from all the wedding talk. James said he didn't want to hear the "W" word for a long time. Somehow I think he's going to be hearing it fairly frequently for the next couple of months!