A few months ago Brian and I attended a wedding reception for one of his former co-workers. At the reception I talked with the bride about all the details of her wedding, which was a small family-only beach wedding a few weeks prior. During her planning I helped her with a few ideas, so she was more than happy to share all the final details with me. Later that night Brian was mentioning the trips we'll be taking this summer...Sioux Falls, Denver, Chicago. "For vacation?" she asked. No, for weddings. That's when she chuckled and said..."you guys are wedding people." We kind of laughed because that sounds funny...do wedding people hang out with wedding crashers and wedding singers? The more I thought about it, I understood why she would say that.
For any one who may not know, Brian and I met at a wedding in Minneapolis. It was almost three years ago, June 15. My mom and I attend the wedding as guests of the bride, Laura. I've known Laura all my life, although mostly through Christmas letters and mom gossip. Our moms are the connection - they worked together around the time we were born so Laura and I only hung out a lot as youngsters until her family moved to MN. My mom invited me to be her date for the wedding. I had never been to Minneapolis and I like weddings so I was delighted to join her! Since we are good family friends, we were included in all the parties leading up to the wedding.
Brian was in the wedding. He and the groom, Jeff, went to high school together. Their strongest connection is Spanish class where they both barely passed. To this day Brian says it's his fault for Jeff's grade dropping because the teacher didn't like Brian. I'm SURE they were both making jokes and goofing off. Knowing what I do now, it is no surprise to me why Brian was a groomsman - they're great friends!
On a shuttle ride to the rehearsal dinner, my mom and I were seated in the back with all the groomsman. Being the chatty lady that she is, my mom was asking where they were all from. Brian mentioned Sacramento, CA and my mom immediately started chatting with him. She went to high school with someone who owns a tattoo shop in Sacramento, which Brian did not know of. She then went on to ask all the groomsmen if they had tattoos...claiming that they seem like more of a west coast thing than a mid western thing. True statement, but embarrassing if you are daughter of chatty mom asking cute groomsmen about tattoos. Although I hadn't officially met this Sacramento boy, he definitely caught my eye.
Later that evening we were both at the bar ordering a drink and started talking. I tried to be smooth and talk about college football because I thought our schools we in the same conference. Wrong, but I got points for trying because it turns out Brian was impressed that I even knew about college football. We then chatted about California (where he'd recently moved), Denver (where I was living), the great outdoors, and maybe what drink to order next. At this point I definitely thought he was cute, funny and worth pursing further conversations with.
The next day was the wedding. My mom and I had a fun day of shopping at the Mall of America and getting ready together. Our special treatment continued as we got to sit right up from for the ceremony and reception (behind the family, of course). The bride was gorgeous, and all their details were so well coordinated, by Laura and her mom who could be assistants to Martha, for sure. As we were witnessing the ceremony I remember looking/trying not to look at Brian and thinking - He's cute! Am I making up that we had a really good conversation? Am I really eyeing groomsmen while at a wedding with my MOM?
The theme of their reception was wine - wine table names, corks to hold place cards, mini wine favors and a lot of wine for consumption. Not to say that I started talking to Brian again because of the wine, but I'm sure it gave me some courage. We ended up having a lot of fun dancing and talking. The next morning he was scheduled to fly back to Sacramento but through Denver. We were flying on the same airline, so I secretly hoped he was on our flight, but that would have meant missing his flight. He made his flight but not before we had some good laughs and exchanged phone numbers. I suggested emailing to stay in touch but left the ball in his court. As my mom and I were packing up I got a text that said he made his flight and his email address. By the time I'd made it home I already had a friend request on Facebook. Yessssssssssssssssssss!
While it may sound crazy, it's true - I never anticipated meeting my boyfriend at a wedding. I must say though that I love our story. I love that we stayed in touch, only over email, for two months before talking and seeing each other again. I love that when we saw each other again it (amongst other reasons) solidified my decision to move to California. And last but certainly not least, I love that we, as a couple, are friends with Jeff and Laura and have seen them every summer since their wedding.
Considering that I plan weddings, we attend a lot of weddings and we met at a wedding...I guess we kind of are wedding people.
In the spirit of wedding season, and my love of planning events/weddings, I'm going to be doing Wedding Wednesdays here on the whole enCHELLEada. Join me next week for a recap of the weddings we attended last summer.