Blake and Sam's Wedding

So last Saturday was Blake and Sam's wedding in Wisconsin and though we'd just gotten back from such a long road trip just two weeks ago before, I was ready. As usual, we got kind of a late start Friday since I had to work and ended up driving all hours of the night but honestly, this was one wedding, I didn't want to miss.

Blake
Blake and I have been long time peeps and Sam's definitely grown to be a good friend as well. Their one of those couples you don't need to see or talk to in order to keep a steady relationship, if that makes any sense. Looking back, I don't really consider myself one of his drinking buddies (I rarely drink), nor have we vandalized or commited any crimes together (he's a cop now), he barely says anything over the phone, but somehow I can relate. I met Blake back at College of the Ozarks, we actually worked together at the Computer Center. We had this crazy sense of humor back then that carries on even til today.

Memorable Blake Moments

• If you ever heard one of us say "DAY WITHOUT RAIN!" you'd probably be like "What the..." It's this random thing we picked up one day when we found an Enya CD on one of the English Professor's desk while servicing a computer.
• One time, while riding around in the CC Van, we stopped to offer a coworker a lift. As he approached the vehicle, Blake turned on the windshield washer, which we'd pointed out for this specific purpose, and squirted the unsuspecting victim in the FACE!
  
• While he was on the clock, I picked him up for a little off-road adventure about a couple of miles outside the school. Good times for about an hour or so.
• We once caught a coworker stealing a can-of-air in which the culprit explained "I'm just borrowing it." We never saw it again. Besides that, how is he going to return the air back to the can?

  The funniest picture taken of us together was not when we'd posed like Zoolander with the "magnum" expression on our face, but during Halloween when we'd carved simple Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins and used them for heads. I still laugh at this pic.

• Sam took us to a local Germantown bar where she'd worked to do a little beer tasting. As the bartender poured small tumblers to the brim with beer, I'd come by and take a "sip". Blake would be right behind me to down the rest. Needless to say, he was a little tipsy on the way back to Sam's place. As for me, I still don't like the taste of beer.
  
• My brother hooked us up with FedEx box seats to the Indianapolis 500. Blake and I were escorted among other FedEx employees by police to the racetrack where we enjoyed indoor/outdoor seating, full service buffet and bar. I had advised my man to go ahead and get something to drink. Not yet 21, he replied, "I'll try later" as I scored myself a Smirnoff Ice uncarded. Later, when he was looking for a shot of Baileys to mix with coffee, he was carded and declined.
  
• SAM...
  

There are a few others I'd consider writing, but I'd like to keep this PG-13. The fact is, it's always a good time hangin' out with the guy.

The Wedding
The wedding was on Saturday, August 30, 2008. Morgan and I had arrived late into Germantown around 1:00am. Sam was generous enough to flag us down from the main road and lead us to their new apartment. We stayed up a while longer socializing with Sam and Crystal (one of the bridesmaids) before finally going to sleep.

The wedding was held in a quaint little church in Menomonee Falls, WI. We'd actually arrived 30 minutes early, though I thought we were 10 minutes late. The church was the old, traditional setup, common in appearance to the churches I grew up in. Wood paneling covered walls, pews lined parallel to each other from front to back, a stage which showcased a large cross along the back wall. The windows were opened to let the cool air in from the perfect weather outside.

This was the first wedding I'd been to where Morgan and I were just guests and to tell you the truth, it was great. The wedding was short and sweet, as all weddings should be, and before long we were headed to the reception at Glacier Hills.

The reception was indoors and outdoors at a park. A smaller building, large enough to house approximately 200 people, was the area that they had set up the festivities. We went ahead and changed into some casual clothes, brought in our gift and scoped out the foods. The food was catered by this detective/cop from where Blake worked and it was gooood. They had an entire buffet with barbecue, lasagna, stuffed mushrooms, salad and fruits just to name a few.

As we waited for the Bride and Groom to arrive, we went ahead and tackled the buffet with Blake's best man, Dallas. Earlier on during the wedding, I couldn't help but notice a familiar face sitting on the pew opposite ends of us until she came over and reintroduced herself. "Your Dallas' friends from Vegas, aren't you? I'm Dallas' mom." Right, I thought I recognized her! We sat by Dallas' and Blake's families to eat. After awhile of chit chat, we were invited by Dallas' dad to come and stay with them at their friend's house they'd been staying in. Generous of the Dad we'd just met, but we had plans to stay the night at Sam and Blake's. After having seconds and a slice of the wedding cake, Morgan and I migrated outside to one of the park benches where we were followed shortly afterward by Blake's wedding party, Brian, his wife Emily, Bill, and Dallas. Seeing as how we had this wide open grassy field to play on we all winded up tossing the nerf football around and playing a few games of Bocce Ball.

When the guests started to dwindle down, we finally had an opportunity to socialize with our pals Blake and Sam. We'd been given instructions to distract them, while the others decorated their car. It wasn't hard, because being the professional photographer that I am, I wanted to capture a few shots of the newlyweds before it was too late anyways. We did so, but not for long as the popular couple of the day were being pulled every which way to say their goodbyes to their guests. Sam broke away for a little bit to show us a slideshow her sister Michelle had put together of young B&S pics.

Dallas had wanted to stay longer than his parents would've liked, so we offered him a ride. Little did we know we'd get lost looking for the place. In fact, we headed in the complete opposite direction. After driving a solid hour or so we finally pulled into where they were staying. Not wanting to be rude, we came inside to say hello. As it turns out, the gentleman that owned the home is a renowned barbeque enthusiast. They were all sitting outside on the back porch socializing and offered once again for us to stay. We declined. He'd been smoking barbecue for the past few hours and though I gorged myself at the reception, I couldn't help but sample a few of their food offerings. Green beans soaked in vinegar and onions, home-made potato salad, and several types of barbeque and sausage. It was great.

20 minutes later, we headed back to the apt. We called B&S to check in and suprisingly, they were still hanging around! 10:00pm, we rolled up to their home. We didn't expect that they'd still be there, not with the little sleep they must've gotten the night before, an exhausting day of wedding and reception, and a long drive to the Dells ahead of them that night, where they had planned to stay for their mini honeymoon. Regardless, they stayed up with us for a couple of hours of visiting. It was hard to believe they were married just a few hours ago, and here we were, talking, laughing, viewing the days pics, listening to comedic radio talk shows about missed connections, and eating once again among other things.

Anways, if you're reading this, congrats once again! We definitely enjoyed the time spent and look forward to our next visit. Maybe next time we can meet up in St. Louis, eh?