Wednesday, 03-Nov-2021 through Monday, 08-Nov-2021


My friends Dillon and Liz are getting married!!! It’s been on the books for a while now, so it’s kind of strange to think that it’s finally happening… but this is the weekend! This is the day!

The bachelor party was a hit, the suit was tailored, and anything that I needed had already been bought. The photobook was made, and I’d checked in with Dillon and Liz to make sure there wasn’t anything else left that I could help with. My speech was mostly written, and I was as ready as I’d ever be.

All that was left was to show up, and help out in any way that I could!



Friday, 05-Nov-2021


“Remember, Remember, the fifth of November”

I’m more than half convinced that Liz and Dillon chose this date specifically to make sure it’s easy to remember. I mean, there’s a whole rhyme about it and everything!


The wedding went amazingly.

The day started out identically to the previous – cold, crisp, with shining blue skies.

As strange as it sounds, I love the smell of the cold air in New England. It’s the low humidity, coupled with the wind and the latent threat of snow… regardless of how clear the skies are at the time. The Pacific Northwest simply doesn’t smell the same, until you get up into the mountains that is. And I haven’t spent enough time in the South to really compare… so for now, I’ll assume that it’s just a uniquely New England / Mountains thing.


Our job for the morning pre-ceremony was to stay out of the way, keep Dillon from seeing Liz before she was ready, and to run any errands that may come up.

Frankly, it was a gloriously easy job, thanks to them having planned everything out ahead of time… nearly to the minute. Dillon and I grabbed some last-minute grocery things for the bridal party, then took the rest of the groomsmen and various family members out to brunch. Close enough that we could return at a moments notice if anything went wrong… but far enough that we were safely out of the bridal party’s hair.


Soon enough though, we reconvened in my hotel room and started getting ourselves ready for the big day. Dillon and Liz had been amazing (as always), and had gotten my room upgraded to a full-size suite for the occasion – you know, since the groomsmen were going to use it as a base of operations to get ourselves prepped, primped, and ready to roll. Which took all of half an hour for five of us. Yep, advantages of being guys, you know?

Into the shuttle we went, and to the venue we travelled!

I don’t have many pictures from the day of the wedding – Frankly, we were a bit busy… and honestly? While I’ve gotten very proud of my photography, I’m not a professional. Well, I sort of am, since I did that sales video for Laurel when she was selling her horse, but… The wedding photographer was the expert on site.

The wedding itself?

It went beautifully, obviously. Liz and Dillon teared up during the first-look, the group photos went smoothly, and their vows were amazing. All exactly as one would expect from planners like them 😛

The ceremony was awesome, the dinner was delicious, and the speeches went gloriously… if I may say so myself. I’m particularly proud of mine – I was pretty nervous, as one would expect, but got compliments on it throughout the rest of the evening… so I think I did pretty well. No one even mentioned how much my hands were shaking while holding the paper I wrote it on, so… go me!


Dancing? Ohh yeah. We danced. Fueled by an amazing open bar and a ton of mouth-watering treats we danced deep into the night, pausing only to get water and rest our legs between songs. I even got to slow dance a bit! Which was super fun, but frankly reminded me that I really want to take some dancing lessons when I have a moment.

I did get to do some best-man duties later in the evening as our time limit in the library was starting to arrive… the DJ was excellent, and super enthusiastic, but the “last song” pretty quickly turned into multiple last songs. And, while Liz and Dillon were in pretty good party mode, I could see them starting to worry about us overstaying our welcome at the venue. Being the excellent executive-officer I am, I confirmed with Dillon and then politely reminded the DJ to cool his excellently energetic jets and send us home.


We packed up, stuffed Dillon and Liz into their ride home, and enjoyed the cool air as we walked the half-mile back to the hotel.

We’d debated an after-party in my room (since I had the huge place, after all), but frankly we were all pretty burned out afterward. Brian and Clara did come hang out for a bit, but overarchingly we took it easy and enjoyed a good cooldown after an amazing day.