Oscar and I left for our flight to Ohio early. Like 3:45 am early. CRAZY early.
Oscar is a stellar traveling companion.
We got to Cleveland, took a picture in front of the Superman display in the airport, picked our swank rental economy car, and drove to Warren, OH. Did you know that Superman was created in Cleveland? Cleveland would like you to know that he was. I am pretty sure that I know at least three people that had a hand in this display.
We checked into our hotel, got a big squeeze from Sampi and Grandma Betsy, and took off for the rehearsal. The ceremony was to take place at a local art gallery.
Oscar is wearing his Great-Grandpa Fred's Shriner Bolo tie.
Flower Girl Alessandra and Oscar take a break.
The visual theme of the wedding was peacock feathers. Kaeti liked what we did at our wedding 13 (!!!) years ago -- the men wore tuxes (non-matching -- if they already owned one, it was fine) and the ladies all wore sleeveless black velvet floor-length dresses --whatever ones they could find and they liked. I went into the Fabric District in NYC and purchased a ridiculous amount of silk brocade and made ties for the guys and wraps for the girls.
Kaeti went one better and got a seamstress to do everything. She got some amazing peacock brocade and got another crafty friend to assemble bouquets, boutonnieres, and centerpieces out of peacock feathers.
A bunch of Holderle girls. This is a terrible, terrible picture of me and I only include it for journalistic purposes. That's my mom and Kaeti in the back, and Aunt Dottie, me and Aunt Marg in the front.
George's mom is Italian and hosted a wonderful rehearsal dinner at an Italian bistro. It was the best Italian food I've had in 18 months. Stupid California doesn't know how to do simple red-sauce Italian joint food.
Oscar and I ate our fill and stopped at Target for some wine and wedding stuff. Target in Ohio at 10pm on a Friday night made me feel both slender and witty. We went back to the hotel, Oscar ate some cheese, I drank some wine, and we watched our first but the last episode of King of the Nerds.
The big day! Oscar and I had breakfast with Sampi and Grandma Betsy, welcomed Uncle Bri, Aunt Kim and cousins Ella and Abby to Ohio, and made a craft store run with Abby where we saw some Amish ladies. (I regret not chatting with them!)
Oscar put on his tux, his Converse, and combed his hair. He was seriously handsome.
(My mother-in-law will make that same smirk when she is displeased with something. I love seeing it on her grandson's face. There's also something about this picture that reminds me of his Uncle Bri.)
Oscar B and Aunt Dottie, mother of the bride, and his great-god-mother. Is that a thing? It should be a thing.
The Trinity knot for the tie. Gorgeous and such a lovely detail.
This was the bride as I dropped Oscar off right before the ceremony began -- calm, cool, collected, excited and gorgeous.
My view of the ceremony. Please note poor Oscar B, bored to tears, in front of me.
The ceremony ended and the cocktail hour began. Oscar quickly topped off his already awesome outfit with his Batman fedora.
The fact that Oscar hadn't eaten since his two bowls of pasta the night before took hold. He tolerated family pictures, waited while I forced the groom to sit down with two plates of food and the command to "EAT!" I took pity on him and took off for a quick break.
But first he gamely posed for a picture with Tim Greathouse, the officiant. They matched.
I still owe Tim a testimonial for his website, but if anyone in my gigantic reading public of 7 people are looking for a wedding officiant in Ohio, Tim's your guy. I was flabbergasted that he wasn't an old friend. He spoke with love and respect of Kaeti and George and their history and relationship. He was witty and respectful and brief. Perfect.
I took Oscar away and we went to Dunkin' Donuts.
Somebody was HAPPY.
This is Oscar doing the Superman-death-of-Earth-2-Supergirl-pose lamenting the lack of Dunkin' Donuts on the West Coast.
After he was fueled by Munchkins, we made our way to the reception.
Cousin Abby tried the champagne for the toast. She was not impressed.
Oscar was a complete pill. He had eaten a handful of Munchkins in 19 hours and was super-crabby.
Enter my hero, Abby. She dragged Oscar to the buffet and basically forced him to eat a chicken breast and a hunk of beef. He perked up almost immediately. I only had to bribe him once (for five bucks) to dance with Abby, who was clamoring to get on the dance floor.
They posed for pictures and Oscar got crabby again. But then they discovered the photo booth, complete with peacock feather masks.
Cousin Ella got into the mix!
And then! "Call Me Maybe" came on and Aunt Kim forced Oscar onto the dance floor. He hemmed, he hawed...and he succumbed to the charm of his Aunt Kim. Check out her "Call Me!" gesture.
Oscar started to loosen up. He started to boogie with Abby...
Sucked it up and danced with his mama...
And then he started to cut loose.
My dad and 3/5ths of his grandkids.
The bride made her way over to her ring bearer and they squired each other around the dance floor for a bit.
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