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I'm not even sure where to start. Wow... this has been a busy few days. I'm sure I'll leave out a million things, but I'll give it a go. After my appointment to get my back checked out, I went back into the office to finish the day. I was anxious to leave since we were expecting members of the wedding party to fly in and my departure from the office represented the beginning of my vacation... my much needed vacation. Leah, Hanna, Alison, and Andy were all flying in within a few hours of each other and Jason was coming in later that night, so we split the airport trips between us to get everyone to the house. Erin Lynn had prepared some wonderful and thoughtful gifts for her bridesmaids and since Sarah wasn't coming and Camron was going to meet us in Austin, we used the dead time before Jason's flight to present gifts to her half of the wedding party before my half started showing up. By the time Jason arrived just before midnight, we had most of the loose ends of planning tied up. Greg's flight started the next morning early for me... it was an 8:30 arrival. Kirk drove in from Maryland later in the afternoon and Sean from Los Angeles via Austin around 8 or 9 that evening. The ladies had spent the entire day pampering and catching up... I envision an onslaught of stories straight out of memory lane during spa pedicures and manicures and the like. "The Guys" were a bit simpler. We rendezvoused with Sam and headed directly for martinis and toted in Cuban cigars at Downing Street. The evening was filled with alcohol and good music. We made a brief stop for Jager shots in The Village before arriving at the Houston Blues Society open jam at The Big Easy house of mixology. We stopped at Taqueria Tapatia around 2:30 or so and were home by 4:00. Everyone caravanned to Austin early the next day where we had arranged to stay at the 3 bedroom cottage at The Mountain Star Lodge on Lake Travis. Friday was filled with wedding preparation. The men did sunset over the lake at The Oasis where much tequila was consumed. The ladies were busy with their own thing. Time kinda flew by and a lot of the last few days is a blur. Saturday morning, EL, Jason, Leah, and the remaining bridesmaids prepared a ton of food. Greg, Kirk, Sean, and I just chilled and try to not get in the way until we had to be at the boat around 2:30. The Flagship Texas pushed off the dock just after 3:00 with our wedding guest aboard. We had a fabulous ceremony on the upper deck as we sailed along the plush green banks of the lake. The winds were unruly, but the ride was smooth. After the ceremony, we all changed into casual wear. We had asked all the male guests to come in Hawaiian shirts and shorts. The ladies were to dress casual. Everyone seemed comfortable. The boat pulled in around 5:00 to allow departing guest to get to land. The captain had to check the radar and make sure we were good to go on our return to the lake, but all was good. My groomsmen made a quick beer run to compliment the two cases of hand picked wine we provided for the party portion of the cruise. The weather was fantastic and everyone seemed to really enjoy the location and festivity. I had arranged with Sam to have some special cigars for my groomsmen shipped over from Switzerland. They got hung in customs briefly and we were worried about them making it in time, but they had... delicious little happy sticks. When we docked again at 9:00, I think everyone had a pretty good buzz going if not substantially more and no one left without a smile on their face... especially the captain after I paid the bill. Ugh! We were married and it simply couldn't have gone better. A lot of folks met up with us back at the cottage for more drinks and wedding gift opening before rolling home. Yesterday morning was another day of flights and travel ending in us back at our Houston home with only one wedding guest remaining and he left this morning. I know this wasn't a very detailed account and I hope to have some photos soon. We left disposable cameras on all the tables for guests to snap away and I know Michael and Pam took some good photos. I especially hope the ones of the wedding bouquet turned out... we had the flowers Fed-Ex'd in from Hawaii and they were absolutely gorgeous. Hmm... what else... oh! I got a new tattoo a couple of days before the wedding. I love it. I have no photos of that yet, but maybe when I get the wedding photos back, there will be some in the bunch. I need to run, but I'll add to this if I remember something. It really has been a blur, but it went better than I could have hoped. Have a good holiday weekend!






pee ess... EL and the groomsmen can guest post here, so maybe they'll have some additional details?