Albequerque Volume II

God, I’m behind on my updates. I’m in Denver now, visiting my family and old school friends, and I have a bunch of weird stories already. But I want to wrap up the wedding stuff before I get to Denver stuff. (Note: due to continuing iphoto frustrations, I will be unable to include photos in this entry. Sorry! I’ll post some when I get back to Portland.)
When I signed off last week, I had just finished an amazing burrito at Frontier. Let me re-emphasize how effing good that burrito was. So. Effing. Good. Mmmmm….. Anyway. After lunch I went to the Hacienda where the wedding was going to take place. I had been assinged a vague job by John Shoe, the groom, that required me to be there a few hours early. At first I thought it was a B-list guest job. I was supposed to follow the photographer around and make sure she got all the shots they wanted- including lots of “candid” shots. When John first sent me the email asking me to do this job, I thought he meant for me to follow her around the reception, which would have been no fun. Did he not want an A-list friend to have to miss the dancing and eating? Is that why he picked me? Also, he kept emphasizing that I am such a good “shmoozer,” which isn’t really a compliment in my book.
So I get to the hacienca, and immediately realize that I am definitely not a B-lister. Everyone in both John and Aubrey’s families seem to know who I am as soon as I walk in. They keep coming up and thanking me for helping, and telling me how special I am to John and Aubrey, and how touched they all are that I flew all the way from Portland for the wedding. I open the program for the wedding, and see my name in the “Thank you to..” section. Wow. I am honored and embarassed that I didn’t get it at first.
There was still a good hour before photos, so I hung out in the bridal suite with John and the groomsmen. I straightened collars and pinned on butineers. John was endearingly nervous, so the ushers and I made little jokes and ran needless errands to put him more at ease. It was so special to be in that room. The men drank scotch and I drank Pepsi, and there was so much love all around.
Then the photographer arrived, and I held the bouquet and a list of family and friends that were to be included in the photos. I made sure that the photographer (who looked and talked exactly like Natasha Lyon) got every shot, even though she was a pro and didn’t really need me. But by then I knew that my job was really just to be there with love and support. See, John is like a brother to me. We went to high school together, and he once (metaphorically) saved my life. I have spent the six or seven years since then trying to make it up to him. His brother Galen is also like my brother, and his mom is very dear to me as well. It felt so good to be there.
After photos the guests arrived, and the ceremony began. It was short and beautiful. John and Aubrey wrote their own vows, and the power and sincerity of their words was stirring. Just as they were pronounced husband and wife, a great gust of wind swept through the hacienda, swirling around them and us, the witnesses. It was like the Universe blessing their union. Everyone commented on it afterwards.
The reception was in a different courtyard in the hacienda. We ate enchiladas and tamales and drank lots o’ wine. I sat with my dearest Denver friends. We told lots of G-rated animal jokes (my favorites!) and waxed nostalgic about the old days. When it was toast time I was warmly tipsy, and thus spontaniously inspired to make a toast of my own. (There were a handful of other random toasters- I wasn’t being totally weird.) Anyway, I got up and in my goofy I-get-embarassed-talking-to-a-big-group-of-grown-ups way, I spoke about John and my sisterly protectiveness. I recalled the tone of his voice when he first described Aubrey to me, the way he recorded every moment of one Christmas visit into a dictaphone to send to her in England, so she could share the good times. And I described meeting her for the first time, and Joey’s wedding a couple years ago. I saw how she looked after John, how they loved each other. I pulled him aside that night and told him he would be next. Then I addressed Aubrey, thanking her for being such a good partner to John, giving her my blessing, and entrusting to her the job of protecting my dear friend’s heart. Without reservation, and with all my love I blessed their union, and when I raised my glass everyone was crying! I was psyched. Apparently three glasses of white wine turns Willow into a toast master! I’ll have to remember that for Liz’s wedding next month!
After food there was dancing. Two great bands played (I cannot remember their names- thanks a lot, wine!) There was a swimming pool between the bands and the dance floor, and as the night wore on, more and more people ended up in the pool. Some of us had brought our suits, some swam in their undies. John and Aubrey joined us once all the relatives had retired, and we all floated and paddled under the stars.
So that’s about it. A few leftover bits:
~Somewhere between dancing and swimming I vomited in the toilet of the bridal suite. Gross, I know. But there was no mess, I swear!
~Sometime after the wedding, back at HoJo’s I ended up kissing an old crush in a stairwell. Weddings make you do crazy things!
~Somehow between swimming and heading back to HoJo’s I realized I had left my purse in the Bridal Suite, where the bride and groom were presumably consummating their marriage. The helpful Maid of Honor banged on their door a few times, but they didn’t answer. The next morning they claimed not to have heard! (They did notice my purse later and put it in a common area for me in case I came back for it. So nice. So embarassing.)
I love weddings, I love John and Aubrey, I love New Mexican food. The end.