The wedding was to be a full weekend. To quote Center Divide, it was “a total non-stop fun fest”.
Don’t know who or what Center Divide is? They’re a band. Who’re quite near and dear to my heart. And not just because they kept us entertained for almost the entire wedding weekend…
Center Divide is comprised of Justin and two other guys from Dartmouth — Joey Muller and Todd Miller. The band was a staple on the Dartmouth campus for my years there. I’d go see them play all the time. And not just because all the hot girls on campus were at all their gigs. (Well… that was part of it. But their music’s pretty great too.)
When we graduated, they put an album together. Here’s a listen to one of my favourites… Tributary. It’s where the “total non-stop fun fest” quote comes from… Tributary
If you like the song, I recommend buying the CD. All the tracks are great. You can find it at www.centerdivide.com Anyway, back to the total non-stop fun fest. The fest begins with two choices, either: a) Visit a winery, hosted by Heather’s dad, Mike Charles , or b) Take a 3-hour canoe trip down the Russian river. I, like most of the rest of the youngin’s at the wedding, chose the canoe trip. There’s another story, for another day, about a previous canoe trip that I’d been on with Justin — the total trip being 5 long days paddling down the Connecticut river from Dartmouth to Long Island Sound. It’s called “Trip to the Sea”. And it’s epic. But this trip? Not so much. The 3-hour canoe trip was actually more of a 3-hour float down the Russian river. This was about as tough as it got:
It was a ton of fun. There was a whole big posse of us on the trip.
The sun was shining. The water was refreshing. We could even float down the river without a canoe.
All in all, a pretty great start to the wedding weekend. The fun continued on into that night, where Justin’s parents hosted a BBQ. There were a few speeches, a few songs. And one of the highlights of the evening was a reunion of “The Regulars” — the precursor band to Center Divide, made up of Justin, Joey, Todd and the infamous Mr. Chris Barnes.
The other highlight of the night was getting to see Heather bellydance. Yes guys, Justin’s new wife is, among other things, a professional bellydancer. Jealous? I am. The night ends with continued revelry, but not too much craziness. That was for tomorrow night. * * * The wedding. How’d you like to get married here?
Yeah. I know. I know. First step: find a girlfriend. But still… pretty auspicious start to a lifelong partnership, don’t you think? I do. The wedding was amazing. The weather was perfect. And the best part? The speeches lasted like 5 minutes. Ok, that wasn’t the best part. But it was definitely not a bad thing. Heather was gorgeous. Justin managed to look halfway decent. And blah blah blah… man & wife.
After the dinner we moved into the barn for some great dancing — yes, the barn… that’s what you get when you have a wedding at a winery!
And then as the evening drew nigh, Justin drove in the roundabout with his very own personal ShitBox. Which is actually not a ShitBox at all. It’s actually quite awesome. Even if it is about 15 years old. It’s a VW van that he’s named “Marla”. And off he rode, with his new bride… in the wild blue yonder.
Well… not quite. He actually rode back into town. And since the dancing and the party closed down around 11 because of some ridiculous wine country by-law about limited partying into the late night, we all followed the two of them… And the party continued with a little more music in the lobby of Justin’s hotel…
As we all watched an sang along…
As things finally wrapped up… most people said goodnight and headed off to dreamland. There were a few of us who continued carousing, What does one do to carouse in a sleepy little wine country town at 1 in the morning? Simple. Keep drinking. And do your best to hit a hot tub before the night is over.
The downside, of course, was the monstrous hangovers we dealt with in the morning.