Jenn & Jason's Wedding

This weekend was Jenn and Jason's wedding.  I was a groomsmen in theirs as he was a groomsmen in mine.  We are so stoked that the two of them tied the knot and can tell that they both couldn't be happier.  It was a beautiful ceremony with a "tree" theme throughout the night.  The weather held for their ceremony and only rained shortly during the reception when everyone was inside eating anyway.  Great friends, great music, great drinks.  A perfect weekend.   Click on the title or below to read more.

After a relaxing weekend last weekend between weddings and bachelor parties we again found ourselves in a pretty important wedding.  Jason had asked me to be a groomsmen for him shortly after I had asked him to be in ours.   He had really stepped up at my bachelor party and was great at our wedding despite being stressed about their own so I was delighted to do everything I could to help him enjoy his big day.

I ended up driving down to Corvallis around 2pm on Friday, barely making it to the Lumos Winery by 4pm for the rehearsal.  I would have liked to have been their earlier but I just couldn’t take any more time off of work.  The rehearsal went smoothly except for when I wandered with my bridesmaid past the isle and had a few “missing your gps” jokes thrown at me. :)  

After the rehearsal there was some time to change so I parked by butt down at a Starbucks in Philomath to get some photo editing done while waiting for the BBQ to start around 6:30.  It was great to catch up with Jason’s parents and meet Jen’s parents.  Her dad, stepmom and I talked a long time about our trips to Hawaii and Kauai while we waited for the catering service to set up the food.  

There was plenty of beer to go around and when it ran low more was picked up.  Emily arrived around 8pm after having to stop home to pick up Leo and get ready.  There was bbq chicken and sides and even a cake for desert (not the wedding cake).  Their parents gave some nice toasts and as usual a slideshow was shown that Danielle had put together.  It was definitely amusing to see little kid photos of both Jenn and Jason!

When the bbq ended around 10:30 we headed back to Scott and Danielle’s for the night.  In the morning on Saturday I headed over to Holm’s place so that we could work on his wedding gift to us, an aluminum bike rack for the back of the truck.  We spent the morning figuring out measurements before I had to rush back to Scotts to head with him over to Jim’s place to get ready and get groomsmen photos.  

We dropped Scott’s car off at Lumos and hitched a ride back to Jim’s in an old jalopy that he had borrowed for the day.  It was an awesome orange truck with beavers and a chainsaw painted on the back.  It even had a fake wooden chainsaw in the back as well!  I got it in and was surprised that Jim could even figure out how to drive the old thing.  10 minutes later and far into the woods we arrived at his beautiful home.  There we enjoyed chips, beer and hard cider fresh from taps and got our clothes on for the wedding.  There were 7 groomsmen and Jen and Jason’s dads with us.  

Soon it was time to head back to Lumos in the back of the truck for the wedding.  It was a cloudy day and I was hoping that the weather would hold for the ceremony.  All our friends started to arrive that we had seen just a few weeks earlier at our own wedding plus a few people that were closer to Jenn and Jason that we hadn’t invited.  We all grabbed beer (Danielle had brewed a “Killian IPA” which was awesome.  They also had an Aboriginale IPA, a Ridgeback Red, and a Golden Glo.  Their photographer (a friend from back home) took what seemed to be like a million photos of us in a bunch of different locations, none of which helped me look any taller next to the all the other groomsmen towering above me.  

After the photos was the ceremony.  We all lined up in the back to await our respective bridesmaids and walk them down the isle as Jason’s brother in law drew played guitar and sang.  Jenn and Jason had roughly 120-130 people at their wedding, most of whom I recognized.  The ceremony was beautiful but I couldn’t really see much standing behind Scott.  I did here Jason fumble something about “to be my husband” instead of “my bride” which got a chuckle from everyone.  Their vows were awesome with a few jokes stuck in for humor and Jen of course wiped her hands on her white dress after “planting” their tree (it was already planted).  Willow, the flower girl, seemed a little grumpy in the ceremony but later had a terrific time at the reception dancing around.  

After the ceremony a bunch of us got some washers games going before more photos were taken of all the bridal party.  By this time we were getting pretty hungry and heard that there were appetizers in the barn so many of us headed in that direction.  About 20 minutes after entering the barn for more drinks and appetizers the sky opened up!  Thankfully, the rain had waited until after the ceremony and to be honest it worked out perfectly as it didn’t last more than 30-45 minutes and it cleared the sky and cooled the air for dancing at the reception!  

Dinner was delicious of course as it was the same BBQ joint caterer from the rehearsal dinner.  This time there was steak, chicken, macaroni, and other yummy food.  We sat at the “Cedar” table with Kevin, Alexa, Chris, Paris, Mischa, Lizz, and Layne.  The decorations they had arranged inside the barn were amazing and the take home gifts were cork cocktail holders with our names on them and signed by Jason and Jenn on the bottom.  Everything was very “earthy” and Jenn’s love of trees certainly shined through with the decorations.  Even the ceremony fans had a tree on them!  Each table also had a framed leaf of the tree it represented in the center to help us find them.  Their cake even looked like the bark from a birch tree!

I didn’t partake in the dancing to much because of my phobia of course to dancing but Emily certainly got her drink and dance on!  Next thing I know she’s three sheets to the wind and it’s time to go home because the music ended!  Once again it was great hanging out with Paris who we like more and more each time we hang out with her and Chris and it was good to see Mischa happier with his new girlfriend Lizz who we thought was also awesome and who he met, I believe, at Emily’s birthday bbq at Scott and Danielle’s old house earlier in the summer.  

We had failed to plan on an exit strategy from the reception hoping that someone would be nice enough to give us a ride home.  Fortunately, Mischa was able to fit him, Lizz, Scott, Danielle and I with Emily in the back of his Subaru.  The plan was to go straight to Mischa’s house after stopping at a gas station for more beer but Emily needed to be put to bed first and Danielle stayed with her.  I hadn’t seen BD & Carrie’s new house yet so was excited to go and it was only 11pm so with the nod from Em for me to continue my night I left with Scott, Mischa and Lizz.  

BD and Carrie have a million dollar house kitchen in a reasonably priced home.  They have a huge garage with a back gear room and a pretty big yard.  Needless to say I was a bit jealous.  BD had set up his “maple bar” in the garage and was serving up drinks when we arrived.  Kris and Pete also showed up late night and it was real nice to catch up with everyone from Corvallis as we didn’t really have time to at our own wedding.  

Thankfully, Scott and I convinced Mischa to drop us off at his place before going home around 2am.  The dancing and rave music that Lizz was blasting (and dancing hard to) in Mischa’s car made for quite the amusing ride home.  She’s a really energetic and fun girl (who also came from upstate ny).... I hope Mischa can handle her.

On Sunday after breakfast at Delicias Cafe with Danielle, Scott, Holm and Emily I packed up and headed over to Holm’s place to install our new bike rack in the truck while Emily took Leo back home.  Chris and I drove over to the Ocean Observing Institute building to finish up the job with some tools he didn’t have.  It fit great and after aligning all the fork mounts we could fit 4 bikes upright in the back without their handlebars touching.  I really appreciated Holm fabricating the rack for me and after I get it anodized black this fall it will match perfectly with the bed liner in the back of the truck.  It’s gonna suck that he’s going on a 3 month research cruise and won’t be able to bike much with us this fall.