The Pannings: A Wedding in the Sun

This past weekend we ventured forth out of our little bubble of isolation to spend time with the Fleming family in Florida, celebrating Mike's wedding. This was the third (and last) Fleming boy to choose Memorial Day (or close to it) for a wedding, the second to have said wedding outdoors, and also the second to choose a Jessica for a wife. I'm thinking of asking my brother-in-law to consider finding and marrying a woman named Jessica, just so that our kids can be as confused as possible with THREE Aunt Jessicas. For now, the multiple Jessica Flemings ought to be enough to confuse even us grown-ups.

While the wedding itself was not until Sunday, Matt and I were trying to get there in time for the bachelor/bachelorette parties on Friday night. This was tricky because Matt to work at least for part of the day, so we didn't arrive in Orlando until 5pm. Then it was a crazy run around the airport, shuttle to the car rental place, and trying not to get lost as we headed out to the coast. Fortunately, a mechanical problem on the cruise ship hosting the event for the guys delayed their departure long enough for Matt to get on board. *Interesting fact I didn't know: Florida doesn't allow gambling, so there are a series of "cruise" casinos that take passengers just far enough off shore to be in international waters and they anchor there before opening the casino. * I have to admit that I'm glad my husband spent more time talking to my older brothers about strollers and other parenting things than he spent in the casino. Probably not what he had anticipated for the night, but it made me smile when he came in at 2am and woke me up to tell me all about it.

I, meanwhile, opted not to drive another half-hour or so down the coast to get to the site of the girls' happenings, which were halfway over anyway. Instead I took a nap, did some grocery shopping, and then did what any sensible (or pregnant) woman would do when feeling lonely and sorry for herself: I ate ice cream for dinner. It was delicious.

Saturday we had the rehearsal activities. Since the weather was nice on our way there, we put the top down on our *snazzy* black convertible (rental) and meandered our way to the park where the wedding was being held. Matt and I weren't involved in the ceremony, but we showed up in time to head down the street for the luncheon. Which was lovely, by the way, and enough of a meal to last us for the rest of the day. The Eisenmenger clan made a valiant attempt to learn all of our names, but the three of us girls managed to confuse most of them the whole weekend anyway. We just learned to respond to Barbara, Kathy, or Jenny if it seemed like someone was trying to get our attention.

On the way back to the resort, Matt and I decided to stop and go the afternoon Mass so we wouldn't have to coordinate it in the morning. Until about five minutes before Mass started (when the other tourists must have started arriving), we were pretty much convinced that even by adding our ages together, we'd still be the youngest people in the congregation. My favorite moment: as a prelude to Mass, it being Memorial Day weekend and all, the musicians led us in a patriotic song while the American flag was processed in. Not so unusual... except that the song was "God bless the USA". Yes, we all joined in on the chorus (nobody knows the verses anyway). And yes, we all stood up in unison on the line "and I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today..." Priceless.

Sunday morning, then, Matt and I wandered down to the pool/waterpark area at our resort and sat around in the sun for a bit while the rest of the family was at Mass (we were all staying at the same resort, in a couple of different condos). The girls headed off around lunchtime for the salon to get our nails done, which was a treat especially for my pregnant nails which grow faster than I can take care of them. Since the wedding wasn't until 6pm, we had tons of time. It made me glad that our wedding was earlier in the day, though. That much time in the day beforehand would have made me much more jittery for sure.

The wedding itself was short and sweet. Which is probably good, because I don't know if the random passers-by would have wanted to hang out and watch the whole thing if it were longer. I guess that's a risk you take by having the thing outside in a public place, but still... Isn't it pretty obvious when a wedding is going on? And wouldn't most of us at least attempt to stay out of the way? Someone will have to tell that to the guy who perched himself right up front next to the musicians and stayed the whole time to watch. Or the kids who wanted to play in the fountain (which was shut off because it would have gotten the whole wedding party wet if it were on). I couldn't help but think, though, that if these people were smart they would head home and put on some nicer clothes. That way by the time the reception started (which was at the same place), they could have mingled with the guests, had some champagne and hors d'oeuvres , and maybe even joined in the rest of the evening without anyone noticing.

Some people may have actually thought that was the case with one guy. A small group of Mike's buddies from high school drove down together for the weekend. They um... pre-partied a little before the wedding (actually, they missed the ceremony altogether), and by the time we ate dinner, one of them was passed out on a park bench. He stayed there the rest of the night. Way to go, dude. Of course, maybe he just got confused by dinner (didn't we all) and couldn't handle any more. I don't even think I describe the confusion of dinner, so I won't attempt it. Regardless, the food was delicious, the tables were beautiful, and I enjoyed spending time with my family. That'll do, then.

Matt and I enjoyed dancing after dinner. We haven't gotten to do that in a long time. Even with a little extra padding on my belly, though, we managed to do ok. Although one woman who was serving drinks near the dance floor said she was worried about me going into labor with all the dancing. (Funny... earlier in the day, I had several people tell me that I didn't look as pregnant as I actually am. Now this lady is expecting my water to break at any moment. Maybe I ate more for dinner than I thought???)

By the time we got back here to VA yesterday, we were pretty tired. We hadn't slept a whole lot the night before and it was a hot and sunny Memorial Day in Virginia. Something funny happened yesterday, though... it felt like I was pregnant all of the sudden. Duh, I know. But was drinking lots of water (it was hot, remember?), and running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. And then the kicker: I was sitting on the couch and looking at my feet and realized that my ankles were swollen! Only a tiny bit, my husband assured me, but I really did nearly break down in tears. Thus far the toll on my body has seemed minimal, but for some reason having swollen ankles and feet for the next two months (I was hoping to avoid this, as I have so many other pregnancy issues) just seemed like the worst thing ever. I'm still not sure I'm at peace with it, but at least I can blame my "cankles" on Elmo. (Don't ask...) Needless to say, I was never so happy to see my ankle bones as I was this morning when I got up.

And that was my weekend. Family, if I missed anything vitally important feel free to leave a comment and tell everyone else about it. :-)