This weekend was my last wedding of a very long eight wedding season. This wedding was a special finale though because my very own brother was getting married *gasp*. Friday I drove up after work and drove to the church for the rehearsal. This rehearsal was nothing like Jeff’s the week before. This one the priest was a slave driver and the rehearsal took about as long as Jeff’s wedding and rehearsal combined. I managed to power through it and we headed off to a pizza joint for the rehearsal dinner. The pizza was very good and the pumpkin ale was flowing. We ate and then sat around and smoked cigars and had some more pumpkin ale. From there we went to a couple bars to have the final “single man” drinks. I stayed at Rich’s that night and once again braced myself for a long day.

Saturday I was going to sleep in a bit but I was literally drug out of bed by one of the other groomsman and told I had to go to breakfast. I didn’t want breakfast so once he was out of the room I locked the door. Once I was back in bed there was no way that I could get back to sleep so I showered up and started primping for the wedding. Rich got home and we started to get ready when he noticed that one of the groomsmen and took his tux instead of his. I was practically dressed and Rich had the other guy’s pants and shirt on but we had to leave and get dressed at the other guy’s house. So we gathered everything we needed and got in Rich’s Mustang. There was one problem though, the battery was dead. So Rich and I had to jump the car with our tuxes on. We got to the other groomsman’s house and Rich got his jacket and vest and we finished getting ready. For the second week the wedding forecast was rainy and it seemed to pour most when we were outside. From there we headed to the church for pictures. Once again it was nice that we did all the pictures before the wedding. While the pictures were going on we had a couple radios to listen to another victory for the Badgers, go Bucky! After pictures we had the wedding. The wedding was nice. There was a full Catholic ceremony so the wedding was pretty long. I think it’s impossible to have a bad wedding. After the wedding was over it cleared up a bit so we decided to have a couple outdoor pictures in a park in Plymouth. Once we got there we snapped a couple pictures and it started to rain again. I rolled up the Mustang’s windows but in the process I must’ve accidentally locked the doors. The keys were in the car and there was no way to get in so I had to run back to Sheboygan and get the spare set. It took about an hour out of my time with the wedding party but the only thing I really missed was an hour of drinking so it was no big deal. So once I got back to the car in Plymouth I met up with the rest of the wedding party at the O in Falls. From there we headed to Horse & Plow in Kohler for a yard of brew and then headed to the reception for the real fun to begin. Once we got to the reception I did a lot of schmoozing. There were a lot of relatives and friends to talk to and it seemed like I had a second to talk to each. Once dinner started we sat down and did the toast thing. I had one plate of food and then got up and started talking to everyone again. I brought some of my cousin’s baseball cards and he was a good sport and signed them for the kiddies. Once the dancing part started the wedding party had to sit in chairs on the dance floor and two people dressed up as a miniature bride and groom put on a comedy skit that was very funny. Then we danced and I caught the garder. Then my godmother Terri got yelled at because she brought hundreds of jell-o shots into the dance hall. Then I decided to go martini for martini with my gin loving uncle Tommy. The last I saw him he was saying something about me being mister clean and he had to go home only because my aunt wanted to leave, thus declaring Ryan the martini drinking champion. I had a fancy blue light up martini glass and I think Tommy was intimidated by it. The night was so much fun but it went by so fast because I was bouncing from person to person talking. It was good to see everyone from my dad’s side of the family together as well as my mom’s side. We took some big family pictures to remember the moment. Like I said the night went by so fast and before I knew it it was time to go. Everyone headed down to the O for a couple night caps and we went back to Rich’s to get some sleep for Sunday’s gift opening.

Sunday I woke up feeling fine. Rich on the other hand looked like a steamroller ran over him. He was wearing his tux with a t-shirt and stunk to high heaven. I drove him to pick up the rental car for the honeymoon and he kept his tux on to go get it, classy. Once we got back he finally changed and everyone started to arrive for the gift opening. The whole afternoon the women sat in the house and the men sat in the garage, watched the Packer game and drank our collective hangovers away. After another Packer victory we gathered our things and headed back. The end of an era for my brother, the end of a long wedding season for me. Congratulations to Rich and Billie and I’d like to welcome the Stranz family into our fold. I think Billie knew what she was getting into but I don’t know why anyone would willingly want to be a part of the Rich Rau faction. Either way, all the love in the world to my brother and his new wife and good luck in the future! Some more love to all my family that was at the wedding and those who couldn’t join us.