So. None of my aimless worrying about the wedding came true. I'll wait a couple of seconds here while the rest of you get the "Well duh"s and "Toldja so"s out of your systems.

Everybody - and I mean everybody, including Heather (the bride), Tristan (the groom), and the minister - came from out of town for this wedding. The only people who started out in Williamsburg were Matt and I, and Heather's brother, who goes to William and Mary. Every wedding needs a few disasters, don't you think?

Disaster #1: The minister and his wife were supposed to pick up Jason (Tristan's twin brother) on Friday morning and take him to the airport, and the three of them were all going to fly together. Their flight took them from Chicago to Norfolk to Richmond. I don't know why the person arranging the tickets didn't hear this flight path and say, "Hey, Norfolk and Richmond are about the same distance from Williamsburg. Let's just take the straight flight to Norfolk!" but they didn't. However, by the time they got to Norfolk, the flight was running a little behind, and they decided to disembark at Norfolk instead of waiting for the additional flight to Richmond. The people at the airport argued with them profusely and wound up charging them extra, and - I know this is going to shock you - their luggage continued on to Richmond. Luckily, the luggage caught up with them Friday night.

Potential Disaster #1: I don't know whether this minister was flummoxed by not being in his church, or what, but he acted like he'd never performed a marriage before. He also acted like he had no idea what a schedule was. We had exactly one hour to do the rehearsal - another rehearsal was scheduled right after ours, so we couldn't stretch it. Matt and I had been strongly urged by Tristan to show up early, if at all possible. We were early. Heather showed up ten minutes late, and Tristan fifteen. This left us with about forty-five minutes to rehearse. The minister wasted at least ten minutes of that time praying. Then, he pondered for what I thought was an absurd length of time over the proper arrangement and order of things. If no one else had any ideas, wouldn't you think he would have a basic plan?

Potential Disaster #2: Before the wedding, while the bride and bridesmaids were still being photographed, the minister took the groom and groomsmen aside and told them he'd decided on an alternate processional. No one told the girls. It's a good thing the original processional didn't have everyone entering in pairs, or the girls would still be waiting at the back of that chapel for their escorts.

Disaster #2: When we got to the reception, it seemed to be a bit warm. I asked one of the staff if they could turn up the air conditioning, and they promised to get right on it. Half an hour later, I found the manager and asked her to do it, and was told that the air conditioner was broken, but that they were working on it.

Disaster #2.5: When it became clear that the air conditioner was not going to be fixed, Matt approached a staff member and asked them if he could open the windows which lined one wall. The staff member promised to go ask her manager, and then returned to answer, "No - the bride's father has requested some fans, and someone has already gone to get them." We were unsure of why the use of fans would preclude the opening of windows, but obviously this staff member was not hired for her independent thinking and quick wits, so Matt asked another, who replied, "Go fer it, dude!" All but two of the windows, however, refused to stay open, and we wound up collecting empty soda bottles and using them as props.

The temperature improved by about ten degrees, and though it was still warm, we sat back to watch the dancing and enjoy ourselves. I don't know what started the reaction, but something (a strong gust of wind, perhaps) knocked the soda bottle out from the window directly behind Matt and me. My first clue was the crash! of the window falling suddenly closed. As I turned, it was like a slow-motion movie: The window popped out of its groove and began to fall as I realized that it was going to hit the hurricane lamp and candle in the window's alcove. Slowly, it did, and I instinctively raised my arm to protect my eyes as the hurricane shattered into a billion pieces. Then I saw that the candle, though it was knocked over, was still burning, and I could just see it falling to the ground and catching the tablecloth on fire, or burning someone who was trying to clean up and didn't notice it, so I leaned forward and blew it out. Then I turned around. Heather was directly across the room from me, looking understandably startled and worried, and I gestured to her that no one had been hurt. She looked relieved and turned back to the guest she'd been talking to. About four staff members hustled up to clean up the broken glass, and I stepped forward to forestall the three or four children who were drawn to the disaster like flies to honey. Then Heather's mother arrived to find out what happened and make sure everyone was all right. "Oh, no, we're all fine; it's just the broken glass," I reassured, waving my hands placatingly. As I waved my hands, though, I noticed that there was blood running down my finger. "...except that I appear to have a small cut." The hotel's party manager teleported onto the scene (at least, it seemed that fast) with a bandaid for me and she got my name for the accident report.

Being right on the edge of a knuckle, the cut refused to stop bleeding until hours later, but it didn't hurt at all. It didn't even hurt later, and it's almost healed already today.

So there were the disasters. Not too bad, really. And I took what I hope will be some really nice pictures. Must remember to get doubles so I can send them copies - I found out last year that you simply can not have too many wedding pictures.