All I Ever Wanted (Summer 2010): Part 2 (Denver / Wedding)

• Took a bus-ride south of Denver to a pstoral, faux-ranch wedding site. Our ride included a troubadour who resembled the love child of David Bowie and John Denver; I called "American Pie" an an inevitable component of his setlist and was not wrong.
• Nice, casual wedding ceremony atop a hill that over-looked the idyllic scenery. The setting received a sort of meta-commentary during the ceremony (i.e., something along the lines of "we should be really appreciative of the beautiful scenery we are experincing at this very moment!") and was indeed lovely:

• And the bride and groom were as happy as I've ever seen two people be. Here's a fairly "captures it all" photo, taken after Elliot stomped the glass in traditional Jewish fashion:

• Obligatory Tuftsmen Group Shot:

• Fun wedding, fun reception - good apps and dinner, open bar, good conversation (had a great chance to catch up with Andy and Ariel in particular), touching toasts, an ubercute slideshow (the highlight of which was a video of Briar helping a hospital-gowned Elliot walk around after an emergency appendectomy, and the cameraman (Elliot's brother?) perspicaciously humming "Here Comes the Bride") and a heck of a dance party afterwards featuring a cover band and some interlude DJ'ed music. And no wedding cake - the couple met while studying abroad in Italy, so gelato made the occasion:

• I'll include some dance party highlights below - trust that the Tuftsmen routinely make the party, but I think this time we merely pushed it to 11; this would have been raging with or without our usual dose of craziness. As expected, there was a rehash of "Paradise City," "Like a Prayer," and all of your usual favorites. The scene was fairly crazy with a number of some sort of grey goose / cranberry juice shot interludes. In fact, Zach's backing up his Maker's Mark with one right here:

• Anyhoo, great reception; just check it:

• Okay, okay, a devoted "Paradise" section:

• With... video?

• I know, I know - energy drops out mysteriously and intermittently during the week, but I'm crowd-surfing at wedding receptions. I don't get me, either.
• The affair ended pretty late, and again, the only drawback of being bussed out is that you have to wait for the buses to take you home - Beck and I were fairly zonked about an hour before we actually got to leave. One nice touch by Briar and Elliot (in a wedding that featured who knows how many (and how expensive) nice touches) was a goodie bag featuring a late night snack burrito for the ride home; Zach in particular was stoked about this:

• We arrived back at the hotel half-asleep with no chance of an after-after party. Crash and get ready for the next morning's post-chaos breakfast... for another post.