I Have A Brother-In-Law!

Last Updated on: 29th February 2020, 10:45 am

It’s Monday, and I’m still feeling kinda dopy and tired. I guess that’s to be expected after the crazy Saturday Steve and I had. Don’t worry, it was a good crazy! My sister got married!

Yup, eek. I now have a brother-in-law. He’s a cool guy. They’ve been together a while, he’s been a friend of my brother’s way longer, and he has sometimes driven my sister and I home to my mom and dad’s for Christmas, so I feel like I know him pretty well. It’s just weird to go to your own sister’s wedding. It kinda makes ya feel like you’re getting older, hahaha.

It was a jam-packed day. Mom and Dad came down and scooped Steve and I up and drove us back to Toronto where the wedding was. I’m glad we decided to eat before we left Guelph, because there was no time after that.

We arrived at the hotel in plenty of time for the wedding. Good god that hotel is massive! It’s so big that not all elevators go to all floors! And, the elevator actually rocks back and forth as it gets closer to the bottom of the hotel, I think to compensate for gravity, or something. I have heard why this is done, but can’t remember what it is. All I know is it’s nauseating, and your ears pop if you don’t swallow a lot, and it kind of reminds me of the feeling you get going up to the top of the CN Tower. Coming down, you think for a second that you might lift off the floor because you get this crazy floating sensation because you’re coming down so fast. Anyway, the place was huge. I was glad that they put Steve and I directly across from mom and dad. Woohoo, I won’t get lost, or knock on the wrong door.

Even the silly phone was complicated! If you wanted to call another guest’s room, you had to push a special button to access Guest Services, then tell them who you wanted to call, and then tell them who was in that room. This is probably done to protect guests from getting prank called or something, but gees! I was glad I knew mom’s cell number, because I sure couldn’t work the phone without a quick lesson on that silly button.

After we got all fancied up, and Trix got her fuzzy bow on, we headed off to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Why would we do that, you’d ask? You wanted to tour a museum before you went to your sister’s wedding? Nope, that’s where my sister had chosen to get married!

Upon arrival, we realized that this place, also, was huuuge. I had to chuckle, because a security dude walked up to us and said to me, “Oh! You must be the bride!” Nope, sister of. Hmmm. I guess I looked nice enough to be the bride! The bride was already there, getting all ready for photos.

We were met by the event planner, who led us somewhere while she went to check with my sister about something I can’t remember. At any rate, I felt like people were getting swallowed up by the AGO. The event planner disappeared for a while, and at the same time, Dad went off back to the hotel to grab Mom’s purse because she forgot it in the craziness, and we didn’t see him for a long, long time. Finally, he reappeared, and then mom disappeared for a while with the event planner. Meanwhile, everyone was asking where the photographer was, and then, out of nowhere, there he was.

I was a little nervous because it was getting close to picture time, and it was also getting close to when I would like to get Trix fed and relieved. I wanted that done before the wedding, but I know how much time photographers take, and I knew that Mom and I would be in quite a few shots, and if I wasn’t in all of them, Mom sure would be, and I needed either her or Dad to help me get to where I could let Trix deal with business. I guess, if I got desperate, maybe I could ask one of the many security folks they had on hand, but I was hoping it wouldn’t reach that point.

Ok, let’s talk a minute about security at this place. It was a big ol’ Art Gallery, so of course they felt like they had to protect the exhibits from being damaged, and they wanted to make sure none of us tried to sneak off with anything. And boy, were they ever going to ensure that. We could not separate into groups, and if anybody split off for some reason or another, they had to be tailed by security! Mom and I had a chuckle, because a couple of my great aunts decided they needed a break from the music, and there was a security dude walking around with them as they strolled around the floor. Don’t get me wrong, the security guys were very nice. In fact one of them walked Mom and I part of the way out towards the park when Trix needed a pee-break with an umbrella because it was raining, and even waited for us to come back. Another one was super friendly, and told another one to take good care of Trix and I and Steve after he went off shift. Just…holy security! They were takin’ no chances!

It was picture time, and apparently the room where the pictures were taken was very beautiful. Mom kept talking about how there will be some wonderful pictures. It was also the room with the sculpture/giant wooden bench. Right off the bat, the photographer set his stuff on the “art” and was told, “Sir, please don’t set things on the art.” Everyone said, “Art?” at which point we were informed it was an Italian sculpture with a name, and every day they have to tell people not to sit on the art. I immediately made a mental note. “Do not tell Trix to find me a seat in here.” As my luck would have it, she’ll find that one!”

When it came time for me to be in the pictures, I got kind of excited. Trix and I would be in the pictures, and we’d get a shot of her in her fuzzy bow alongside me, and I could send it to her raiser! Sweet sweet sweet! But that was swiftly deflated when the photographer told me that he would prefer Trix out of the shot. I was hurt, and I wanted to tell him that Trix was an extension of me. I also wanted to ask him why he wanted Trix out of the shot. Was he afraid of dogs? Was he afraid that if he touched me to position me, Trix would attack him? Was it just that a black lab is hard to photograph? What was the reason? but this was my sister’s wedding, and I really wanted things to go smoothly for her. So people who were not in my particular shot would hold Trix while my picture was taken. Poor Trix was not the biggest fan of this, and would apparently stare at me the whole time I was up there getting my picture taken. When I would come back to her, she would give whoever was holding her a bit of a run for their money!

All the pictures weren’t done until about 6:15. This meant that a. poor Trix was having to hold it and wait for food for about an hour more than usual, and b. the wedding was scheduled for 6:45, which didn’t leave a lot of time, especially since the one taking me out to take Trix to pee is also the mother of the bride! I felt bad because I felt I had to keep reminding her, “We have to remember the dog stuff in here, we have to remember we must relieve and feed the dog…” Mom kept assuring me that we wouldn’t forget Trix, but she told me after everything was over that she appreciated me speaking up and reminding her because then she knew she didn’t have to remember that on top of everything else.

Finally, we squeezed out to the park, and Trix got things taken care of. I was a little worried that she would hold out on me, and the last thing I needed was an accident in the AGO, but she got it done like a perfect little poocheroo.

The wedding ceremony itself was super short. I had to laugh because Trix flopped down and napped through the whole thing. I think she was in need of some snooze time. It was a nice ceremony. The guy said some nice, but not too preachy things. The only thing I would have liked to see was him wearing a mic, because that room swallowed sound like mad. I couldn’t even hear my sister much, and I was sitting close to where she and her new husband stood. I’m sure some people, especially anyone with hearing difficulties, would have heard hardly anything. But that’s pretty small. Before we knew it, the bride had been kissed and the license had been signed, and people were moving off to the reception! But we, we had more pictures to have taken.

It’s funny, because I can’t even really remember the second picture-taking. I think it was a lot more of the same stuff as the first. But the first is crystal-clear. I think I was feeling more relaxed now that the wedding was over.

Then we finally got up to the reception a wee bit before dinner, and stood around talking to folks. It’s funny. When you’re attending a cousin’s wedding, anyone you don’t know, you automatically assume is with the cousin’s spouse-to-be’s family. You never think of the other side of the cousin’s family as being there. But when members of your family forget that your family has another side, you have to chuckle and think it’s ridiculous, even though at least I know I’m guilty of the same thing.

The dinner was awesome awesome awesome. I felt bad not being able to finish it, but it was all sooo good. Steve could not stop raving about the duck. I’d never had duck before, so I had nothing to compare it to. It was good, but it’s hard to have a comparison when this is your first experience with it.

And the staff at the AGO did this funny thing when they presented it. A group of them came over and put food down at every person’s place, so everyone at a given table got served at once. Dad called it synchronized serving. It was apparently quite the site to behold.

All the speeches were cool, including my mom and dad’s speech. At different points, each of ’em almost cried! My dad crying…now I don’t see that often. Watching them, I teared up too.

One of the folks sitting at our table is a cousin of my dad’s. We hadn’t seen him for quite some time, so his voice wasn’t familiar to me. At one point, Steve tapped me and said “Don’t you think he sounds just like Irwin Barker?” I paused, and said, “Yeah, he kinda does!” So now whenever I see cousin Andy, I’ll think of Irwin Barker! I think he and Steve had a lot of fun joking throughout the night, and he helped Steve get a couple of beers.

Throughout dinner, Steve was ooing and awwing about the DJ. He had this awesome way of mixing tunes together that just fit. But…something happened to him after dinner. It was like a switch flipped in him, and he thought he was playing at a bar. All the music became dance music, and it got louder! There was no mixing it up between slow and fast music, until someone requested a slow song. My ears were buzzing by the end of the night, and I can’t imagine what poor Trix was feeling.

Steve really wanted to dance with me, but I didn’t know how I could manage dancing and Trix. I couldn’t bring her up on the dance floor, but I couldn’t just leave her at the table in a stay, because I just knew she wouldn’t. But I couldn’t tie her to the table either, because each table had candles and stuff on it, and if she ever tried to drag the table, that could be bad, bad times. So poor Steve tried to put his arms around me and make like we were dancing in our chairs. I got all embarrassed, so he stopped. But another cousin saved the day, asking me to dance too. Her mom wasn’t dancing, so she held Trix while I got a couple songs in with Steve and a few people.

But apparently Trix looked all upset while I was up on the floor. She was staring in my direction, and was not comfortable. When I came back to her, I got kissed all over the place. Poor baby, being left with someone else in the loud music.

It was a late, late night. By the time everything was wound down, it was after 1, and then we had to take stuff back to my sister’s place, and then go back to the hotel. So, we didn’t put head to pillow until after 3. The next morning, we were dead tired. I woke up with a tiny headache, and I hadn’t even been drinking!

All that was left at this point was a breakfast at the hotel. At least at the breakfast, we could talk more to people, so that was good. It was a good breakfast and I was full for sure.

What’s amazing about this whole thing is how quickly it was planned, and how well it went. My sister and her now husband didn’t get engaged too long ago, although they’d been together for years. So, from engagement to Saturday night was only about 3 months. But everything went off and there were no hitches that I saw. I think everybody had fun, and I can’t imagine a soul not enjoying the food.

I know I haven’t mentioned Trix much at all through this whole thing, but I have to say I was soooo proud of her this weekend. I had nightmarish visions of her doing something silly, or embarrassing me in some way, but they were all unfounded. She was super uber good, to the point that she now has a giant fan club spanning both sides of the newly-joined families. Everybody was so very impressed with her, and I couldn’t have been more proud. She followed my mom like a trooper through the giant hotel parking lot, through the giant hotel, navigated the ever-changing obstacle course of the hotel halls, zoomed me up and down the many and varied ramps and stairs of the AGO, even put up with Steve holding my shoulder as we made our way, did everything super perfectly! The security were amazed by her ability to avoid all the obstacles all over the place. Go Trix, you are awesome.

I was also super happy with Mom’s understanding Trix’s needs and not resenting them. I was worried that she would be overwhelmed with doing mother of the bride stuff and then having to help me, but nope, she was awesome. Every time I needed her to do something different, like guide me out of the loud music because I couldn’t hear directions, or give Trix an extra chance to relieve, she listened and did the best she could to do what I needed. The next morning, I felt guilty about waking her up to ask her to help me get Trix out to the potty spot, but she did it, even through the rain, without complaining.

It was an amazing weekend, and by all accounts, a beautiful wedding. I’m still getting used to the fact that my sister’s married!

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