The wedding: part two.

When we last left our heroes, they were literally married for all of ten minutes. And today marks one month since it happened! You can't slow down time, can you? More specifically, you REALLY can't slow down time on your wedding day. All of my married friends told me, "try and slow it down, soak it in, take a look around and try to remember." I tried. It can't be done.

But that's why we have film, memory, and friends, right? To help piece it all together. I know that when the ceremony was over, and everyone crowded us with congratulations, that we really had a great night ahead of us. I remember having a nice moment with Meg's mom, where she mentioned that she was very happy that Meg had me. That meant alot.

But move forward! We needed to get things rolling! The band needed to set up, the staff had to rearrange the place on a newly written layout, and our crowd needed to know where to go. Unfortunately - as amazing as the staff was - they did look at the seating chart backwards, so some of our closest relatives and friends were exactly opposite of where they should've been. But it was such an intimate setting, I don't think it mattered. I will apologize again to the folks who had to sit out in the tented area, which was not being heated properly by the space heater. Sorry, it wasn't anything personal.

Let me also say, the appetizers were so damn good, I wish I wasn't so busy being the groom. I would've grabbed a tray and ran! I remember going in back and personally shaking every staff members hand, saying thank you. Except for one guy, who has on gloves and couldn't shake hands for sanitary reasons. That's how good they were.

We sat down at our sweetheart table. I've been to hundreds, literally hundreds of weddings, working them, attending them, even crashing one or two! At some point, it can't be helped but to look up there at the bride and groom, at the meal of their lives, and wonder what that must be like. Let me tell you: it's great. Everyone that matters to you is backing you up, and - for a brief moment in time - there are no doubts or concerns or anything that you are anything less than blessed. Meg and I sat up there, overlooking everything, and saying to each other, "all this planning, all this worry, and look at it now. It's great." So surreal it was, drinking a bottle of wine she bought for me when we didn't even know if we were dating, on our wedding day.

My brother kicked off the fun in typical Kevin fashion, being charming, funny and moving simultaneously. And dammit, the waterworks kicked in again. This is my little brother, who will always have my back, who I held as a baby with my broken arm, who has turned into a powerhouse of a man, and not because he's a physical beast. He's just one of those guys you believe in, and he set the bar pretty high for the best man speech that I have to give next year.

Then the sisters came in, and gave a great showing of support and love, the way they do best - together. A great moment, and one of the last few touching moments before we turned this thing into "ground zero party town."

Some conventions we wanted to keep. We made sure to go around to every table to say thank you and hello to everyone. We kissed when the damn glasses clinked. And we made sure that we got all the good dances in. Another thing I've always wondered about was how my mother son dance would be. And the answer is: better than great. My mom made a point to be in tip top dancing shape for this thing, and we danced to one of her all time favorites: Beautiful Boy by John Lennon. No, I am not an egomaniac. Meg got her dance with her dad, to God Only Knows by the Beach Boys. And lest I forget: we danced our first dance as husband and wife to Your Song, by Elton John. Again, it's such a blur, I hope the videographer was paying better attention.

Then The Walk-Ins kicked in. Having played with them for years, I can say with certainty that they gave us their absolute best performance. The new bassist is awesome, and they were so interactive with everyone, I have literally never seen a wedding dance floor stay that packed and active ever, and - like I said - I've seen a lot of weddings. I think the combination of quality friends and quality band equals packed dance floor. And I danced with everyone I saw. I literally did not stop dancing the entire night, except to get drinks and laugh with people...

oh, and do a number or two for my Meg. The first was Prince's Kiss. You can see me doing it here...



See, there's a long and storied history to this song, but the short version is that she loves the song. And I was determined to perform it for her. I must've practiced it dozens of times at home, while everyone was out working. But it wasn't enough to sing it, I had to sell it. Hence the patented chair dive move, which I managed to pull off without breaking my neck. Thank you fates, for letting me look cool on my wedding night. And for having a girl that appreciates that sort of thing.

And at the end of the night, I played Go Getter, the song I wrote for her, the first song I've ever written for a girl I've been with. And the band was six guys! Making it sound so rich and full, and giving my girl the serenade she asked for.

We danced, and danced and danced. I remember hugging the band, mugging for Cannen's camera, doing shots at the bar and never getting anywhere beyond buzzed, watching the waves still crashing as the night wound down. And my beautiful Meg, loving every minute of it. She's the kind of girl who carries everyones worries around with her, the kind of girl who wants to help people, and for once she was just living it up. Made me happier than anything. There's a shot of us doing the "Single Ladies" dance, and that might be my favorite picture of the evening.

And before I could bottle it all up and preserve it, it was over. So, if you have an anecdote from the night, or anything, tell me sometime. Because I will always take another story from the best night of my life.

Next: the honeymoon.