The Chicago Wedding

The first wedding of the year for us took place on the 11th April in Lisle a suburb of Chicago. The picture shows Chris's cousin Ann with her new daughter-in-law Kelly her son Sean and her brother-in-law Tony.

This is the first time we have been to a wedding in America, the service took place in one of the ballrooms at the hotel with the chairs laid out on either side of a white runner. The groom was attended by his best man and two other groomsmen, and the bride attended by a Maid of Honour and 2 bridesmaids. The service seemed very quick, there were 2 readings followed by a short talk by the celebrant then Sean & Kelly exchanged their vows. We left the ballroom and shook hands with the wedding party before having canapes and drinks in the foyer.

After an hour we went into a second ballroom, and after all the guests were seated the wedding party were introduced and Sean & Kelly cut the cake. Next came the speeches, one from the Maid of Honour, one from Sean and finally the Best Man. Darren and Sean met at junior school and have been friends ever since. Darren had a number of cartoons, which he projected onto a screen, highlighting memorable moments from their friendship and finishing with one of the bride & groom.

Then we had the wedding meal, starting with onion soup, followed by sorbet, then a salad with an entree of pork tenderloin, with potatoes & green beans, accompanied by the wine of your choice. Finally a slice of cake with a chocolate strawberry as well as tea or coffee.

After the meal came the dancing, as at all weddings the first dance was for the bride and groom, then Sean danced with Ann, that was a magic moment. After the bridal party had shared a dance we were all invited to join them on the dance floor. Like all of these do's the music was very loud and seemed to reside in the 1970's! But everyone enjoyed themselves. Later on Kelly threw the bouquet for the single ladies, and Sean threw her garter for the single men.

We caught the last train back to the hotel, and just as we left Tony realised he had left his glasses behind, so on Sunday we took the train back to Lisle to pick them up. It was a beautiful day so we did not mind.