My Buddy's Kentucky Wedding (Part I from My Road Trip 2008)

I arrived back in the States almost two weeks ago…..and I have yet to really post anything on here. Well, now that’s about to change with a lot of posts…..all in a span of a couple of days. Currently I am on my Road Trip for 2008….which, to be honest, is a really, really long one! Here goes:

Last Friday (June 6th), I took off very early in the morning to head for Louisville, KY for my buddy Richard’s wedding. Richard and I worked together at Blank Park Zoo and we have been friends since high school. He and his amazing wife, Sarah got married last Saturday (June 7th) at a beautiful Methodist Church in Louisville, where they live.

The service was great and it was really nice in the church. The touching moment came during the vows….as Richard was saying his vows, he had to take a moment to compose himself, as he was about to cry. To be honest, that was one of the more touching things I had ever seen at a wedding and it was one of those moments where you can just tell how much they care about each other.

After the wedding, the scene shifted from the church to the official Kentucky Derby Museum, which was pretty sweet. We got to learn about the Derby and then we were seated in the room where they show a short movie and our tables were named after previous Triple Crown winners, which was a sweet touch.

Dustin and I racing horses at the Museum

As we looked around our table, Lianne & Mike Farley, Sara and Dustin Miller, Brad’s fiancée Tiffany and myself were all seated at the same table and there were four vacant seats. After some discussion, we were wondering who on Earth Richard would set next to us, knowing that we were going to be a bit wild (we hoped Brad was going to sit with us, but he was the Best Man, so we weren’t sure).

Sara, Lianne and Mike

Then, after we had some snacks, the wedding party arrived! After a nice intro, we then got to see who was going to sit near us…..Brad and then Richard and Sarah joined us as well! To be honest, we felt pretty special to be sitting with the Bride and Groom.

After some incredible food, we had the usual wedding fun, the bouquet toss and the garter throw. Then….the dancing began. I’m not going to lie, things got crazy. Eventually we were all out there, dancing and having a good time. At one point Dustin was dancing to Thriller, then my leg was used as a guitar, Brad was dancing with his suspenders……I can’t relay all the fun that we had (and some things happened that can’t be spoken of).

Preparing for the "garter toss"

Dustin and Brad are dancing, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing

It had been a long, long time since I’ve had that much fun and it was great to be back with all the guys. It was also a great start to Road Trip 2008! I also made some new friends, one of which I met for lunch on Monday on Day 1 of my drive to Austin, but that’s another story all together…..

Dios les bendiga

Uh-oh.....

oh….by the way….yes, I caught the garter—but I was set up! All the other “single” guys were about 5 years younger than me and then there was Richard’s brother Ryan, who is two years younger. As Richard shot the garter, all the young guys in front of me ducked and low & behold, it landed right in my hand. Thanks Richard.