Yes, this happened about 3 weeks ago, but I’ve wanted to wait until I had the time to write a post worthy of such an event…
One of my best friends, Matt Blanchette, and his fiance Kelly who’s a wonderful person and whom I am not best friends with currently but hope to get to know better over time, got married!
The wedding was on saturday June 10th, so Amme and I drove down on 9th with Johnny B in tow to make it to the rehearsal. We met B, Doody, Trevor, and Franklin at the tux place in Portland. It was so great to see everyone again. We never seem to see Doody enough, and hadn’t seen Trevor for 6 months. Franklin had been MIA since junior year of highschool (6 years?) so that was a real surprise! He doesn’t look much different thanhe did back then, heh. Everything fit well except Trevor’s jacket. He’s the smallest in our group, but his jacket was bigger than mine! We got overnight alterations ordered and they turned out fine.
After that we headed over to the rehersal. They had it at a non-denominational chapel in a cemetary, and it was the coolest little gothic chapel i’ve ever been to! The building was quite small and made of rough-hewn stone, and it had cool wooden rafters. We basically played aroud a lot but got a feel for what was going to happen and who would do what and when. Trevor and I were selected to open the doors for the bride and her maids. Zach and Doody had readings to do, and Johnny was to play two songs. After getting all our ducks in a row we made our way to the rehersal dinner.
The rehersal dinner location was unknown until the day it actually happened due to the fact that the chinese resturant that had good vegan food for the Bride and Groom wouldn’t let us have the dinner until after the supper rush, and Matt’s mom didn’t want the seniors to eat too late. Ruling that out, there were no other resturants around town with a decent vegan menu. It ended up being at Ruby Tuesdays right next to our hotel, which was a plus. It was really fun to have so many people at one huge table, but unfortunately Jalb and Jason didn’t make it.
The food was good, though there wasn’t much variety for B and Kelly, but there was one small glitch (besides there not being any vinegar for Kris Blanchette and his wife’s french fries): Jesse and Kristen drove down later than the rest of us, and when they asked what exit to take to get to Ruby’s, we told them the exit number off I-95 instead of I-295, putting them in the Old Port clear across the city!
After much deliberation, arguing, and coaching, we got them on the right track and they arrived shortly therafter.
After the dinner we did something or other… I honestly don’t remember. We slept at some point.
The morning of the wedding is also somewhat of a blur. I remember getting up and going to the reception hall to set up the DJ equipment and go over the plans for setting up food before the guests came, and I remember getting my tux on and dropping a tux off at B’s Mom’s hotel. I also remember arriving at the hotel, but all the in-between stuff is a hazy. Stress and deadlines will do that to you.
Everybody looked really great when we all met up at the hotel. There was a limo, but Amme and I drove her car since we and Zach had to leave before everyone else to set up the reception. The chapel looked great, and so did the wedding party. Everyone was so spiffy. Kelly looked really lovely in her dress.
Just as the ceremony was about to start, Jalbey and Jason walked in. At least they made it! Trevor and I made our way to the back and opened the doors for Kelly and her sisters as they walked down the isle, then took our seats. Doody gave a great reading, then Johnny B played a great song. He’s such a great musician. After that Zach read a great poem, then Johnny played another wonderful performance. Everybody did so well.
When they wen’t to light their unity candle with their separate candles, all the wax flowed into it and smothered it so it wouldn’t light. A note to all you engaged couples: dig the wick out, heh. This was a minor glitch and we didn’t let a little unlit candle get in the way of this happy day. Matt and Kelly walked back down the steps to the front of the room and said their vows. Our little B started tearing up, but they got through them without bawling, which is always nice :) , and they were married!
Immediately after they preceded to the back of the room we took off to the reception hall, and I’m glad we did! The invitations specifically said the reception wouldn’t be for another 2 hours, but people started arriving minutes after we did! WTF?
This made it really hard to get the food out and things in place, but everybody worked extra fast and got it finished. The food was amazing. O’naturelle’s catered with some really great soups and sandwiches. I loved the sandwiches, especially the bread! They had pita bread and hummus that was incredable. Kelly even had a chocolate fountain they’d bought with lots of strawberries for desert.
I was the DJ, and I had a great setup. Someone from MySpace had let us borrow a PA system from their band, and it had a HUGE mixing board and a very powerful amp and speakers. All I had to do was plug my ipods into the board and navigate to my playlists. I had one of slow songs, one of fast songs, and one of essential songs like the first and second dance songs, etc. I did a little running around getting food in between announcements, but it all went great. I’m glad Kelly and Matt gave me the honor of being the DJ for their wedding.
As we were getting ready to toast, we forgot bottle openers for all of the sparkling cider! Luckily somebody found one and Zach went around to every table and opened the bottles. What a good waiter! LOL. Other than that it went off without a hitch. The reception looked really great. I especially liked the fireplace. Johnny B and Matt’s brother Kris B both gave great toasts. I forget if Matt’s dad gave one or not, but kelly’s sisters gave a really sweet one too, and I gave a toast as well.
There was much socializing and photography; Matty and Kelly looked so cute cutting the cake! I didn’t get hardly any reception photos because I was entirely too busy, but many others did including Michael and Renee Woodward, the photographers and close friends of Kelly and Matty. I didn’t get a chance to talk to them much but they seemed really fun. They take wonderful photos, especially portraits.
After the reception we all retired to our rooms and hung out. The next day we went to B and Kelly’s apartment to watch them open gifts with Michael and Renee, and then took off back to Caribou a couple hours later to see our lonely kitties and ferrets.
PS: Photos of the wedding will be posted soon. I hope…
Gary Kulash are discussing. 
Jesse and one other person are discussing. 
Rhymes with tree covered in pee, 
Convicted Felon and 2 others are discussing. 
Doody 12:53 am on 6/13/2007 Permalink
Just a quick note to add a minor edit and stuff:
The Maniacs name was actually first chosen because we were all from the true heart of Maine (by heart I mean not just the coast which is what everyone thinks Maine is). In other words Maniacs is sometimes what Maine people are called.
Also, part of the reason it is released primarily as a podcast is we have not figured out a way to do it live just yet, but even if we ever are able to we would still release it as a podcast as well anyway because as Euicho said, it’s just cool that way.
We do enjoy doing it, and we really miss doing it together because being able to interact that way produces better chit-chat, but we really do enjoy doing it any way we can. And we are always happy to have new listeners.
Doody 1:03 am on 6/13/2007 Permalink
Edit to my comment above, I did actually read the article Euicho just added the Maine thing afterwards hehehe…
Gary Kulash 10:47 pm on 6/13/2007 Permalink
Isn’t it odd what you find when you type your name into Google? Glad to hear that you enjoyed the years of VANF Weekly Show broadcasts that George and I did together. We both greatly enjoyed our time on the air.
Now, I find myself working as a manager with a large Real Estate Investment Trust over in DC. How times change…
Best wishes with your new show in the future!
-Gary Kulash
Euicho 1:16 pm on 6/15/2007 Permalink
Wow, thanks for stopping by Gary. We enjoyed you and George’s show. Its really good to hear you’re doing well!
Doody 8:54 am on 6/22/2007 Permalink
Yeah thanks again Gary. We definitely liked your show and it made us want to do our own, its great to hear that you are doing well!