a heartening new start for the new year

My first cousin got married this weekend, and we did a drive-by visit to Manhattan to attend. The wedding was in the very elegant Puck Building (more pictures here), where according to a friend, the wedding scene from When Harry Met Sally was shot.

My sister and her husband flew in from Oregon, my brother flew solo from Costa Rica, and Robert and I somehow managed to get there too.

My cousin and her new husband seem to be madly in love with each other, which made the whole thing very joyous. And it was an incredibly elegant affair, with maybe 200 people, dressed for a very fancy funeral (there was much black in evidence) or a wedding as could only be pulled off in New York. In fact, I imagined that everyone wearing a color was from away, although some New Yorkers did go all out and wear a very dark shade of brown. (Well, there was one -er- dress -- if you can call it that, that was made up of thin rectangles of white and light green chiffon. I imagine that the top was glued on because otherwise, there would have been -er- floppage. Let's just say that it was extremely low cut front and back, and also high cut in the back. Afterwards, I realized that if I ever saw the owner of the dress again, there would be no way I'd recognize her. But I'd certainly recognize the dress.)

The three rooms we were in (where the ceremony was held on the 7th floor, the reception was held on the first floor, and the dinner was held, also on the first floor) had beautiful wooden floors, and I could only imagine an elaborate and huge contra dance held there, maybe three contra dances simultaneously with three different bands.

And everything was so perfect -- the flower arrangements, for example, included lavendar hydrangeas mixed with pale orange roses, just lovely. The band was really really loud but also really really good. Especially on their R&B pieces, I had to blink to make sure that the original singers weren't on stage. The food was outrageous and the wedding cake to die for. (This is one trend that I really appreciate in weddings -- excellent cake.)

Robert and I were seated at the kids table for first cousins of the bride on both sides and their partners. It was a lot of fun to catch up with everyone, including my own sibs.

There was a lot of good humor, many people danced, and a good time was had by nearly all. Unfortunately, my mother's and aunt's first cousins left early. It was too loud and too late for them. I knew they weren't going to last long when one cuz came back from a fresh breath of air and offered to buy corn dogs for the crowd.

We didn't get out til 12:30, and of course were caught in a traffic jam before we knew what had hit us. I think we got back to the hotel around 2 (yes, in the morning, and no, I don't stay up that late very often).

The next day, we went to a brunch at my aunt and uncle's house. There was a smaller crowd, and of course, the whole event was quite elegant and understated. My brother, who went to the afterparty and was out til 4 (he said that he didn't have his practical-minded wife along to remind him it would be a bad idea ) was nonetheless fairly coherent and the b&g even rolled in after a while, looking radiant.

A good weekend. My regret is not having much time with my sister, whom I haven't seen in a while. Perhaps that can be rectified one of these days.

P.S. And it was good to come home, too. We boarded Theo for about 36 hours, which was probably too short a time, but definitely too long to leave him at home with just Koa to watch over him. We left Koa on her own. We decided that having someone check in on her would just terrify her and make her more anxious. And she was totally fine when we got home, happy to see us, no apparent damage done. We all continue to learn.