Melissa and Mark's wedding: part 1

As Melissa's wedding is such a big event, it's going to take a few posts to cover everything! Well, I took over 350 pictures over the course of 3 days, and I can't really pare that down to 6-7 favorites. The other thing is psychological...if I sit down thinking I have to cover the whole wedding in one post I'd develop some form of anxiety for which LL would make fun of me (she often remarks that sometimes things are harder for me than for most people...these things include sleeping, driving, cleaning, going to the post office, filling out forms, etc.). So as part of an effort to keep my heart rate at an acceptable level, you'll be stuck getting this in bits. We are hoping that the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts.

Since the wedding was the day before Mother's Day, there were Mother's Day charms handed out to all the...mothers. They were cute. LL asked me if they were cute and I said yes. I don't really know what they are for. Well, I know they're for Mother's Day, but I don't know what a mother does with them. But I'm assuming that their utility is obvious, and I don't want to embarrass myself by asking LL. I also helped to make these things...I cut the little notches in the sides of the cards so that the yellow ribbon would not slide down. I think it's safe to say that that was probably one of the 5 most important steps in the construction of the charms.

Anyway, here we are on our way to Tulsa. This is the Denver airport (you might recognize it). Gate A53!

LL was the matron of honor, which means she has to purchase wedding night Lingerie for the bride. Here's Melissa posing with her sexy outfit. I think it's a little drab, but what do I know.

Ok, ok, I'm kidding. Obviously, this is a slip. These are used so that, if you stand in front of a bright light (e.g., the sun), no one will be able to see that you're wearing Spanks. Only judging by their effectiveness in the sunlight above, I'm not sure if I'd trust them to work.

Another fascinating thing about this slip is that I was at Macy's when LL bought it. It turns out there were only 2-3 to choose from (as if THAT's not apparent from the photo), and LL was a little disappointed about that. She mentioned this to the sales associate who said people do not wear slips anymore, and instead people wore socks. I don't understand that response, but LL says that it doesn't make any sense to her either. So if you know how socks can be used to replace slips, please let us know!

Anyway, after meeting up with Melissa and transferring the beige prize, we all went to a restaurant called El Guapo's, which had a giant rooster painted on the side. Mark came too, so there were four of us: me and LL, and Melissa and Mark. We got to sit on the roof. Here are three of our beers lined up along the roof ledge overlooking downtown Tulsa. Look good, don't they?

I have to say that Tulsa was a cute town. It's not a big city by any stretch, and there's nothing really urban about it as far as having lots of high-end eating or the usual lineup of fancy hotels and all that. But it was a fun place to hang out. There are a few cool shops near El Guapo's that we saw, one of which we went in for t-shirts and Christmas ornaments, of course (it also had a lot of Woody Guthrie memorabilia..."This beer is my beer. It is not your beer." ...I made that up). Anyway, all in all I liked Tulsa.

Here's LL and I on the roof of El Guapo's. We had a great time.

And here's the grand couple of honor. Melissa wore cute outfits all weekend. She's also wearing a pin with a picture of Mark at age 5 or so (when he was only 5'10" or whatever). In response, LL wore a pin of Melissa the next day. I don't think that's technically the appropriate reciprocation, but I'm not sure if I have a pin of me that she could wear anyway...yet!