Erin and Peter Get Married
Erin and I got married on May 20, 2006 at the Blockade Runner Resort in Wrightsville Beach, NC. It was wonderful.
Here are the events as I remember them. The whole time was just absolutely fantastic. These were the happiest days in my life.
Friday - Drive & Rehearsal Day
I began the day by picking up Jim Little - Tiffany's boyfriend. I thought it was going to be a hassle and all finding him at the airport. Turns out I was running a bit late - I thought. It turned out to be almost perfect timing.
I met him right outside the terminal. It was a picture perfect interlude. He jumped in. And we were off.
We got gas and some shit and got of the road. It was Raleigh traffic at 12:30 pm and it wasn't so bad.
Our drive was pretty relaxing. There's was some traffic. We got through fine. Right around Wallace, however, we took a little detour.
Right at the Wallace exit, there was something up on 40. We got off and decided to catch a bite to eat at McD's. It dawned on me that we had to see Dr. Blair and Blair Family Practice. Unfortunately, it turns out that he was closed. Snapped some photos to prove it.
Since Wallace is only about 40 miles from the coast, we just jumped back on and missed everything. Interestingly, though, myself and Jim got a first hand look at this guy lose control of his car. He took out about 8-9 of those posts. The guard rail held, though. It was pretty freaky in a cool sort of way.
We finally got to the hotel at about 3:40pm. AFter checking in, the candles needed to be done. All hands were on deck. Everyone helped and they got it done in about twenty minutes.
I put out some fires and went with Mark to go pickup the cake. Apple Annies. After a quick stop to Wings for some flip flops, we had to get back from the rehearsal dinner.
The Rehearsal went great. The food was good. It was a nice setting. People really got a hoot out of the gifts we got them. Even Tommy made it - although somewhat later than expected, but still. Hopefully his food wasn't that cold... I thought the whole thing was just wonderful. Very nice time had by all. .
We got back to the hotel about 10:15. Everyone went to the bar pretty much. I just sort of visited with everyone. It was so special to see Erin with her friends. It was just such an amazing sight. She was just so 'having a good time'. Never seen her like that....Perfecto.
Got to visit with everyone. I was feeling good. Unbelievable actually. Just so great seeing everyone have a good time.
I saw Erin for the last time just about 12:00 Midnight. Before we parted ways, we walked down the aisle - just the two of us. We practiced our wedding kiss and even the twinkle. We listened to the waves. The ocean. We hugged...
I won't see her again to the wedding.
I concluded by hanging out with everyone at the bar. Bill Bond and Dan Bond showed up. Hanging out. Was great.
Near the end of the night, I was especially stoked by with the toast Charles made. He sort of roasted me. It was fantastic.
The exclamation point of the night was when the security guard had to kick us out. Not really a big deal.
The Rehearsal
This happened Friday night and started in the hotel. Nick took some excellent pictures of how some of it happened. Thank God for these!
We all met in the hotel's lobby and greeted. Carol got things going.
The rehearsal dinner turned out pretty cool too. The food was excellent and the room was the perfect size. What was even neater was the scenary as well.
After dinner and stuff, we gave everyone thier gifts. Tommy ended up getting there later than expected. But it worked out fine..
We all went back to the hotel and hit the bar. Erin got to hang out with her law school buddies. It was the happiest I've ever seen her while hanging out.
It turned that the idiot bartender decided to close the bar. She had three deep and buying at the bar. Tommy eventually ordered some shots...the bitch charged him some outrageous price.
The night ended with something awesome from Charles though. He had brought this truly excellent champagne and offered a toast. Everyone was there...very cool.
After that I went up to crash. I didn't get too much sleep. Tomorrow was a big day
Saturday - The Big Day
My big day started out by getting breakfast and spending some time with family and friends. The hotel ended up having a pretty bomb breakfast bar with great food. I got a chance to have breakfast with Dad, the D'Amicos and saw a bunch of other people. I met some of Erin's family for the first time.
I was nervous about seeing Erin - but I was assured that she was still in her room.
After breakfast, I hooked up with Mark Edwards and we grabbed cues and headed over to Break Time [3]to play some. I had never been to Breaktime in Wilmington, but had heard about it for awhile. I turned out that the place was one of the better pool rooms I had been to. Great equipment. It had an attached bowling alley too.
After Mark kicked my ass for a couple hours, we had to pick up the cake at Apple Annies. When I went in, I overheard a couple in front of me talking about their wedding. I chimed in to tell them we were using Nancy Hearn. They told me that they had heard of her too, but had thought that her tasting cake was 'really dry'. I felt a lump in my throat; how could this be? Anyways, I decided to keep it a secret.
After that stop, I also picked up some hankerchiefs. I needed these to wipe Erin's eyes.
During this time (it actually started some in the pool room) I could feel myself getting pretty keyed up. Not a shaking nervous mind you, just a tight feeling in my stomach. It came and went.
I got back to the hotel about 2:30. I went over to the bar and we watched a little bit of the Sabres game. It was the first game in their series with Carolina. Turned out the won, thankfully.
At this point it was about time to start getting ready. I went up to Kirk's room and did my thing. Erin supposedly was doing her's one flight above.
My wedding party met me here eventually. Dad was there, as was Jim. We just shot the shit for a bit. Tommy had the great idea to play some cards. After some argument, we ended up playing some hands. We even had some 'chips' so to speak. At the end of the game, one of the players even took his winnings; it was a real hoot.
I really would have liked to watch the Preakness. It had been scheduled to run at 6:10 pm. (It's a good thing we didn't)
Finally, about 5:57 we all walked down. This was it.
I remember the ceremony quite well. I remember walking to down the aisle in formation. I remember having trouble getting the words out for the vows. It was just a great ceremony. I could hear the ocean.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that my great and extremely pious brother, Daniel J. Graber, actually conducted the part of our vows. He really did a great job, and I'm embarrased that I didn't mention it sooner!
After the ceremony we took photos on the beach. It was cool. After that our reception started.
After we walked in, we immediately did our first dance. This was something that we had worked pretty hard on. While I didn't know we I was going to do, I knew we were going to do well. I think we nailed it!
After that, the formalities took over. I thought my brother Vince gave an excellent speech. But Erin's father's was the best. I thought Megan did a great job too.
The food and the rest of the party was great. We visited as many tables as we could together. I think people had a good time.
After that I relaxed a bit and just tried to take it all in.
The only thing I regret was missing the last dance. I got tied up with BB.
Everything wound down and everyone sort of either left or went to the bar. Myself and Erin retired briefly but came back down to hang out a bit. The security guard was a bit more foregiving tonight.
Sunday - The Wedding Breakfast
In the morning, Jim and Kathie hosted a wonderful wedding breakfast for everyone. If gave us a chance to see everyone once again before wishing them off.
After we hung out and packed up everything, mostly everyone was either headed back to Raleigh or waiting to fly out that night. Erin and I had to get back because we were flying out early Monday. Besides, we were having house guests on Monday night (Bobby/Rob/Danny/Jill) because they were catching the Sabres game in Raleigh.
We were at sea by the time the Sabres lost.