Goin' down-ee ocean to see 'em get hitched, hon!

I had another crazy weekend. Surprise surprise. Is anyone surprised at this point? I won't bore you with the dirty details, and I'll cut (for the most part) straight to the fun stuff.

Saturday night after my show, I drove from Baltimore to Ocean City, Maryland (about a 2.5 hour drive without stopping for you non-Baltimoreans) to prepare for the Maestro's brother's wedding. His aunt and uncle rented a beautiful house in Ocean Pines, a suburb of Ocean City that has waterfront property that backs up to the Assawoman Bay (how's that for a body of water?). I got in around 1:30 am, and the Maestro told me that we had a beautiful view of the water, but it was pitch black and I had just about enough energy at that point to brush my teeth and pass out.

When I woke up the next morning, this is what I saw:



Seriously... right off from the back porch. It was about 80 degrees around noon, so I just sat outside in the shade watching the boats go by and pretending to read until I had to get ready for the wedding.

When it came time for the ceremony, I headed over to Ocean City, which is about a 10 minute drive from Ocean Pines. The community of Ocean Pines has a lovely beach club that overlooks the ocean. This is where the couple decided to exchange their vows.

Anyone who knows me knows that I detest the heat, despise sand, and pretty much don't care for Ocean City as it's usually crowded and overrun with a colorful (to say the very least) crowd. While I was looking forward to these nuptials, I was a little skeptical of the whole beach wedding thing as I'd never been to one. While they got married right in the elbow of a dune, the guests got to sit on a boardwalk just above them, so I didn't have to get my tootsies in the sand. It was about 75 degrees and breezy, so I wasn't hot. And the location of the dunes in between 49th and 50th streets was a little off the beaten path, so it was pretty secluded, too. So basically, this wedding foiled all of my complaints about the beach.

The ceremony was meaningful and very personalized to the couple. Instead of a unity candle, they had a sand ceremony (apparently the "in" thing at wedding ceremonies these days) . Mothers of the bride and groom brought colorful vials of sand with them as they were escorted in. When the time came at the ceremony, the bride and groom simultaneously poured their vials of sand into one bottle to signify them coming together as one.



The party afterwards was on the outside deck attached to the beach club. It was small, intimate, casual, and tons of fun. The highlight was the Maestro's grandmother jumping up and down to Kriss Kross' "Jump."



Here are a few more pictures of a "wondah-ful" evening on the water:










Remember these kids from the July 4th wedding? Newlyweds, I've noticed, have a particular glow about them.


The Maestro and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves