We arrived in Kenilworth, NJ a day before the wedding of Cousin Sheryl and Stephen.
We we set to stay in one hotel the first night…
And a second hotel the next night.
To kill some time that evening, Kelli, Kristi, and I went out for some drinks.
We found a swanky little place in Union, NJ called Mood.
They were just opening when we got there, and we were happy to have a place to drink.
They didn’t serve food, so I ran across the street and got a pizza pie.
After we were done we headed back to the hotel.
We had a few more drinks in the room…
And then watched the Belmont Stakes.
After the race, we packed into the car and headed into NYC.
The funny thing about this picture is that they knew the name of the restaurant, but were content to just follow me blindly.
After being seated, we checked out the menu of crispo.
Long time buddy Jeffrey Nauman and his fiancé, Jamie Jonhson, came by for a visit.
Afterwards, we took a detour through times square before heading home.
The next day we arrived at the Church before the wedding.
The various wedding party members were arriving…
And we used that time to catch up with family.
With the Bride ready to go, it was time to head inside.
The Church was very pretty inside…
And everyone was eagerly awaiting….
The bride!!!
The ceremony was just over 30 minutes long…
And they starting kissing well before the end.
With a ring on that finger…
And a ring on that finger…
They sealed the deal with another kiss…
Lit a candle…
And were pronounced husband and wife!!!
A quick smile for the crowd…
With yet another kiss…
And then it was out the door.
Picture time!!!
While everyone stood around…
I grabbed a quick couple of shots…
Of the wedding party members…
Before saying goodbye to the crowd…
And heading to our next hotel.
A little over an hour later we arrived in Brick, NJ.
The reception was closer to the Jersey Shore…
At the Crystal Point Motel.
With about an hour and a half before the reception, we walked across the parking lot for a drink.
There was a really good band playing that day…
So we stayed for a while and listened.
The reception time was near…
So we made our way over to the event.
We were going to the top wedding.
Looks like I missed my focal point.
This is where dinner was going to be held…
So for now we went downstairs to the cocktail hour.
There was a good bit of family there that we knew.
The wedding party arrived…
And was ready to start drinking.
Capturing letters carved into ice is very hard.
Both happy to be done with the hard part (finding a good man).
Shorts, because…
The reception was at a marina.
Cousins!!!
For those interested in the back of the dress.
At this point no one had gotten them a drink…
So I snapped a picture and then got Sheryl a mimosa.
After cocktail hour it was time to head up for the official reception.
We were at the family table.
Which meant I had plenty of beautiful women around.
Sheryl’s Uncle Scott and Aunt Diane.
Uncle Ted and Aunt Ellen led the way…
Followed by the parents of the groom.
Cousin Brian, always part of the party.
Some of the party danced…
Yelled…
Or brought multiple women when entering…
Others just casually entered.
With the wedding party out, it was time for…
The bride and groom!!!!
It was time for the first dance.
Which of course included another kiss.
After their dance came the father/daughter dance.
Brian watched with me from the table.
Stephen danced with his mother…
While Sheryl watched from her table.
We were getting close to finishing with the formalities, and it was toast time.
Ladies first…
And then it was time for the best man.
Afterwards, everyone hit the dance floor…
And generally cut loose…
And really had a good time…
Including these two.
The Jacobs men.
I jumped in for a picture, too.
The wedding table.
First course was served.
And while waiting for the second course, I took a picture of Uncle Scott’s car.
Back inside we used the photo booth to make a funny note.
Stephen sat Sheryl for dinner…
And I joined in the feast.
The non-veggy option.
The aforementioned photo booth.
Sister and brother Jacobs.
The “official” photography crew.
Women, always in need of help.
It was time to step up the party…
And the DJ had us swinging a napkin around the table.
This quickly led to everyone on the dance floor…
With Kristi leading the way.
As the room erupted into a frenzy of dancing…
Kelli and Sheryl apparently found great humor in Kristi’s dancing.
Which turned into a dance off in front of the bride and groom.
Kristi is very serious about her dancing.
No smiling allowed.
A ring had formed around the dancing…
And then everyone formed a congo line and made a ring around the room.
Funny how we think we look when we’re dancing, compared to the way we actually look.
Take the fool on the left, for example.
Sister and brother Jacobs.
Time to cut the cake…
And they made short work of the ordeal…
Before getting to the feeding.
No smushing cake in each others mouth this time.
Lots of kissing for these two.
I have a beautiful bride…
I have a kick-ass husband!!!!
Where could these two be going off to?
Oh, that is where they were going.
At 11pm, the rest of the crowd was still going!!!
Sheryl was getting a little goofy….
So I made her pose for a nice one…
Then we added Stephen.
Sheryl with shorts guy.
Me with Stephen’s father.
I guess by this point in the night I was trying to make sure I got the rest of the shots I needed.
Back in the booth it was kissing time again.
And then one last family shot before heading back to the hotel.
I decided it was too early to go to bed…
So I joined forces with some others…
And we headed across the parking lot again…
To do some late night drinking with the bartenders who were nice enough to stay for us.
We had a good crew show up…
And Sheryl and Brian had some quiet time to catch up.
Well that’s all for this trip…
One more goofy shot, and we’re all done here!!!!!