When last we left our heroine (ME, you twits!) we had just gotten to the hotel and discovered no guestbook.

We eventually found the guestbook as people were mingling. It was a really good DJ who played background music at this time and during dinner. (Good Times Unlimited, Dave Lemley) He introduced "Mr. and Mrs. Krajewski" and people continued to mingle till dinner was served. They had been getting pictures at the getaway car while the sun was still up.

I grabbed one disposable camera, and when one table was taken down, another. Rich went around demonstrating taking pictures of something other than the bride and groom, and other people did well. (There are a lot of pictures of one of the guests, heaven knows why, but I think every guest is in at least one picture.) This is the second set of disposables I got: Monica had already ordered others, so the ones I bought then I was holding for Roni, but she just took too long to get engaged and we used the others up.

R.J.'s mother, who paid for the flowers, had stated at the church that she was disappointed. (I thought they were lovely, myself, though one of the ones on the aisle kept falling down.) The people's bouquets were beautiful, and at the hotel she went all out. Each table had a "goldfish bowl" bouquet. We ended up with three of these that have lasted well. Roni's choice for favors were little buckets as place card holders. My niece JJ wanted one with a ball and I kept trying to give her mine, but she settled for her crab anyway.

The head table was in the center next to the cake table, and the groom's family table to the right, ours to the left. We had us, Vince, and my sister and nieces. Mark was welcome, too, but since there was one of Roni's friends there who only knew Roni, Monica, Lisa, and Mark, he was detailed to keep her company since the others were all at the head table. Later, they got a "Loretto" picture, but without Bernadette. There were five other tables. They'd planned for six, so I guess some people don't know from RSVP. There were about 65 people in the end.

The Alta Mira is in Marin County for goodness' sake, you'd think they'd be prepared to serve vegetarian. When my dinner finally did come, it was delicious tortellini. (Other people had prime rib.)

The best man got up to give the toast and was well into it when he mentioned children. R.J.'s mother stood and I thought she was going to interject something, since she's been agitating for grandchildren, so I said "hear hear!" Then it turned out that mom was actually giving her own toast and the best man's was over whether he'd planned it to be or not.

R.J. had been allowed one decision by the women, and that was the cake. It was a gorgeous one with "ribbons" made of frosting and edible gold leaf, though I didn't get any of that. Roni had made sure it was all chocolate, all the time, even the white bits. I didn't get any of the orange choccy bits either. What I did have was delicious. The heart-shaped goblet(s) next to the cake was a gift from Monica and Mark. My sister was surprised to see that it splits into two.

Let's see: Roni and R.J. danced, then Roni with her dad, R.J. with his mother, later Rich with my sister and I with R.J. ("I asked you three years ago if you were nervous when Roni caught the bouquet, and you said you were, but what took you so long??"), Roni, R.J., Rich and I in a foursome, (this at the end of "Unchained Melody" which I've decided is Rich's & my song, since no one ever plays "Counting Flowers on the Wall"), and a finish with the four parents in a foursome. The music was mostly pretty mellow, since we're dealing with R.J.'s generation, my generation, and his parents' generation, 30 years older than Roni. There was a YMCA which I got into right next to Monica, so I knew what I was doing, and one fast one that R.J.'s mother boogied down to, plus "We are Family" which Monica dragged me out for. Vince took his sister Bernadette swingdancing once, but it wasn't as wild as at her graduation.

Roni's friend Lisa caught the bouquet, to my niece's dismay. Her older sister, the one in the Navy, had said this wasn't fair, as Lisa didn't have a target and Mary was in the process of zeroing in on one. Then a friend down the street, whose live-in was at the shower, caught the garter. The D.J. told him to put it on Lisa, and the higher above the knee the more happiness for Roni and R.J. I later told both him and Lisa about the garter-catcher who, hearing that, put it on the girl's head.

I had some interesting conversations. My sister tells me she's in a writing group and has written some of her autobiography, the part when she was a toddler in Hawaii and my Mom (not our biological mother) took care of her. She told the group that "later she becomes a villian."
I spotted the old bartender from when Roni worked at Paterson's. I used to go in and say "hide, it's MOM!" and so I greeted him thus. He's now retired and loving it as much as we are. He's planning to travel.
Back when Roni lived in Santa Cruz, the summer between her junior and senior year, she lived in a falling-down house a few blocks from the beach with an ever-changing assortment of folks. The guy who was nominally in charge was Mike, and he was there (with his second wife. First wife, also Roni's friend, attended with her fiance, but no fireworks.) I've always used that place as an example of a great living situation, for though the house was literally falling apart, the people cared for each other. Mike wanted them to attend a weekly dinner to air gripes, and otherwise they all went their own ways. One time, a dog had escaped with Roni's dog's tags, and the shelter called here, and I tried to call her to find out what was going on, and since Mike hadn't bothered to pay the phone bill, the phone was disconnected. OK, a strange dog has the tags, the phone's out, of course she's dead. So I called the cops, who left a note on the door, which Roni discovered at 2 AM or so. She then went to the phone at the beach, and the guys went with her to keep her safe. They also did their best to keep her car running, but they weren't up to miracles. Later she was in a much nicer house where the major communication was snippy post-its everywhere. If she'd been murdered, it might have taken them weeks to notice. So I had to remind Mike of that. I haven't seen him since her senior art show, in 1988!
R.J.'s mother and stepfather have been married for 29 years. My sister was comparing this to the same situation as applied in her life when our father died. There's never been any question that Harry was "Dad."

All too soon, it was time for the last dance (with the parents, as previously noted.) Vince had already left for the airport with my sister and nieces. R.J.'s mother had thrown the rose petals. Roni and R.J. then went out the front entrance (first time I'd seen this!) to get the Clinet, a Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bangesque roadster. Gorgeous. Off they went into their life together. We then gathered up stuff, including the flowers (I got three of the table displays, which are still looking good after coming home in the cooler, and part of the brides's bouquet and then our own) and made sure that R.J.'s family got the presents, I snagged a last glass of champagne, and we walked back to our car and so "home". I'm really glad we decided not to move to tha Alta Mira for the day, even though I didn't take advantage of the spa the next day. Moving would have certainly complicated things.

A couple of notes from earlier: While Roni was having the pictures taken, some people drove by and honked. I also note that unlike her mother, she didn't have her voice crack on "for poorer." I had the most incredible case of bride's nerves, but Roni was calm and collected.

The makeup lady had said to Roni that she had a beautiful family. When Roni then said "you haven't seen my sister" the ML said "but I have seen your mother." This almost makes up for the two dings my sis got in... Saturday night at the barbeque she said Bernadette was the pretty one, implying I wasn't. She nearly got a glass of wine in her hair for that one. Then I was telling about watching the makeup and she said I should have sat down and had one too. Weddings do tend to bring out some interesting bits in people.
R.J.'s mother said to Rich at the church that he should let out the uniform more, while she patted his stomach. In truth, he has lost some weight since Monica's wedding.

I will have more pictures soon. These are from a couple of disposable cameras. My friend Pagan brought a camera bag so I could free up the film from the jammed camera (which still doesn't work) and I had two other rolls that went in. Plus there will be formal pictures and relatives' pics. Real Soon Now I'll do the wedding page for her.