Tara is one of my bestest friends whom I met randomly one awesome night back when she lived in New York. She left NYC and moved back to Texas in September of 2003 and just a few nights after being back home she told me that she'd met a boy named Greg that she really liked a lot! Fast forward three years and Meredith and I got an invitation in the mail to fly out to Texas and attend Greg & Tara's wedding! So we hopped a plane and headed to Texas!
Thursday, March 9th
7:46am = Cranky Meredith not wanting to get out of bed and head to the airport. tags:meredith
bed
cranky
sleepy
All packed up and ready to go! (Except for our huge wedding present which totally didn't fit into our suitcase). tags:gift
In addition to the big gift, Meredith also burned Tara a CD that had Photoshop on it (to help Tara design graphics for her new business's website!) and a bunch of love songs. Awwww! tags:cd
Three hours later and we're in the air and headed to Texas! tags:me
meredith
airplane
Two more hours later and I'm conked the fuck out. Meredith managed to slyly sneak my camera out of my pocket to capture me in all my gape-mouthed glory. tags:me
airplane
asleep
When we landed in Houston we were STARVING so we decided to grab a quick airport slice before getting our rental car and driving into town. The pizza we got was the greasiest, heaviest pizza I've ever eaten. Check out Meredith holding her stomach. If you put your ear near your monitor, you can actually hear her softly groaning. tags:meredith
pizza
The entire time we were eating it, we were wondering why it tasted so bacony. The mystery was solved when I lifted up my cheese and found....a piece of bacon! Gross! (I think they also must've used bacon fat or something in the dough). Fucking, Texas. tags:gross
pizza
Here's our weird-ass rental car/truck type thingy. Way to go, Chevy! Any photo of a car is instantly better if you throw in... tags:rental car
...a girl showing off her keyster standing in front of it! (Hmmmm, maybe Chevy's not so bad after all!) tags:meredith
booty
rental car
And we're off! If I remember correctly, it was like a ninety-minute drive from the airport to the hotel where Tara and Greg's wedding was taking place. tags:me
meredith
rental car
sunglasses
Luckily, I had an expert navigator manning the map! tags:meredith
map
rental car
When we finally arrived at the hotel, it looked like a scene rap music video. Every where you looked there were huge SUVs tinted out, slammed and riding on 24s. And there were all sorts of thugged out dudes walking around with tons of jewelry and gold fronts. Turns out the hotel was hosting two events that weekend: Tara's Wedding and some HUGE dirty-South hip-hop DJ convention! Hahaha. I can't believe I didn't take more photos. Here's Meredith showing off one of the 6 or 7 CDs she was handed in the 20 yard walk from the car to the hotel. We checked into our room, dropped off our bags... tags:meredith
cd
sunglasses
...jumped for joy in the hallway. tags:meredith
jump
Twice. tags:meredith
jump
Then headed back downstairs to meet up with Tara and baby Lucy! This was the first time we'd gotten a chance to meet her! (The last time I saw Tara was exactly one year ago, back when Lucy was still being baked in the baby oven!) tags:lucy
tara
baby
We all went to grab a quick bite at the hotel's restaurant (where we sat at a booth ACROSS FROM MC HAMMER and his "entourage" - I guess they were in town for the hip hop convention thingy) and Lucy and I got to know each other. tags:lucy
tara
baby
And then we watch Lucy play with her favorite toy: Tara's giant lips. Hahahah. tags:lucy
tara
baby
lips
Afterwards, Tara had to go take care of pre-wedding stuff and so Mer and I headed back up to our hotel room to chillax for a bit. tags:meredith
bed
smile
Anytime Meredith "chillaxes" near a bed, chillaxing turns into sleeping after about, oh, 3 minutes. tags:meredith
asleep
bed
A little after midnight later that night, we headed out into the town to check out Houston night life. We ended up at a cool, divey bar that Tara had told us about, that had karaoke - but the wait to sing was really long... tags:me
smoke
...and we were really tired. So after a few drinks, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel. tags:meredith
sleepy
Saturday, March 11th
We slept in the next day, relaxed in our hotel room, and then set out to find a place to grab lunch around 2pm! We ended up at a Thai restaurant where, like always, we ended up ordering WAY too much food. tags:meredith
food
noodles
Then afterwards, we ended up driving past some really nice, sprawling park that was sort of close to our hotel. So we parked the car and hung out on the grass... tags:buildings
grass
shoes
...and read our books for a while. Michael Connelly thriller for me (airport book!) tags:book
Ray Bradbury short stories for Mer. tags:book
Meredith manning the IKAD-cam! tags:me
meredith
sunglasses
This one's for all you foot fetish enthusiasts out there! tags:feet
grass
Meredith took a walk around and snapped a bunch of pics. Like these crazy-ass flood-water markings painted on one of the overpasses. tags:flag
ivy
I can't believe they painted all the way up to 35' of flood-water! tags:ivy
And yet another pic from Mer to all you foot-lovas. tags:feet
sand
While Mer was off exploring she came across this statue of GW, Sr. tags:george bush
statue
Hahaha. (I had no idea he's so tall!) tags:meredith
statue
When Mer was finished with her tour of the park, she handed the cam back to me and settled in to read her book, whereas, I promptly used my recently returned cam to snap this pic of Mer's badonkadonk. Right when I was about to take another one... tags:booty
butt
...she totally busted me. Hahaha. tags:booty
butt
A little after 5:30pm, we hopped back into our rental car and headed out to find a store that sold a card for our gift. tags:me
rental car
sunglasses
Oh, and to pick up a GIANT Mr. Goodbar. tags:meredith
mr goodbar
Then we headed back to the hotel...
...and got all dressed up for Tara's wedding! Awwww, how pretty is my girl? By the way, I'd like to point out that Meredith is wearing a dress that she got for a middle school dance when she was in 8th grade... tags:meredith
dressed up
pretty
...and I was wearing the suit my dad bought for me at Clothing Town to have made when I was Sophomore in high school (1991!) and got invited to go to a school dance with a girl who went to private school. Can you believe that shit still fits?? tags:me
dressed up
Let's hear it for old clothes that still look good! Hahah. tags:meredith
dressed up
Then, we took our seats and it was time for the wedding to start! Here's Emily, Tara's Maid of Honor, kicking off the BRIDAL PROCESSION, y'all! tags:emily
bridesmaids
wedding
Emily was followed by a bunch of teeny tiny flower girls! tags:flower girl
wedding
Look at how cute this little niblet is! tags:flower girl
wedding
Then it was time for the Father of the Bride to walk Tara down the aisle! tags:michael leviton
tara
wedding
Awwwwww! I didn't take any other pics of the actual ceremony because the room was really big and we were all the way in the back! (But don't worry, I more than made up for it during the reception). tags:michael leviton
tara
wedding
After the ceremony, we had about an hour and change to kill before the reception started, so we went back up to our room, relaxed, had ourselves a few drinky drinks and then headed back downstairs to the reception hall... tags:meredith
drink
...where we spend the remaining time before they opened the doors checking out Tara & Greg's spread of "cutesy couple" photos! tags:greg
tara
photo
Awwwwww! tags:greg
tara
photo
Hahahaha. I'm going to punch you right in your bangs. tags:greg
tara
photo
Then, I'M GOING TO SMASH BOTH OF YOUR HEADS! tags:greg
tara
photo
Then the reception hall opened and I got to take my first official picture with the brand new Mrs. Feeney! tags:me
tara
dressed up
wedding
And then I snapped this awesome photo of Tara's mom (who still totally reads this site...Hi, Donna!) fixing Tara's dress. tags:donna
tara
wedding
After the dress was fixed, the crowd was introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Greg Feeney! tags:greg
tara
wedding
Tara and Greg's first dance. tags:greg
tara
dance
wedding
Congrats, Tara & Greg! tags:greg
tara
wedding
Then Tara had a dance with the dads. First up, her dad Mike! tags:michael leviton
tara
dance
Then she danced with her step-dad Daren (who is totally the real life version of Jason Lee's "Earl" character from the show My Name is Earl! Not personality-wise, just moustache-wise). tags:daren
tara
dance
Meredith gives Tara the traditional congratulatory smooch. tags:meredith
tara
kiss
Then it was time for cake! Greg is a big football fan, so in addition to a regular wedding cake, they also had a Pittsburgh Steelers cake! Hahah. tags:cake
wedding
Sometimes when you go to a wedding, you're not sure if the bride and groom are going to feed each other the cake nicely, or whether they're going to smash it into each other's faces. In Tara and Greg's case, I had no doubt in my mind that there was going to be... tags:greg
tara
cake
wedding
...some cake smashed into some faces. Greg didn't smash the cake so much as he lovingly smooshed it. tags:greg
tara
cake
smoosh
wedding
Tara ended up with just a tiny bit of frosting on her nose and lips. However, when it was Tara's turn to feed Greg his cake... tags:greg
tara
cake
wedding
...she went in with a VENGEANCE! Hahahaha. This photo makes me LOL every time I look at it. tags:greg
tara
best
smoosh
wedding
This was, by far and away, the best cake-smashing I'd ever seen at a wedding! Bravo, you two! tags:greg
tara
cake
wedding
Emily gave it a thumbs up too. tags:emily
After the cake-smashing was over, Tara's dad Mike gave a speech. Beyond all the usual wonderful, heartwarming things that a father would normally say on his daughter's wedding day, Mike also managed to include a story about how back when he and Donna were first married, they had a cat that Mike named Poontang. Donna didn't learn that the cat was named after a slang word for vagina until one day when it got loose and she ran all over the neighborhood calling out "Pooon-tang! Pooooon-tang!" and some of the neighbor's kindly filled her in. Whooopsie! It was a really funny story made even funnier by the fact that he was telling it AT A WEDDING! Hahahaha. tags:greg
michael leviton
tara
speech
wedding
Then Greg took off Tara's garter... tags:greg
tara
garter
wedding
...and threw it to the fellas! tags:greg
tara
garter
wedding
Then Tara took her bridal bouquet... tags:tara
bouquet
wedding
...and threw it to the ladies! tags:bouquet
crowd
wedding
And one of the girls that wasn't a bridesmaid caught it! Scandalous! tags:tara
bouquet
bridesmaids
crowd
wedding
Then it was time for lots and lots of dancing! Here's babygirl on the dance floor shaking her thang. How about a close up of of Tara's "dancin' face?"
tags:donna
tara
dance
Awwwww, Yeah. Back it up, girl! tags:tara
best
dance
Tara cuttin' rug with her mama! tags:donna
tara
dance
Meredith, Tara and Emily (who look like they could be sisters!). tags:emily
meredith
Me and Tara's mom, Donna! tags:donna
me
dressed up
Meredith and Jamie tags:jamie
meredith
dance
When I was dancing with Tara, Meredith snagged my camera off the table and managed to get one nice photo of the two of us before we noticed her and... tags:me
tara
dance
wedding
...promptly made more appropriate faces. Hahahaha. tags:me
tara
best
dance
ugly face
Meredith and Greg on the dance floor. tags:greg
meredith
dance
Couple-swap! tags:greg
meredith
dance
Jamie and Emily. tags:emily
jamie
Hahaha. tags:emily
jamie
tongue
A little bit before midnight, the DJ pumped up the jams and managed to get pretty much everyone out onto the dance floor. tags:meredith
bridesmaids
Including the tiniest flower girl (Greg's neice) who wanted to dance with only him! tags:greg
dance
flower girl
groomsmen
wedding
Hahahaha. tags:greg
dance
flower girl
groomsmen
wedding
Awwwww. tags:greg
dance
flower girl
wedding
Tara and her dad! tags:michael leviton
tara
best
wedding
Couples Only! Tara and Greg danced while... tags:emily
greg
meredith
tara
dance
wedding
...Emily took Meredith on a tour of a little town called "Romanceville." tags:emily
meredith
dance
Oooh-la-la! tags:emily
meredith
dance
"I did NOT smash the cake into your face! I gently smooshed it! Yes, there is a difference!" tags:greg
tara
dance
wedding
Hahaha. tags:tara
Greg and his groomsmen. tags:greg
groomsmen
wedding
Tara, Meredith and Emily. tags:emily
meredith
tara
After Emily was through taking Meredith on a tour of Romanceville, Meredith returned the favor by taking Emily on a tour of CRAZYTOWN! tags:emily
meredith
gun show
I love this photo of Tara and Greg laughing about... tags:greg
tara
dance
laugh
wedding
...one of the groomsmen who busted out THE WORM! That's my kind of dude. tags:dance
the worm
wedding
Donna and Daren (Earl!) on the dancefloor. tags:daren
donna
tara
dance
More action photos of the bride and groom dancing! tags:tara
dance
twirl
wedding
Awwwww! I love this pic! tags:greg
tara
best
twirl
wedding
Me and Meredith. tags:me
meredith
Emily was never quite the same once she came back from Crazytown. tags:emily
And here's yet another example where Tara will give you the "nice version" for posterity's sake... tags:emily
tara
...but then will quickly change gears to show her true colors. Hahah. How funny would it be to have wedding photos where all the guests where ONLY making faces like these? tags:emily
tara
tongue
They hotel closed down the reception room at 1am and I'm happy to announce that Meredith and I were among the very last guests. Here's Meredith and Tara jumping for joy on the dance floor at the end of the night. Take one! tags:meredith
tara
jump
wedding
And take two! Hahahah. I love how in this 2nd photo it almost looks like they're both just kneeling on the floor. tags:meredith
tara
jump
wedding
Congrats, Greg and Tara! Thanks for inviting us to the wedding! Here's wishing you wonderful and happy life together! (Now come visit us in New York!). tags:greg
tara
best
wedding
Sunday, March 12th
The next morning, Meredith and I went and had lunch at a really neat old school diner that we found around the corner from our hotel... tags:meredith
food
...and then Meredith was nice enough to be my model as I took pictures for Tara's jewelry store Leviticus Jewelry. Here she being a good sport as I got ready to shoot her in an impromptu parking garage location I scouted on the fly! tags:meredith
wink
And here's one of the final photos from shoot! Who's prettier than my girlfriend, huh? (Necklace by Tara!) tags:meredith
leviticus jewelry
portfolio
Afterwards, we walked around a bunch before we found this neato grass-and-concrete checkerboard park to shoot it. There was even a cooperative pigeon there who kept hanging around in all the right places in the background. Here's one of my final pics from shooting in that location! (Necklace by Tara!) tags:meredith
leviticus jewelry
portfolio
Then later that afternoon, we went back to the hotel to hang out with Greg and Tara one last time before we had to head home. Here's Tara with baby Lucy! tags:lucy
tara
baby
And here's Tara giving Lucy an injection of pureed green beans! tags:lucy
tara
baby
Lucy LOVES the camera. As soon as I started snapping pictures, Lucy was trying to get loose so that she could crawl over and mug for me. tags:lucy
tara
baby
smile
Give me coy! Yes, that's it! tags:lucy
baby
Now, dazzle me with a smile! tags:lucy
baby
Now give me drunk! Perfect! tags:lucy
baby
wink
Lucy was so cute and charming that she even won over Meredith (who doesen't really like babies all that much....Shhhhh!) and Meredith pulled her in close to give her... tags:lucy
meredith
baby
...a good hair-sniffing (which made Lucy crack up). Mmmmmmm! Smells like baby! tags:lucy
meredith
laugh
Awwww, who's the cutest baby in the world? tags:lucy
meredith
baby
smile
Around 5pm, we said farewell to the brand new Mr. & Mrs. Feeney (and spawn!) and then packed up our stuff and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to NYC! Congrats again, you three! Thanks for having us! tags:greg
lucy
tara
baby
At the airport, our flight was delayed so Meredith and I headed to the bar and had a few... tags:me
meredith
...Bloody Marys! (Which are responsible for this being the last photo of our trip! I had two of these bad boys and then fell asleep pretty much as soon as I got on the plane!) The End! tags:bloody mary
camera
|
11 people tagged in this entry
daren
donna
emily
george bush
greg
jamie
lucy
me
meredith
michael leviton
tara
59 other tags in this entry
airplane
asleep
baby
bed
best
bloody mary
book
booty
bouquet
bridesmaids
buildings
butt
cake
camera
cd
cranky
crowd
dance
dressed up
drink
feet
flag
flower girl
food
garter
gift
grass
groomsmen
gross
gun show
ivy
jump
kiss
laugh
leviticus jewelry
lips
map
mr goodbar
noodles
photo
pizza
portfolio
pretty
rental car
sand
shoes
sleepy
smile
smoke
smoosh
speech
statue
sunglasses
the worm
tongue
twirl
ugly face
wedding
wink
view all tags |
