What, you thought I was kidding about the "got real dressed up" part, eh? Check out this beaut in her fancy gown! ˆ meredith ˆ dressed up ˆ

And me? Why yes, that is, a Pierre Cardin tuxedo! Thank you for noticing! (Er, it's not really. That was just the first fancy-sounding name-brand that popped into my head. Which probably just made you realize that despite living in NYC and half of my friends working in something "fashion related," my knowledge of the fashion world comes from Bret Easton Ellis novels set in the 80s). ˆ me ˆ dressed up ˆ tuxedo ˆ

Here's me and Mer. The ceremony had already taken place and we're at one of the really nice, private university clubs uptown waiting for the reception to start. Before we went into the reception hall, I went to the bathroom to "freshen up" and was magically transported... ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ dressed up ˆ

...back to the late 40s! Check out the selection of HAIR TONICS (!!!) in the men's bathroom! Growing up in the Jerz, I was definitely familiar with the big purple guy on the right, but the other three were mysteries. Check them out! Osage Rub? Vitalis? And what's the third bottle from the left? Stephan Bay Rum Fragrant Skin Toner? Out of curiosity, I just Googled "osage rub" and found it being sold on a site called TexasBeautySupply.com! The description lists it as an " Invigorating Splash for Head and Face Apply Briskly for that All Over Tingly Feeling!" And the ingredients are listed as: Water (Aqua), Alcohol SD-40, Menthol, Fragrance (Parfum), Eucalyptol. So, in other words, I think I finally identified the source of "old man smell!" (Well, the good kind of old man smell, not the nursing home variety). ˆ aqua net ˆ vitalis ˆ

Continuing down the line, Vaseline hand lotion was another familiar face from my early teen days in Jersey (for an entirely DIFFERENT reason...hahah), but then there were three more total strangers! I know they're hard to read in this photo, but from left to right we have: Eau De Quinne Compound Hair Tonic, Pinaud Clubman After Shave Lotion, and last but certainly not least (at least in my mind) Aqua Velva ICE BLUE! ˆ aqua velva ˆ

After I'd finished sniffing all the various bottles, I worked on my hair a bit until I felt that it had been properly tonic-ed, then I hopped on the scale for a quick weigh-in... ˆ scale ˆ

(162 pounds of pure tuxedoed beefcake!) ˆ scale ˆ

...sat down for an imaginary shoe-shine... ˆ shoe shine ˆ

...and then machine-buffed my tux shoes to a high shine! (My dad's father actually had one of these machines at his house! He was sort of a spiffy dresser). ˆ buffer ˆ

And...Voila! Check me out all cleaned up and ready to hit the party! Hahaha ˆ me ˆ tuxedo ˆ

I guess I didn't take any pictures during dinner - so let's jump ahead an hour to the dancing! ˆ dance ˆ wedding ˆ

Woooo, party! ˆ dance ˆ wedding ˆ

And now, it's time for a romantic wedding metaphor! Ready? Meredith is the spoon that... ˆ meredith ˆ dressed up ˆ spoon ˆ

...smashes my cake-heart. Awwww! ˆ cake ˆ food ˆ

Here's Meredith with her cousin Hank! ˆ hank ˆ meredith ˆ

And here's a picture of Meredith pretending to disapprove of how hard Hank likes to party. Take 1. ˆ hank ˆ meredith ˆ

Hahahaha. Take 2 wins. (PS - Sweet jazz hand there, Hank. I guess we know who owns Chicago on DVD). ˆ hank ˆ meredith ˆ

Then Meredith manned the cam and took some pics of Hank and I coldlamping in our fancy duds. Hank wasn't buying it. ˆ hank ˆ coldlamp ˆ

Hahaha. Oh man, at least once a day I stop and ask myself: What's wrong with me? ˆ me ˆ coldlamp ˆ tuxedo ˆ

Check out this action shot I managed to get of Gene (the father of the bride) as he totally got busted for trying to sneak off the dance floor! ˆ gene ˆ wedding ˆ

The crowd wasn't having that and they pushed him back out there to cut some more rug! Look! There's Anna (the bride!) on the left! (Glad to see I at least managed to get a few pics of at least one of the two people who just got married!) ˆ anna ˆ gene ˆ dance ˆ wedding ˆ

Gene, Gene, Dancing Machine! ˆ anna ˆ gene ˆ dance ˆ wedding ˆ

Meredith (bow tie thief!) with one of Andrew's friends. ˆ meredith ˆ

Here's Anna getting ready to throw the bridal bouquet! ˆ anna ˆ bouquet ˆ wedding ˆ

Throw! ˆ anna ˆ bouquet ˆ wedding ˆ

I shot too early (story of my life), and managed to capture the bouquet way up in the air by the chandelier, but not the actual catching of the bouquet. Bah! ˆ anna ˆ bouquet ˆ wedding ˆ

Here's Meredith coming out of the bouquet-fray... ˆ meredith ˆ laugh ˆ

...empty handed! Guess we'll have to keep living in sin for a little while longer! ˆ meredith ˆ

Meredith and Hank throwing down their gang signs. (Hank is clearly a member of Stephen Hawking's gang). ˆ hank ˆ meredith ˆ gang signs ˆ

Meredith, VP and Meredith's little cousin, Julia. Julia didn't know that she was supposed to try to look gangsta in the photo, so she and VP... ˆ julia ˆ meredith ˆ vp ˆ

..gave it another go. GANGSTA! Hahaha. ˆ julia ˆ vp ˆ

Hank getting jiggy with some lady! ˆ hank ˆ dance ˆ

Meredith shimmying with Julia! ˆ julia ˆ meredith ˆ dance ˆ

Walking like an Egyptian! ˆ meredith ˆ egyptian ˆ

Around midnight, Meredith's parents were freed from their many photo obligations and met us on the dancefloor! Here's Meredith with Chuck and Jo Ann! ˆ meredith ˆ mr silverman ˆ mrs silverman ˆ

Mr. Silverman is so down! Hahahaha. Congratulations Andrew and Anna! (Sorry I didn't take one single picture of the two of you together! I'm an idiot!) ˆ meredith ˆ mr silverman ˆ