Okay, I thought I would get to post, but the hangover was pretty bad on Friday and Saturday, I was without wifi on Sunday / Monday and super busy yesterday. Now the wedding recap:

Friday

I went and got my hair cut with my dad. I went to the barber that he has been doing for years and it was funny how my dad is so oddly intimate with this guy. Telling him all about the wedding, a new boat he wants to buy, gardening. Oddly intimate.

After getting cleaned up, Esther and I brought her mom and brother with the Paulson boys, to go and get a wedding present. I don’t know if my sister has had a chance to open her presents so it will remain a secret for a little while longer.

We drove in to the heart of KC and checked into the hotel, which was nice, if not basic. As we were checking in, all of my cousins, aunts and uncles were milling around. It was great to see everyone. The great thing about a Benoit get-together is that we pick up like no time has passed. We start up conversations and just roll with the punches.

Esther and I got dressed up for the rehearsal (my sister’s request, not my idea) and after running through the mechanics of getting married, we made our way over the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for the rehearsal dinner.

The rehearsal dinner was a very fancy soirée. An open bar with hard drinks, very fancy plated dinner. I enjoyed a couple of mixed drinks and some great conversation with my grandmother, whom I was seated next.

The great thing that she and I talked about, which I also shared with my Gramps, was that Esther and I are going to start our family in the next year. Yes, that means babies.

After the official dinner broke up, we all went to Salon A at the hotel, which was setup as a hospitality room. Stocked with beer and snacks, it became the hangout room. Lots of great conversation, although, most of them were a little slurred, if you get what I mean.

Some of you may know that I had sworn off alcohol. I have to had any to drink in about a year. Joanna and Esther asked that I imbibe a little, seeing as I was so much fun when I did. Needless to say, when one’s sister is getting married, you give her what she wants and you drink to cope with the fact that your sister is getting married.

The party kept going on into the morning with the Benoit’s walking (read: stumbling) to the Quick Trip down the street to stock up on beer and liquor. After we made it back, I stopped by the new party spot, but faded quickly and made it up to our room.

Saturday

The big day! So what do the Benoit’s do? Go motorcycle shopping! My dad and rest of the men went to a motorcycle cycle shop and I think I found my motorcycle, the Triumph Scrambler.

My dad ended up buy a bike (the make/model evades me) but before that most of the guys went and got a great greasy spoon breakfast from a restaurant down the street. After he did the hand shake, we headed back to the hotel to meet up for lunch, a great taco combo at Chipotle. I caught up with my cousin Jason, who is out in Hollywood, talking about movies and I even got slipped a … probably shouldn’t say, don’t want to get him in trouble.

We kind of just hung out and then shortly after 4 started getting ready. Tux and dresses… it is always fun to play dress up.

The ceremony was fabulous, my sister looked great and it was a very spiritual event. As a groomsman, I played a pretty prominent role in the wedding, walking my mom down the aisle and then walking down the aisle with my wife. Let me tell you, it is so much better when you are walking down the aisle after being married. Not that I’m knocking waiting up front, that’s fun too.

My sister getting ready to kiss her husband… not eat him!

The reception was fabulous. Held at the Kansas City Public Library, which was an amazing location. We partied on the roof and had a great dinner, with some excellent speeches and quite possibly the best cakes ever. It was comprised of lots of cupcakes, different flavors of cake and frosting, delicious!

The reception went on and after the Bride and Groom left, the party really started. The Benoit’s closed down the library and went hog wild at the hotel. Let me tell you, when you have had a “little” bit to drink, cigars are great, when you are sobering up, your mouth tastes like garbage!

Sunday

My wife and I woke up as early as we could (after fading from the party around 5 a.m.) and then started driving her mom and brother down to my parents lake house. We had a great time once we got there… and this post has gone on for too long. So let me wrap up by saying. I am incredibly happy for my sister. I hope that she and her new husband find all the happiness that they are due.

A final picture for the road. Ray (next to be married) and my brother-in-law Clayton, air-guitaring during Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. I think it adequately captures the mood.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving, in the post turkey haze, Esther, her mother-in-law, her brother and I went to see Casino Royale. Having seen every Bond movie from Dr. No to Die Another Day, I was very curious to see the blue eyed, blond haired Daniel Craig take the mantle of James Bond.

Wow!

I was so impressed with this James Bond that I am willing to go see it again. The movie, while not without its small flaws, was one of the most superior Bond movies I have ever seen. It had grit, real grit, not the falsely campy grit that Sean Connery projected, and not the lost puppy dog grit that Timothy Dalton sucked for. Daniel Craig had an edge to him that was very realistic for the role, it re-energized the character, showing that he is a a man who goes to work by killing people.

Another aspect that I throughly enjoyed was the lack of gadgets! While they have been cool, the invisible car in Die Another Day, crossed the line from the very cool, the inanely stupid. Sure, my 13-year-old brother-in-law ate up the vanishing car and all of the super cool geeky gadgets, but having recently watched some of the Bond movies on TV, I came to realize that they cheapened the character. They lessened the “realism” and deadened the plot, the gadgets became a game of “Hmmm. Q is giving him an exploding pen, when will he use it?”

The lack of extended chase sequences was very nice, essentially the chase sequence has been a plot moving device that has served little function except to show off the car that Bond was given, spinning razor blades popping from the tires and all. The chase sequence in the beginning of the film was choreographed beautifully and really kept me on the edge of my seat.

Bond’s femme fatale of the movie was Eva Green as Vespa Lynd, and while she was the typical Bond beauty, she was an intellectual match for Bond, making for some witty dialog. I have read other reviews and heard that the viewer was bored by the card playing through out the film, but I found it to be quite exciting, watching for the “tell” of the opponent, who in this movie was the most realistic villain in pantheon of Bond baddies, more on him later. The reviewer may have thought the poker was boring, but towards the end of the movie, a few scenes were very drawn out and while I’m sure they, in some way, reinforced elements of the relationship between Bond and his girl, they did start to drag on.

The bond villain was generally a evil mastermind, he was not an over the top villain as in previous installments, like Max Zorin or Goldfinger. He was very fitting for this day and age. I am purposefully leaving out more about the character to allow you to find out for yourself.

2 hr 24 min is the final run time of the movie and I think that it is a plenty good serving of Bond. Daniel Craig has given Bone not only a new look, but a whole new direction, one that is edgier, grittier and generally much more watchable.

[rate 4.0]

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More door prizes, a gift basket to Home-a-rama. Not me. Another set of tickets to something… not me. More museum passes, again, not me. I guess that I’m a loser today.

Oh! Corporate blogging book prizes, please, please, please. Fingers crossed. 1st copy, not me. Second copy, not me. Third copy, not me. Bummer. Oh well, I guess I could by the “Corporate Blogging Book.”
(more…)

This morning Esther and I woke up a little later than we thought we would and had to jump in the shower to get ready to drive out to Ditchley. I am shooting a wedding at Ditchley in two weeks and wanted to get acquainted with the area before I get the camera out.

Maggie came by at ten o’clock on the dot and Esther and I had to scramble to get some coffee and everything ready to drive out there. It is out in Gloucester, which is about 30 – 45 mintues away (map), and it’s pretty confusing to get there, so I’m glad that we did this. I’ll be a little more familiar with getting out there so on the day I won’t get lost or freak out.

On the way back from Ditchley, Esther and I peeled off from the main road and made our way to Williamsburg. We were going to the Gin Blossoms concert at the Harvest Festival. Esther had arranged for us to meet a couple who we have recently started to hang out with, Kristi and Casey. We got to our parking space and started walking to the stage setup in the middle of a field, crossing over an orange fence. We walked around the vendors and searched for our friends, but didn’t find them. What we did find was the entrance to the concert, where we had not gone. It was funny because earlier Esther had commented on how they didn’t check for a ticket. Oops.

After going through the proper entrance and getting our tickets and wristbands (it was at a winery after all), we saw one of Esther’s professor and one of the women that I used to work with. We said hello to her professor, I didn’t say hello to my former co-worker; does that make me a misanthrope?

After getting a little italian ice, we walked back towards the stage and after scanning the crowd for a bit, we had our friends show up behind us. We made our way to the seats and blanket they had just as the first song started.

It was a very interesting concert. The Gin Blossoms were big when I was in 8th grade and it was a very odd middle school flashback. Of course they played the songs that they made them famous in the early nineties and some tracks off their new album, but the oldies got a rise out of the crowd. I wondered through the entire concert about what they had been doing in the 10 years between their waning first fame and this recent resurgence. I also wondered it they felt really let down by the fact that they were playing to a really small concert. There had to be less that 300 people there. I guess that is what happens when you have a hit in the early nineties and then fade in to pop music obscurity. I really wish that I would have brought the video camera, because it would have made a great little video podcast. Oh well.

After the hour-long concert wrapped up, we walked around the vendors again, joined by one of Esther’s cohort-mates (is that the proper term?) Adele. Kristi and Adele then got a bottle of wine, Esther got some kettle corn and we stood around eating the popcorn as the ladies enjoyed the wine.

After finishing the bottle and packing up, we walked around the winery a little and then decieded to get some coffee. We went to the Coffee House and I had a satisfying Large (triple shot) Latte. Mmmm. Caffeine.

After a little coffee and alot of good conversation we went to Adele’s apartment. Casey and I helped take apart a table and load said table and four chairs into Adele’s SUV, and after we had finished that we had some pizza and more conversation.

It’s really different to have a couple that Esther and I both click with. I have al lot in common with Casey, she has a lot in common with Kristi. Esther and I have been kind of picky about our friends in the past and its finally nice to have friends that we don’t have to be picky about.

Overall a great day.