Bells will be Ringing…

A “red-eye” flight began our recent excursion…fortunately not for us, but for Jessica…which was fortunate for us. Jess flew into Boston on Tuesday morning to begin her summer vacation in New England and the timing leads right into the weekend activities.

Jess would touch down with us for a day and then head for the Cottage as a home-base for the next eleven days. PJ (Philip J.) Fallis joined Jess on Saturday morning (see, Jess’ Facebook page under “In a Relationship with…”) and became an active member of this Adventure.

Of course this Adventure includes a major event—and timing is everything—right in the middle of Jess’ stay. Friday arrived with us traveling to New Jersey for Dan Whitney & Monica Rodriguez’s wedding.

Cheri and I left Connecticut early in the afternoon and drove down to Newark International Airport to pick-up Dan Chang who was flying in from Florida. Paula and Tara Chang had earlier in the week flown up to Norfolk to spend a Family Day with Jake Chang on his current ship. Work kept Dan from joining them and timing would make it difficult for Paula to pick him up, so we provided chauffeur services to get Dan from the airport to the hotel we were all using.

Paula met us late at the hotel and the four of us headed out for a great dinner...and more importantly a great time together. Of course sharing a meal and a couple of bottles of wine helped us to make a decision to suddenly show up at Deb and Scott's house for a little Wedding-eve chance to visit.

so of course we joined her. Some were awake and around for us to see, but for most we had to wait until the next morning—there was also a contingent group already in New Brunswick, the site of the wedding.

Scott's mother Adeline was already positioned in front of the Red Sox game…  Additional family members were already at the Whitney house, Scott's brother and sister, Steve and Deb plus Deb's daughter Ashley.

Saturday morning was a little leisurely—at least for those of us attending as guests only—with some time for breakfast, changing into appropriate attire and driving down to New Brunswick for a 12:30 wedding. We made sure to plan the trip to allow time for us to visit with others before the wedding and to get a few photos of the Chapel, and each other before the service.

I didn't capture photos of the whole group, but I did get a photo of Monica and her father.

Once everyone was settled, the service began in earnest. Dan was dashing, as a groom should be and waited expectantly for Monica. Deb and Scott came down the aisle and then turned to watch the entrance of the wedding party.

Monica was a gorgeous bride and both she and Dan looked extremely happy...not the least bit nervous.



Besides a blending of families the service also bridged religions with Father Alex Enriquez and Reverend Charles Bigelow presiding. It was a wonderful service with singing, readings, humor, and traditions—including a laying on of a veil over the couple and a laying of a cord representing the connections and binding together of the individuals.

Following the service there was some time for photos outside of the Chapel...


and then we headed off to the Harvest Moon microbrewery—a favorite spot of Dan and Monica while they were attending Rutgers—for the reception. There were appetizers...bubbles to blow...visiting...a full meal...and, of course some libations.



The reception spanned the afternoon and wouldn't be complete without the bride and groom dancing...

bouquets being tossed...



and the heads being eaten off the top of the wedding cake figurines.



The reception lasted well over five hours and everyone had a great time either participating…or watching from above.











By 7:30 we needed to move out of the microbrewery…Dan and Monica headed out with friends from college to enjoy some of their old haunts…Dan and Paula needed to head back to Norfolk to meet up with Tara…many of the rest of us headed back north to Deb and Scott’s house.  The plan had been to have a large get-together, but the day caught up with many of us and although it wasn’t early…we called it an early evening.

Sunday morning, Deb and Scott hosted a large brunch for the family members that had travel to the wedding and would be back on the road home shortly.  Dan and Monica were in New Brunswick and leaving in the afternoon on a flight to the west coast for their honeymoon—San Diego, Napa Valley, San Francisco.  A week of time together to begin their own Adventures.

To see all of the photos...good, bad and unedited...click on the "kissing" photo below to be taken to a web album and all 277 pictures.

Whitney Wedding 2010