Tina and Brad are married

I don't think there's much to be written here. Two weeks back, on a day that ended with enough sunshine to make an outdoor wedding by a small lake altogether wonderful, our friends and former swim teammates Tina and Brad were married. The Smelts, of course, claim credit for setting them up, and well we should. Just look at them:



A fine, handsome, happy couple. Smelts, well done!

Many things we loved about that day:

Tina was gorgeous. She has such a lovely trim figure, it's small wonder she was a matchless bride in her dress. How beautiful she was coming down the aisle with her father. I truly choked up a little.

The ceremony itself.
I liked what the officiant said, and I thought the speakers and the music (including bell players led by Tina's mother) were all enjoyable, not overly serious.

Other librarians!

Chocolate cake slices greeting us all at our table - a shared pre-dinner dessert we muchly enjoyed.

A fun reception with the traditional speeches and cutting of the cake but none of the clanging of silverware on glasses to make the couple kiss. I rather hate that inane custom.



Friends from the team - Ron and Carrie shown here.

This man. Actually danced with me a few times. Only the second time in our 8 years together - Allison's wedding last year being the maiden run at that activity. Something about weddings, I guess.

Oh, and did I mention that Tina was gorgeous? Because it truly bears re-mentioning. Stunning.


They may be back from their New Zealand honeymoon by now, and by back, we mean to their lives in Colorado. We miss them from the team, though, and we hope they come back and see us soon. Many happy wishes to them for a long, loving life together.

rehearsal dinner

It's been two weeks now since Brad and Tina were married, and I still haven't written up the whole weekend?

Bad Peter! Bad Peter! Bad Peter!

Well, let's ease back into it with a simple bunch of photos from the rehearsal dinner. In fact, this was essentially a full-on reception, but that's fine with the many of us there. Good - and plentiful - food at a restaurant in Niles. Wine flowing like water. People to meet and familiar faces. We were tucked in one corner of the dinner along with other Smelts in attendance:

Kyle, with Derek.

Carrie (Ron was there too!).

Ruben, with Elizabeth (and Carrie in this shot - where the heck is Ron in all the photos??).

Fun evening, definitely, plus it gave us all a chance to chat with Tina and Brad on the eve of their wedding. We're very grateful to Brad's parents for providing us all with such a delightful meal.

And finally, are we not one fine looking couple?

Darth! Heidi! Niles!

First in a cluster of blog postings to appear in the next day or two, most of them related to the recent weekend in Michiana. Ah, glorious Michiana. Home of many strip malls, as we learned. The stretch from South Bend, IN, to Niles, MI, is replete with them.

But never mind, for Niles is also the home of friends: Darth and Heidi.

Yes, you wonder, I know: what sort of name is Darth? A nickname, of course. Darth is better known to our library school classmates and others by his real name, Conrad. But that, as you may guess, gets to be confusing in conversations among the four of us. Whether he approves or not, he is Darth, and Allison will back me up on this one!




Given the schedule of wedding events and things going on with Darth and Heidi, we had to settle for a quick visit with them at the library in Niles, catching up on our personal events, wishing for a future longer visit together. Funny coincidence: Darth is taking part in a community theatre production of Escanaba in da Moonlight, a play of a movie set in Conrad's (my Conrad's) hometown. Yooper jokes popped out for a minute or two.

And then we had to leave Darth to his work (Heidi, by then, was en route to Ann Arbor). At least he gave us a must-see/must-do in Niles recommendation before we left: Veni's Sweet Shop. Conrad and I had a little fun shopping in there, restraining ourselves somewhat. And, as a thank you to Darth, dropped off a little treat box with him from the shop before we drove on out of town.