Friday, April 29, 2011

Barbie's wedding

It was tough to see our friends Mark and Barbie Reid get separated and eventually divorced. The good news is that Barbie found someone (on Match.com) and fell in love. This weekend we got to attend the wedding of Vernon and Barbie Dixon.



The wedding was held at an old estate north of Raleigh called The Sutherland. It was very pretty and seemed to have everything you could want for a nice wedding and/or reception.

As you can see from the picture, the gentleman presiding at the wedding could have been a "head jolly old elf". He had a wonderful infectious smile.



It was an evening wedding, with the vows and reception both outdoors. Fortunately the weather was nice. The night before had been rainy and in the 40's. I don't care what tents and tarps you have. That would be miserable.

The bride and groom both did a great job. The only little glitch came before the ceremony started. A woman, who I think was one of Vernon's sisters, was standing over by the sound guy's table and she passed out. She was back on her feet quickly and I think very few people even knew it happened.



My entertainment was the little ring bearer. I'm not sure who he was, but it is obviously quite the challenge to keep a little boy entertained during the wedding vows. He was yawning and fidgeting and squirming. You can tell that life manages to get on track pretty early. Already you can see that his little partner (the flower girl) has his butt back in line!



The bride and groom did the traditional dance. Clearly they had practiced and were much better at it than Julie and I. Two decades ago, we decided we would take some ballroom lessons before our wedding. Julie didn't excel and I was a total failure. Perhaps I can get on a TV show that combines Dancing with the Stars with The Biggest Loser. The biggest dancing loser?



Then something I hadn't seen before. Vernon is a musician. He had written a song for his new bride and he performed it for her in front of everyone. We were all very impressed.



And as the night ended, we got to toss rose petals as the bride and groom headed for their car.



Getting to see the wedding was nice, but what made it extra special was getting to see so many of our Raleigh friends, all of which either live or lived in our neighborhood, Duxford. From left to right:
  • Carmella and Jim Saunders. Carm is one of Julie's best friends. Jim goes on our Myrtle Beach golf trip every year.
  • Mitch and Erin Krohl. They bought our condo in west Raleigh and years later, became our next door neighbors in Duxford. Stalking us?
  • Alex and Judy Plavocos. Live two doors down from us in Duxford.
  • Julie and I
  • Stephen and Julie Kjellberg. They lived a few doors down and Stephen did the huge remodel on our house.
They are a wonderful group of people and one of the biggest reasons we miss Raleigh.




Sorry Alex, but I couldn't resist. You know how iPhone's now have a camera on both sides of the phone? One is for taking pictures of other people and places. The other is to shoot yourself for video chats. Somehow Alex's camera was set to the one looking back at him and he kept wandering around taking pictures of himself. Too funny!



Although the wedding was the big event we were in town for, we got to see lots of other people.

We stayed with Ken and Jennifer Polleck at the Polleck Estate (my name). They have a wonderful house, overlooking a pond, in a very convenient location in North Raleigh. It was good getting to see them, mooch some excellent accommodations, and have a great base to visit everyone from. Thanks Ken and Jennifer!

We got to do an Easter dinner with my Aunt Martha, cousin Sara, and my dad and his wife Colleen. In addition to the company, it was nice getting to have some Honey Baked ham. There isn't one anywhere convenient to us in Park City.

I had lunch with Chuck Terrien. Chuck, Julie and I all worked in the same department at IBM and he was the one who helped me discover my condo over in west Raleigh. We ended up living about 50 feet from each other.

Finally, I had dinner with John Walker, a very long-time friend, co-worker, co-business founder, skier buddy and much more. It is always a treat catching up with John's never ending series of adventures with his company Zenph Sound Innovations. They are doing work that may dramatically change the music industry as we know it. You should definitely visit their web site.

It was only a short visit, but we managed to pack in a lot of visits, a great wedding, and even some exercise along the way.

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