So Friday, after offering my services to Josh all day, it was apparently unneeded, but I headed up to the White Oak Vineyards. Relatively short drive, easy and fun. I did feel a bit under dressed at the rehearsal, since I dressed up slightly. It was pretty simple, we ran though things a few times. Especially easy on the ushers...
The place was very pretty, though not all the way manicured yet, I think. sparse grass in places, and the vines next to the building are still a little immature, though it is still early in the season. Occasionally, because of the wind, I swore I got a faint hint of pig farm...but that may have just been me. After being explained exactly what we should do to some extent, and then hearing others (Lindsay's Mom and Sister) talk about what they may assign us to do the next day...
Anyways, after that was done, we were told to be there by 3 the next day and headed over to Trostel's Greenbriar in Johnston. I stopped at home and picked up Shannon first and headed over there (we took her car).
So the appetizers there were pretty good. Not astounding, but good. The crab legs (never really had them like that before, were tasty. Kinda makes me wonder what happens to the rest of the crab. The baked Brie was...well..I've had better Brie, but it was still pretty good. The bread was good, but not outstanding. While the appetizers were happening I got a chance to have a few glasses of the Johnny Walker Blue, which was fantastic. Very mellow on the heat and complex it the flavors.
They had a Salad, which was a combination of tasteless iceberg and other much better greens. The dressings were OK.
I switched over to a red wine after that. There was quite the selection of main courses for dinner, from prim rib to a New York strip, to Chicken to pasta. Shannon had the chicken, which was good and I had the New York strip. The strip was...it tasted very good, but the meat was a bit tougher then I thought it should be. Now I do give some credit, since it is hard to get out meals for 20 or 30 people with such a large group such as ours in a small amount of time, but, I'd have expected better.
Now don't get me wrong, The food was good, the company was good (sitting near Josh's Mormon friend (Brent, Brett?) and the pastor guy led to some interesting location, though I think the topic avoided religion when I went on a tirade about Mitt Romney's recent statements about Guantanamo Bay...I even almost lectured Drew about what I thought was wrong with his statement that was something like "I don't really pay attention to politics, but I'm a republican."). I had an interesting conversation with the Pastor's wife about how she wouldn't eat baby animal meat (no veal, no lamb, etc) and she stated that she likes to think that the meat that she eats dies of natural causes (which is ridiculous, cause it would be almost not worth eating if you let the animals live their entire lives). But it was interesting to say the least and I enjoyed it.
For dessert we had a choice of tiramisu, cheesecake, and a chocolate torte. Shannon had the torte and I had the cheesecake. The cheesecake was good, though again, not fantastic. The torte...well...personally I would've made it with a darker chocolate OR added a bit more sugar. It kind of left a mildly unpleasant aftertaste. Though the first taste was still pretty good.
Anyways, it was a place I've wanted to try for a while, but never have gotten to. Thanks Diane Zamzow...and...uh...Josh's dad!
I was a bit intoxicated (why we took Shannon's car), so Shannon drove home.
Saturday I got up bright and early and got all cleaned up....And then proceeded to play Supreme Commander most of the morning, while vaguely watching some stupid movie in the background. When time grew neigh (and Shannon was mostly done getting ready), I got dressed. The problem being that I had no idea where the hell my shoes were. I realized I hadn't seen them since we had gotten back from Texas for Dan's Wedding. So searching through the suitcases (put them back in such a fashion that they would take up a lot less room in Shannon's second closet), closets, and various places...and then I finally remembered the bag from the hotel we stayed at in Texas and there were my shoes.
After the mystery was solved, my dressing continued. I wasn't too thrilled about standing outside in the sun in an all black tux (though it did look nice). I was already sweating before I got out the door. Spending 20 minutes or so in the car was nice, with the A/C on and all that good stuff. I think it also got me adjusted to the suit, or maybe it was the wind, but it wasn't too bad after that (warm but not uncomfortable).
We chatted and took pictures (one of the groomsman was latish) and got ready as the things were still being setup. The wind blew the chairs outside over and even after resetting them, they would go over again. It was kind of silly. We got a reminder of what we were supposed to do as ushers.
The wedding was beautiful (though hard to hear, other then the pastor, who had a mic). Josh was handsome and Lindsay was beautiful in her dress. They looked happy up there. Shannon got some really good pictures.
Afterwards, we, the ushers, dismissed the rows of people and took some more pictures.
I headed in, got a couple of bottles of water and then proceeded to drink them. I felt much better. I sat down at a table with Chris and Holly, Shannon, Ryan, Tiff and Savannah, Jerry and Ahnaka and Will.
Dinner was interesting.
Now I will have to give them a bit of a break. Apparently they had a few of the waiters not show up for service. So instead of having 2 or 3 like they did they had scheduled 5 or 6...So it meant that services was...well...obnoxiously slow. Now I hope they learn a lesson and have backup plans in case this happens in the future, but they seem new, so I'll cut 'em a bit of slack here.
The appetizers were fun. They had a cheese fountain and meatballs, grapes and bread to cover in cheese. It worked pretty well and was actually kind of tasty (the meatballs especially). and it was a fun idea. I started sampling the wines and I started off with one of their whites (wasn't a big fan), switched to a red (better), and then a white again (it was sweeter, Shannon almost found it acceptable, but I wasn't a huge fan). After the gambit, I switched to drinking the red for the rest of the night.
They brought around baskets of bread, which was good, cause by about this time people were started to get hungry (see above). They brought out butter and an orange butter. The orange butter was...interesting. I could see putting it on something sweet, but just on bread it struck me as odd.
They served a salad and I had it with Ahnaka Ranch (she got her fingers into it earlier)...it was ok.
For the main course we had a plate of something like scalloped potatoes, vegetables, a chicken thing that was fried, kinda reminded me of a chicken keiv, and what I can only assume was pot roast. By the time we got served, the tables around us were all served and most done eating. The potatoes were the only thing on my plate that was actually warm, and they were pretty good. The chicken, I imagine, would've been good, had it been warm, but since it wasn't, I wasn't dreadfully impressed. The pot roast was...well..tough, stringy and tough to eat.
The cake was...very good. There were, to my understanding, three kinds from Glorious Desserts: Almond (the actual wedding cake), Strawberry, and lemon. Shannon got the cake and both of them were very good. The strawberry tasted like a strawberry champagne cake...though I can't be sure.
The started passing out bottles of champagne (d'asti....I don't remember for sure, but I took a picture). There were several toasts and the champagne was fantastic. Even in my state, I could tell that it was quite good.
Afterwards, me being a in an advanced state of inebriation, we said our good byes to the bride and groom and Shannon drove home.
Congrats Josh and Lindsay!
