Drew and Carmen's Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

After playing nine holes of golf at Ancil Hoffman in the morning with Jack and Jason, Sharon and I ran home and got cleaned up. We took off about 2 pm for Heringer Estates Winery and the wedding rehearsal.

There was a walk through of tomorrow's wedding ceremony. Carmen's mom, Pam, and I are participating in the ceremony as part of a Celtic Handfasting Ritual. It is an ancient Celtic ritual in which the hands are tied together to symbolize the binding of two lives. Morgan will be playing piano and singing for the ceremony. Lee is supposed to be a ring bearer with Cooper.

I had talked to Tomasin on Wednesday. Since they couldn't make the wedding due to Julie's 50th high school reunion, he indicated an interest in dropping by the winery on Friday. They showed up just as we were starting the rehearsal. After the run-through, Sharon and I sat and had a glass of wine with the Tomasins.

From there, we headed to the Starlet Room at Harlow's for the rehearsal dinner. The group for the rehearsal dinner totalled 31 people. Sharon and I sat with Morgan, Daniel, Lee, Jack and Jason. Dinner was salad, brussels sprouts, chicken and salmon. Timothy Brown played music during dinner. Struggling with my emotions, Sharon gave our toast.


After the dinner, there was an open Welcome Party for wedding guests. Holly and Van came. Eventually, Gail and then the Snipes and the Wallens showed up. Tomasin showed up briefly.

An assortment of people took the stage during the Welcome Party, including Drew and Carmen and Madi Sipes. We rolled towards home about 10 pm...