Let's Get Madored!

In July, David and I flew to Portland, Maine for Amy’s wedding to Ross.

Continental really disappointed us during this trip. We usually love flying Continental, especially since that’s our frequent flyer program. When we got to Newark, though, our flight to Portland was delayed for almost three hours because of storms up in Canada, which was delaying our plane getting into New Jersey. Since this was a tiny puddle-jumper, it couldn’t fly up into the clouds and bypass the storms like larger planes. On the way home, the same thing happened with our flight back to Newark because of storms in New Jersey. So we left Portland two hours later than scheduled, landed at exactly 10 PM and sprinted across 50 gates to get to our 10:10 flight to London. Thankfully, they were holding the flight for us and we didn’t have heart attacks after that mad dash across the airport. But even though we made it on the flight, our bags did not. And for some reason, they didn’t get on the next flight out. So I had to leave for Bratislava the next day missing half my toiletries, my nice suitcase, and some much-needed clothes. I did receive an apology email from Continental so we’ll see if there are any vouchers coming our way…

The theme of the weekend (besides a beautiful wedding of course!) was the high temperature in New England. A record-setting heat wave swept through the Northeast the weekend we were there. Most buildings in Maine don’t have A/C (much like London) because it just doesn’t get that hot. In fact, this was my third trip to Maine and all the other times I’ve visited, the temperature has never gotten above 70 degrees. That was NOT the case the wedding weekend. When we got to Newark, the airport did have central A/C but it was not working well enough to offset the heat coming from all of the open causeway doors. And the fans just blew around hot air instead of cooling down the terminal. It was a miserable delay, to say the least.

But we eventually got there! After we landed, David headed straight to the bachelor party. Amy drove me back to the house Karen had rented for the family for the long weekend. She warned me in the car that the house didn’t have A/C either. I toughed it out on Thursday night by sleeping spread-eagle in shorts and a T-shirt on top of the bed with the window and door both open and a fan blowing right on me. Karen ended up curling up on the living room floor and Jeff slept in the creepy basement to escape the heat!

The next morning it was nearly impossible to put on makeup and blow dry our hair because of the humidity level. That was not going to do, since all of the bridesmaids were scheduled to get ready at the house the next day before the wedding. So the landlord stopped by on Friday afternoon and installed a window A/C unit in the master bedroom. That made all the difference in the world! The rest of the weekend, the entire family had slumber parties in this one bedroom to get a good night’s sleep. Amy came in late after the rehearsal dinner on Friday night to find David and me on a double mattress on the floor with Jeff on a single mattress (all of them moved in from the other bedrooms in the house), Laura in the bed, and Karen in a cot next to the bed. We did the same thing after the wedding on Saturday night.

Slumber Party!

On Friday, Karen hosted a bridesmaid brunch at a delicious diner in downtown Portland. I had some real American bacon (not English back-bacon, yuck) with country potatoes and dark chocolate strawberry waffles.

We also walked to Willard Beach just down the street from the house. It was way too cold for me to get in. It had to be about 60 degrees. My feet actually ached after being dipped in. I’m a baby, I know! Karen and Laura did go swimming though. Then we took a trip to the local grocery store and stocked up on American food. David and I had brought a completely empty suitcase just for food. :) The woman at the checkout looked at us like we were nuts as she scanned 20 boxes of Kraft mac and cheese, about 10 packets of taco seasoning, 5 Pop-Tart boxes, and 3 different Betty Crocker cake mixes.

Then we stopped by Wendy’s for lunch where I had my favorite – a junior bacon cheeseburger. David got the #1 and Jeff had the BLT Cobb salad. Karen and Laura also ordered some Frostys. I LOVE Wendy’s. In high school, we had off-campus lunch and I was given an allowance of $15/week for food. So Wendy’s was perfect because it’s delicious and I could get two Jr. bacon cheeseburgers and a small fry for only $3. As we were pulling through the drive-thru, the guy at the window told Karen the total was $16. Karen couldn’t believe the value and asked to be read back our order. When she still didn’t believe how cheap all that food was, another person came around to read back the order. Finally she exclaimed, “Wow! What a deal!” I guess us Londoners are just used to really, really expensive burgers back in Europe. We tease her about it all the time now…

That evening we had the rehearsal for the wedding, which took place at a gazebo in a beautiful park overlooking the Portland harbor. There are so many islands off the coast of Maine, a couple of Civil War forts, and a ton of sailboats. And obviously it was sunny, so the location was stunning.

Ross’s parents hosted the rehearsal dinner, a lobster bake, at their home. I love lobster… I just don’t like actually preparing it. Laura and David were so sweet and offered to take care of me, so they did all the dirty work while I just got to eat! The Madores also cooked up some seafood chowder, clams, barbequed chicken, and baked potatoes.

Then before we knew it – the big day had arrived!!

All of the ladies were able to get ready at Karen’s house because the landlord came back and installed a second A/C unit downstairs in the living room. We did our makeup ourselves, but I cannot be trusted to style my own hair for anything important, so Amy gifted us all with hair stylists.

Huge rollers that my hair had to set in for hours!

Then the wedding party met up at the park, where I got to walk down the “aisle” with my hubby. Right before the march started, we all put our hands together and shouted, “Let’s get Madored!” This lightened up the moment and made Amy much less nervous. Actually, once she got her gown on, she turned calm and collected and ready to go!

Waiting for Amy to arrive

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was awesome.

Post-wedding pics in the park

Brothers and Sisters

The reception was held down the street (literally, we all walked from the park) at this spot called the Portland Company, an old warehouse in the shipyard. Ross and Amy visited Paris when they were in London a couple of months ago for Jeff’s graduation and absolutely loved it. So they converted the warehouse space to look like a Paris metro station. There were lights strung from the poles and the tables were named after different metro stops. Ross and his Dad even whittled a Metropolitain sign that displayed the seating chart. In lieu of traditional flower arrangements, the bride and groom opted for herbed potted plants, which doubled as favors for the guests so the room was really fragrant. And on top of all that, they brewed their own beer and then made up names like "Wedding Saison" for each of the different types. The entire event was really unique. They did a great job in a short amount of time - from their engagement in December to their July wedding, it came together perfectly! 

We danced the night away to a great band, tried lots of different cake (the bride and groom chose six smaller cakes in lieu of one big one) and drank a lot… of water! There were fans all over, but even when the sun went down, it was still really hot inside the Portland Company. But that didn’t stop everyone from dancing and having a great time!

The bride and groom making their grand entrance

After the reception, David went out with some of his old TASIS friends that he hadn’t seen in a long time, but I was exhausted so I headed home with the rest of the House clan.

The next morning, we were woken up by Mrs. Robinson, Eric’s mom. Eric is one of David’s best friends from high school and was a groomsman in our wedding. His family lives in Maine and we were lucky enough to visit a couple of years ago during Memorial Day weekend. Well after the wedding, Eric started feeling a lot of pain, so he was rushed to the hospital. Turns out he had somehow bruised his spleen – probably performing all those crazy dance moves! ;)

Mrs. Robinson promised to keep us updated, but in the meantime we had to get to the post-wedding brunch back at the Madore house. We ate some yummy Quizno’s subs (sometimes I just miss the simplicity of a turkey sandwich). Then we hung out with the Bales cousins, watching funny YouTube videos and reminiscing about old times (which I have now convinced myself I was a part of, after hearing these hilarious stories so many times)!

The weekend went by way too fast and before we knew it, we had to pack up our bags and head to the airport. We couldn’t fly out without checking on Eric though! The poor guy was sound asleep in his room after spending all night in the ER, waiting to get his test results back and for the doctors to figure out what was wrong with him. But David was told to wake him up, so we did! Eric is the funniest guy, so if this had to happen to anyone, at least it’s someone who stays in such good spirits. We cracked a lot of jokes and wished him well before heading to the airport.

Oh boy...

We waited out our flight delay at a restaurant in the airport, where I had a traditional lobster roll and David ordered hot wings… which he deeply, deeply regretted after racing through Newark airport a couple of hours later!

Maine is such a beautiful place and we’re really lucky to have been able to visit so many times. One day, I hope our kids can join the thousands of other youngsters at Maine’s famous summer camps. I’m sure Amy and Ross are sad to have left New England, but I know Texas has welcomed them with open arms as they start their new life together in Austin! Congratulations – we love you both and are so happy for you!