Grinnell, Iowa
Okay, my high school friends’ wedding. I meant to write about this days ago.
The wedding weekend started when I left work on Friday evening to catch my flight ot of Jacksonville and arrived in Des Moines around 11 p.m. I met up with my friends Donnie and Robert, who would drive the rest of the way from Des Moines to Grinnell. (They had started in KC.) We drove to Grinnell and checked into our hotel around midnight, soon crashing for the night.
On Saturday morning, I looked outside for the first time and realized that our room’s view was of a giant field and a glass manufacturing plant. And it was also a super gloomy day, so that didn’t bode well. We got on the road into town and soon realized that we’d driven past the town without realizing it. We doubled back and found one street that took us to the campus.
I was hesitant about Grinnell at first, especially with the train stopping us on the road for 20 minutes and the cloud-filled sky, but the town was absolutely adorable with a big park, farmers’ market and a cute downtown. We walked around downtown, the entire campus and wandered a bit through the rest of town in about 3 hours, and I fell in love with the gorgeous fall leaves and old architecture. The campus even reminded me of one of my favorite books growing up, A Separate Peace. Not sure why exactly. Anyway, after a while the sun had come out, the sky had turned bright blue, and we had seen the entire city, so we headed back to the hotel to shower and change for the wedding.
We got all spiffed up, and then we drove to Herrick Chapel, this cute little place on Grinnell’s campus. After taking a few pictures outside, we chatted and briefly caught up with several of hour high school friends that we hadn’t seen since graduation or the summer following. Soon we were sitting in the pews, and the service had started. The Catholic service was a bit long, but the church was pretty, and Lynn looked great in her dress. Chris didn’t look too bad in his suit either, haha. The entire bridal party was made up of siblings, and the purple bridesmaids’ dresses were well set-off by the harvest-colored bouquets.
After the service, we did the traditional congratulatory line out of the chapel before heading over to one of the other campus buildings for a beautiful reception in this open and airy yet still cozy hall. The reception was great fun. Cheese cubes and Boulevard Wheat (which I’ve missed since leaving KC) kept the party going until the guests of honor arrived and we settled into the dinner, speeches and music. It was really neat how everything really screamed “Chris and Lynn.” Nothing was generic or commercial. Lynn baked the wedding cakes herself. The music was this elaborate playlist that they put together using guests’ suggestions as well as their own ideas. The party favors were homemade candies. It was just wonderful.
I spent the majority of the evening on the dancefloor alongside everyone else. Very few chairs were ever occupied. To me, the best part was how intimate the wedding and reception were. It was clear that everyone there was very close to Chris and Lynn, and I actually got to spend time with them. Some weddings I feel just become a show where you see the bride/groom but never get to actually have fun with them.
Finally midnight rolled around, and everyone’s feet hurt. We used sparklers to send the couple off to the hotel suite and then went to check out Grinnell’s “nightlife”… which didn’t exist. We spent around 30 minutes at some underground bar before giving up on the city. I can’t believe it’s a college town.
The next morning, Donnie, Robert and I drove back to Des Moines to hang out for a few hours before my flight. We ended up wandering around the Capitol, a street market and the downtown area. Nothing too spectacular, but a nice walk despite my aching feet. Finally after lunch and a lot of chatting, they took me to the airport and said their goodbyes.
Unfortunately my travels back to Florida were not without their hiccups, but I managed to make it home alright.
Alrighty, I’m exhausted, so if you want any more details or I left something out, just email or call me. :)
Pictures to come.
Love, Linda.
