Two years ago today, well, May 25, 2019, not Wednesday, I married my best friend. I know, crazy, right?! I didn’t get to tell you about it then, so let me tell you about it now!

It was an amazing weekend! Yes, I said weekend. We did a destination wedding of sorts! I was trying to figure out what to do, we were still living in Hawai’i and we knew…if we wanted people to come, don’t have it in Hawai’i! I had a few ideas…I wanted to get married on the beach, no go. I looked at a steamboat, I even looked into a steam train, after watching Murder on the Orient Express! I looked at a lot of things, including what we ended up doing, which I think was the best idea yet, inspired by a suggestion from CWB!

We had it at a camp in the Berkshires, the mountains in Massachusetts. It was where my sister and I did weekends with our youth group, she went to camp there, then became a counselor, rising in the ranks, and now my nieces go there for sleep away camp, you can imagine the family connection!

It was Memorial Day Weekend 2019 and it was a grand affair! Seriously, it was laid back, campy [see what I did there!], and so much fun! We had the camp from Friday through Monday! My sister and I drove up Thursday night to get some things set up and everyone started arriving on Friday afternoon. I had so much help, both physically and emotionally and idea-ly! [with ideas!] I wanted the weekend to be exactly what it was, laid back, campy, and fun! I loved the process and getting all the little touches in there!

We had welcome bags, supplied by my enormous collection of reusable shopping bags, my endless supply of hotel toiletries, what I didn’t give to the shelters! I made personalized door signs where people were sleeping, personalized luggage tags with camp signs. We had mason jars with our names and wedding date for adults and kids. Farmhouse tables, jelly and jam jars with sand and candles, I hammered out our initials and hearts in tin cans to light the tables, we had Edison bulbs to light the dining hall. Signs on the bathrooms with pictures of us as kids.

Friday, my sister was wonderful…after we finished whatever we had to do in the morning, she took me for a fabulous mani-pedi, ahhhh, then people started arriving, so amazing how many people were able to make it! That night there was a cookout with a canoe full of beer, exactly what I wanted and got! Yes, the girl who doesn’t drink wanted a canoe full of beer! We had bon fires and s’mores. It was a chance to say hello, spend time together getting silly, having fun!

Saturday morning, there was a one-mile fun run with donuts at the half mile marker! A golf cart was ours for the weekend, how many of the kids do you think had a blast riding in that?! Saturday afternoon was chill out and do your own thing and people did, so much to do in the Berkshires! For me…I had to write my vows, finish painting our Converse for the evening, and get my sash ready, nothing much!

We had a cocktail hour, PSM and I were flitting around greeting people and eating some amazing food! The tables all had wild flowers in bottles that I got at the KoHana Rum Distillery, they look like square perfume bottles and it was perfect! People even took them home, wah to the hoo! Oh, along with the jam and jelly jars, and the mason jars, exactly as I hoped they would!

The food at the cocktail hour was amazing, I know I said that! We had a lot of fun picking the menu together! I was at the cocktail hour exactly one hour, I had to change dresses! Oh! We had a bluegrass band! The Brooklyn Bluegrass Collective! We decided that if we were going to have a live band, instead of a DJ, it would be bluegrass and it was! We only had a few song requests, the rest was up to them! I fell in love with them the first time I heard them! After the cocktail hour, there was a musical stroll to the dock! Can you believe it! Bluegrass stroll! That gave me time to get changed!

I raced around and got my rockabilly wedding dress on, that I got on Amazon! with the blue crinoline underneath, had to be blue, PSM wore a formal blue Hawai’ian shirt! He had also asked for a Ti Leaf Lei which I got in at Watanabe Floral in Honolulu and brought it to Massachusetts! That was probably the best surprise I had for him that whole weekend!

I went to the top of the stairs and waited while I watched PSM dance down the steps and aisle to the chuppah to Safety Dance BLUEGRASS STYLE! I was so excited an overjoyed watching that!!! Then I came down the stairs, met my dad and we danced to 500 Miles BLUEGRASS STYLE! He danced me to PSM waiting at the chuppah!

The ceremony was fun, silly, lovely, loving, we had friends and family, come on, they’re all family! Some of it was in Hebrew, but I made sure to have sheets that had the English translation so everyone was able to participate! MGS was our flower girl and ring bearer! I actually had a few of our favorite kids helping…we threw bio-degradable flower petals, programs with all the details and songs. Our rabbi was great, he had so much fun, and our crowd, well, you know me, so you can imagine how they were! After the ceremony, we had a Havdalah ceremony, which signals the end of the Sabbath and ushers in a new week. EJS and LaLa helped with that, so glad!

We decided to have everyone be a part of our ketubah signing, this is the Jewish marriage contract. My dad read it out to the group, CBW and JM, our sister-in-law were our witnesses. Another touching part of the ceremony was the Sheva Brachot, or seven blessings. Instead of having the rabbi read them, we asked friends and family to take part, some read the prayer as it was and some wrote their own interpretation. I cannot tell you how much laughter and love there was on that dock that evening, I’m smiling and tearing up just talking about it!

Before everyone took a musical stroll to the reception, we took a giant wedding photo, it was fabulous! Then there were some family photos and we were off!

The reception, more bluegrass music, dancing, food, and fun! It was such a warm atmosphere, I cannot even tell you! There was brisket, other meats, veggies, salad, vegan, gluten free! You know I checked all the boxes! Oh, did I forget…breakfast every morning! For dessert, we didn’t a wedding cake, so…I asked people to bring a dessert, we had a pot-luck dessert! It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! A huge table with all these different desserts, I don’t think there was a repeat in the bunch! Some were home made, some were store bought, who cares! It was amazing and guess what we had on Sunday evening…leftover dessert!

The party went on for a good long while, Uncle A did the blessing over the challah and the wine, the speeches were made, my dad, PSM’s best men, his brother SM and best friend, KN. My only disappointment of the entire weekend…. my sister didn’t get to make her matron of honor speech and she is a gives great speech! We danced, ate, chatted, laughed, had an amazing time! Eventually the party broke up, but…

The next day was Sunday and only a few people left! We had breakfast, some people went for a hike, some people hung out, some people went into town. We had arts and crafts for the kids, later ACS ran a Pitch tournament, pizza, more beer in the canoe and another bonfire with s’mores, what more could you want?!

Sunday came, breakfast, and then it was time to say our goodbyes. As people left, we stripped the beds, made the camp the same as we found it and we were on our way.

To say it was an amazing weekend would be an understatement! People talked about it for a long time! We even talked about getting together the next year during Memorial Day Weekend, just to spend time together, that’s how much fun it was! Covid said no, but…who knows what next year holds.

I’m smiling thinking about what an amazing weekend it was, fabulous ceremony, friends, family, love, love, love, and as I started this post…May 25, 2019, I married my best friend. What more could you ask for?!