I flew in to Houston on Thursday with my younger brother Franz and my girlfriend Shruti to attend the festivities. My first impression of Texas was filled with many of the stereotypes concocted by pop culture and George W. Bush's entire existence. There were signs for gun shows, Tex-Mex restaurants at every corner, and cutouts of the actual state's shape drawn in graffiti in every wall (my aunt even decided to wear her cowboy boots for the joyous occasion). Nevertheless, the experience was still different from what I expected.
The first thing you notice about Houston after being there for half an hour or so is how spread out it is. It does not have the laid-back, beach atmosphere of Miami, or the simple and compact layout of Lego buildings that New York City has. Houston's identity is harder to identify due to the fact that it's HUGE. It's spread out with freeways connecting major parts of the city, so getting from place to place always seemed like an ordeal compared to most large cities. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the fact that it didn't have the same hectic feeling that the streets of New York City do.
We got back from the airport in the afternoon and checked into the hotel. Whereas Franz and I got to go to Eric's house for our own makeshift bachelor party that included a Will Ferrell movie, pizza, and mixed drinks, Shruti was subjected to the torture of a dinner out with my entire family followed by drinks at the hotel. My family is very friendly and all, but meeting them all at once has to be the most overwhelming feeling in the world. I finally got back late at night to save her from her distress, but she seemed to survive just fine without any help from me.
After a long day of traveling and rejoicing, we prepared ourselves for the rehearsal dinner Friday night. We went to Jos A. Bank to check out our brand-new rental tuxedos with fancy shoes and stuff, and they screwed up the very measurements they made. My pants were ridiculously long, and my shoes were huge on me, but whatever. They said I'd have replacements that would fit me early on Saturday after making me wait for about twenty minutes despite the fact that the store was empty (I was very pleased with their customer service if you can't tell).
After spending the day ice-skating, browsing through Hot Topic, and checking out the mall like misunderstood teenagers, we got ready for the dinner. Realizing that none of us had shaving cream, we split an overpriced, tiny bottle of it--courtesy of the lobby. We all scrambled to get ready as soon as possible before heading out to the Episcopalian church. The service at the church was pretty straightforward, but I'll talk more about that when I get to Saturday.
We figured everything we had to do before heading out to Saint Arnold's, a tasty micro-brewery where the rehearsal dinner took place. They had a wide variety of beers that we got to sample throughout the night for free, which was pretty sweet. The actual dining room was filled with large, wooden tables next to each other in order to create a family atmosphere. Speaking of family, whereas Meg's family got there before 7, my family didn't arrive until close to 8 (typical Dominicans).
Accompanying the brews that were being served, there was a delicious buffet. They had chicken, steak, potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans, bread, and a decadent dessert menu of chocolate cream pie, a blondie-brownie hybrid, and a mouth-watering pecan pie. After over-stuffing ourselves and pounding beers like true Texans, the night took a more emotional turn. My dad started out with a speech he co-wrote with my mom about the joining of the two families and the pride they felt over having such a lovely daughter-in-law for years to come. Meg's father followed suit and talked about how Eric has won him over and how excited they were about the rest of Eric and Meg's lives.
The weekend had been successful so far, and everyone was eagerly anticipating what Saturday would bring. Overall, it seemed like the beginning of one of those movies about big weddings where families got together and a combination of nerves, stress, and excitement built up as the big day approached.
