Sunday, October 3, 2010

Pub Crawlin'

"Do you know some secret I don't know about avoiding hangovers?"

"Oh, I don't think that's a good idea at all."

"Oh boy."

Those were some of the responses we got to the statement that we wanted to host a pub crawl in Portsmouth the night before the wedding. The thing was - we had a lot of friends coming in from out of town on Friday (including 7 Canadians who got up early & drove down from Prince Edward Island that day) and we wanted to spend a little time with them before the craziness of the wedding day. AND, if any of you have ever been out in Portsmouth in the summer, it's brilliant. Great bars, a fun vibe, and quality late night food. We wanted to show it off a bit!

Our best man, bless his heart, took over the planning on the pub crawl, as we were up to our eyeballs with other wedding tasks. After calls to local bar managers, he carefully planned a list of three to four bars at which people could meet us, with attendant times and directions. He even created a Facebook event for it! Of course, life did its own thing, as it is wont to do, and we ended up totally scotching the schedule. Instead, we had a late-running rehearsal, a late-running rehearsal dinner, and just met everyone at the last (and best) pub, The Coat of Arms.

It ended up being one of those awesome nights where (intentionally) everyone you love is all in the same place - drinking together, making new friends, and laughing, a lot. I remember being overwhelmed by trying to talk to everyone who requested my presence, but also floating on a wave of joy (& Belhaven Scottish Ale).

Here are a few of my favorite photos - the first two are of my awesome college friends (known them for 10 years now!!!), the third is me and the groom-to-be, and the final is some of the wedding party taking a celebratory shot.





Now, despite all concerns, everything worked out fine. I gave myself a maximum number of shots that I was allowed to take (accidentally said "minimum" at one point, though) and I only exceeded that number by one. I ended up talking to so many people that I nursed just one or two beers the whole time we were there.

And, as Andrew said on the Facebook event page, "the fairy godmothers are going to be turning Justin and Stacey's carriages all pumpkin-like by midnight." And like good little doobies, we did head home around midnight. I spent a little time once we got home opening the fridge to say hi to the PEI lobsters that my friend brought down with him, though . . . try to picture that for a second. A slightly tipsy bride, continually opening the freezer door and cooing, "Hi, lobsters! Hi!"  Yeah. It was a great night. :)

1 comment:

Andrew said...

heh heh. I'm glad the pool light covers so much of my face. I look...wow.

It was my pleasure to do whatever I could to make your wedding weekend fantastic! Thus did Adam and I find ourselves sprinting back and forth between Citizens Bank and bakeries all the next morning :D