The McGrath – Patel Wedding

Let’s remember that even though I’m writing this post, it’s all about Steve and Arpita (just from my perspective). And who better to give a summary then the person who drank the most and remembers the least. If you’re asking why the feature image is so grainy, it’s because I had to crop that cutout from another photo, so we’re low res as it is.

The Rehearsal Dinner

I started my journey picking up Gerald in the middle of Center City…during rush hour…much to my dismay, but I’m a nice guy so what can I do. We battled the traffic and I checked into the hotel. I showered under an extremely high water pressure head and met up at the rehearsal dinner. We went through some pre-wedding motions, had some dinner, and shot the shit while people arrived for the wedding. Mr McGrath was telling us about his feud with the neighbors and how he now knows it was Sam Stortz who put a flaming bag of shit on his doorstep (that he didn’t step on or even find until it went out).  The highlight of the evening was when Ron Pearlman of Sons of Anarchy came in and took a seat at the bar. Here is Sam getting a picture with him. He took another picture with one of our friend’s GF’s and Clay was smiling head to toe. Not so much in this one. Also you’ll see Steve and Arpita with the Irish dude.

 

Wedding Day

I woke up the next morning feeling well and we all gathered for some pictures at Valley Forge National Park in our Indian garb. I’m sure the pictures will posterize later, but I don’t have access to them. Never forget that you don’t unsheath another man’s sword and Gerald is the center. Next there was a somewhat different Indian wedding custom where Steve, Ian, and Ed got into a Cadillac while the rest of the party followed a van blasting Jay-Z and DMX. This cultural custom was a bit confusion while the DMX line “and all you other B****** can suck my d****” was blasting. I’ll note the groomsman had little dancing skills and following a van for 15 minutes asking us to dance while 150 people looked on was not the most pleasant experience. After that we did the Indian portion of the ceremony which was a fair amount of chanting, toe touching, and flower throwing. After the ceremony was some lunch and I had a few beers while watching college football. I changed into the tux to get ready for the traditional ceremony.

To boost my confidence, Lauren told me that I looked like Pee Wee Herman in the tux. From that point on, every time I looked in the mirror I thought I was Pee Wee. What do you think?

My thoughts exactly. The terminology used for the next portion of the ceremony was “American”, which I feel like should have been called “another ceremony”. Apparently us Americans aren’t big for tradition as this portion was over and done with in appropriate time. Always looking to steal the thunder, Ian walked down the aisle with his fly down. He was telling us how book smart he was earlier and that it didn’t matter that he wasn’t street smart. This was one of those times.

There was some drinking and then the reception begun. We had practiced a flash mob dance during the wedding entrance which was a bit scattered if I must say. Some people were doing the dance, but most people were just waving their arms. Good idea in theory, poor execution. We all sat down for dinner after that and the Maid of Honor and Best Man speeches began. The girls did a good job while weeping and telling how much they meant to each other. Ian killed the crowd with his fart story, which I told him was always a hit. His broccoli story was a bit odd. Ed ran a 15 minute monologue through Steve’s life and was entertaining throughout (specifically with Steve’s hand me downs and snake bite story). Well done to both McGrath’s. The reception went off like a typical McGrath party should as people drank through the night. A nice part of the night was 11 out of 12 current members of our Fantasy Football League were all in one spot for this great picture. I’ll photoshop Gerald out later.

I was sort of back and forth on whether I was going to write this post only because I hate rehashing what already happened, but I’m happy I did it. I can always go back to these days and remember exactly what I was thinking days after it instead of years. If there are any parts I missed, feel free to leave a comment.

I wish Steve and Arpita the best and I’m happy to be their friend. They are first class people all the way.