So, Ryan and Cara's approach to their entire wedding has been pretty low-key and laid back.  They didn't send out official invitations, they sent emails to their friends, they had a wedding website to keep us up-to-date and they were not into many of the more "formal" traditions.  This meant it was going to be a fun day!

When we awoke, we were at first concerned about the cloudy skies and the rain!  The ceremony was meant to be outside - but fortunately, before the afternoon, the skies cleared and we ended up with beautiful blue skies and lots of sun!  As Ray was the wedding photographer and we were carpooling with the officiant, we arrived to the site, the Burlington Boat House, rather early.  Ryan, Cara, their wedding party and parents were already at the bar, waiting to greet us!

Since there hadn't been actual invitations, there also hadn't been actual RSVPs.  So, that meant no one was really sure how many people were coming.  The idea was, when Ryan got "the feeling" that everyone was there, he would give Doug "the signal" (see below) and everyone would head out to the dock for the ceremony.

While this laissez faire approach had left many of the ladies with a million questions over the week, in practice it really was effortless, and so reflective of the couple!

So after the delivery of "the signal" we all headed outside to the dock.  The sun was shining, the lake was gorgeous, and being Burlington it was WINDY, which meant it was COLD!  Doug created a beautiful ceremony which reflected both Ryan and Cara, their courtship and the new direction they are facing together moving forward.  They exchanged personal vows and sealed the deal with a kiss!

After the congratulations, speeches and a little bit of dinner, Ray snuck them back outside for some sunset shots!

Ray must have a taken a million pictures over the course of the day - hopefully I can get him to upload them to our photo gallery, as there is much more to see!

Here are (most of the ladies) of Clan McWilfrew, as it has become, in honor of Ryan and Cara's Scottish honeymoon (Corinn, Jenn, Colleen and Camille)!  Ray also snuck off the other couples for some great shots!  First, Camille and Joe...

...then Doug and Jenn . . . and Colleen and Phlip!  Somewhat unbelievably there are no photos of Ray at all.  I guess when you're the guy behind the camera, not only don't you take a break to eat, drink or dance with your wife, you don't bother to get in any of the shots, either!

To end the evening I will leave with you a favorite shot of Ray's.... Doug, Joe (and a corncob pipe) and Phlip.... there is not explanation, except we all had a great time!

Good thing Phlip and Colleen are getting married next summer - we can't wait another 5 years to do this again! 

Today marks Day 2 of a 3 day wedding weekend extravaganza!  One of Ray's best buddies from UVM, Ryan, and his long-time girlfriend Cara are getting married tomorrow!  This was a cause for major celebration because (a) not only is the wedding taking place here in Burlington, but (b) this means the entire X. McWilfrew gang (plus lady partners) will be together again for the first time since Ray and I got married (or maybe even longer than that....).

So folks started arriving from out of town yesterday.  Doug and his girlfriend, Jenn, arrived from North Carolina yesterday afternoon.  Joe and Camille had flown into NYC earlier in the week to spend some time with Phlip and Colleen.  The four of them rented a car and arrived last evening.  Ryan and Cara drove up from CT and were the last to arrive last night.  While there is no photographic evidence, there was a bit of a noisy bachelor party at Casa de McBe last night - but I have no details, and the ladies were banned from the house and forced to go out eating and drinking. 

This morning dawned will slightly less planning than most of the female participants might have liked, particularly after a rather late evening, but the initial forecast was for a hike up Camel's Hump mid-morning.  I think due to the cloudy skies and the lack of sleep the plans were reduced to a lovely (read: shorter) hike up Mount Philo early afternoon.  Doug and Jenn are staying with us for the weekend, so the four of us pilled into the Honda Civic (did I mention Doug is taller than Ray?), picked up Joe downtown  and met up with Phlip, Colleen, Joe, Cara and the rest of the group (Cara's Dad, her sister, her sister's boyfriend, etc) for the scenic hike.

Joe and Ryan have been best friends for as long as I can remember, which I think means probably the first day of college.  Joe will be serving as Best Man at tomorrow's festivities, while Doug with be officiating and Ray will be one of two wedding photographers!  To get him self (and the couple) prepped for ALL the photos to be taken tomorrow, Ray brought along his camera for combination of posed and candid shots!

The hike wasn't too difficult, and the view from the top (although a bit cloudy) was wonderful!

Ryan, Cara and much of their wedding party had to cut out early - the ladies had hair and make up test runs to do, and Ryan had errands to run before the pre-rehearsal dinner drinks at VBP.  Ray, myself, Doug, Jenn, Joe, Philp and Colleen were in no rush... so we took our time coming down the mountain.

So I'm sitting inside on this beautiful day creating a blog site and I feel almost confident I might be able to post it within the next week.  I'm currently waiting for Phlip's call, he and Colleen came into town just yesterday as a "surprise", so Corinn and I can head into Hinesburg to meet him for the fireworks tonight.  I'm also hoping to create some of my own using my fabulous spud-gun I made while at GIV IT this summer.  We tried yesterday, to no avail.  Today, I'm hoping the new formula fuel I'll be using will have better results since cheap hairspray not only smells horrid, but is not optimally mixed with propellents created for spud firing.  We'll see how it works out tonight, I'm hoping for good/fun results.

Well, back to coding and happy 4th!