Rehearsal c/o City Tavern, Gza c/o the Trocadero

After the wedding rehearsal wrapped up, we hopped back on a trolley and made our way to City Tavern. There we enjoyed a dinner hosted by C.'s parents. It started with drinks and mingling, and then we all found our seats and enjoyed a welcome and a little historical context by one of the folks who served the room. He told us about the history of the location, as well as the different breads laid out on the table. 

Then we raised our glasses to the bride and groom and their families.

These were our water glasses. J. has the funny eyes in this photo, but she didn't have funny eyes during the evening itself.

S salad with blue cheese, walnuts and bacon.

C. making a speech.

L. making a speech that left many a bridesmaid a bit teary eyed.

And her dad too.

There were a few different options for our main course. The gentleman sitting next to me asked if anyone wanted to split two to get the best of both. I jumped on that particular wagon and was thereby able to try both the pork chop and trout. Both quite delicious. I think the guy liked the trout better, it was definitely a bit more subtle while the pork was just so hefty and salty. Satisfying all around.

And dessert!

A few more speeches.

Once dinner was concluded we all went to a Gza show. It was LB's mother's idea. Ok. That is 100% nonsense, but god it would be so funny if true. In actuality, I had won free tickets from Philebrity to see Gza perform Liquid Swords at the Trocadero. Knowing I had the reception and dinner, I was bummed to realize the two things were pretty much totally overlapped, so I offered the tix to my ertswhile friend G., who was totally down for free tickets. But when I went to the box office, it was more like my name was only on a list, so I couldn't just pick them up and hand them over. Instead I added G.'s name to the list. In retrospect I should have been less shy about seeing if I could have put both tickets in his name, but as it turned out the dinner concluded and I was tipsy enough to know that going to another bar that night with that group of folks might make the wedding day a little intense. So I decided to go to a rap show and sober up.

Which is exactly what I did. Talk about the other side of the coin as far as everything. A night of contrasts is perhaps one way to describe it. But both sides were so much fun. No down side.