Honeymoon photos, video

Is this our last post here? It very well could be. We're running out of things to tell you about! I guess we might have more pictures from other people we could link to. Anyway, a little bit of housekeeping, we got a couple lost and found items from the wedding that might be yours: a little blue umbrella with chipmunks on it, a pair of Anne Klein sunglasses, and a phone charger. If any of these are yours, let us know!

We're posting up photos and a video from our trip to Turkey for anyone that's interested. (We also took some pictures the week before the wedding you can see here.) On Sunday after the wedding, we never made it in to Southwest Harbor because we realized we had too much cleaning up to do, so we did that, caught the ferry to Northeast Harbor that afternoon, and drove to Amy's Dad's house in York Beach. Then the next day, Sarah dropped us off in Boston where we caught a flight to Istanbul via JFK.

The vacation was broken up into three parts. The first part was in Istanbul, in Sultanahmet, the old city. We stayed at the Four Seasons, which is in a beautiful building (a former prison!), and steps away from the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace. So we spent a few days relaxing and visiting those places.

The second part, we flew down to Fethiye on the Mediterranean coast, and then sailed around for five days, five nights on a 35-foot sailboat. We sailed with a skipper, Esther, a very cool Dutch woman who did all the hard work, but we had to learn a lot about sailing to keep the boat afloat. It was a lot of fun. Many highlights, but probably the neatest thing that happened was on our last full day of sailing, some dolphins who swam along with us for awhile. I can't describe how amazing that was. We actually have a little video of it!

The third part found us back in Istanbul in the new part of the city. This was only a couple nights and one full day, but we ate nice dinners and did some good shopping. And then we came home!

Here are some pictures from the first part:



Here are some pictures from the second part:



Here are some pictures from the third part:



Finally, when we spotted the dolphins Amy had the camera out so she took a short video of it. Here it is:



(We took more videos but they're mostly pointless. But you can find them here if you're really interested.)

Thanks for letting us share these with you. And until next time, au revoir!

Time to share wedding pictures!

Amy and I got back from our honeymoon last night! What a three weeks we've had, I think we're going to spend the next three weeks (months? decades?) trying to catch up with what happened.

The first step is to start sharing wedding pictures around. First up are the official photographs from Carl Walsh. There are 604 of them! And we love them all! You can go to this website just to browse through them. Or even buy them a la carte if you really feel like it.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

As good as those are, it's so often the case that the best or at least most beloved photographs come from unpredictable sources. Darin's photographs, of course, which you've already seen, are totally great. But we've started to get some others in that we really love. My mom sent some nice photos in, CLICK HERE, and Jimmie sent us just a few that are really good, CLICK HERE.

If you have some photographs you don't mind sharing, either with the whole group or just with us, please add a comment or send them to us via email. We'd love to see them!

We're really happy right now

We just arrived at Amy's Dad's house in York Beach on our way to Istanbul, and we really are still buzzing from this weekend.

Just wanted to say thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks

And also, Darin has already posted his video from Friday night plus some great shots from the pre-ceremony rehearsal and from the reception.

Video Here.

Photos Here.

Music is Love

MUSIC IS LOVE by David Crosby.

Hi there! Since we're heading off for the great North, this is the last post we can promise on this here website. We may post some updates, or bits of information, or anything, but from here until the wedding (and then after that, of course), we won't be too near computers too much. Besides, it's time to have the wedding, and stop talking about it! We'll still be around off-blog, so if any of you have questions, just email or call us and we'll try to work it out.

Amy thought of a couple more people we should thank, so I'll do that now. First Kevin Heaphy Fitness. We love them, and if you live near us and find yourself jealous of Amy's guns at the wedding, you should consider signing up! I'd like to thank our friend Oscar Udeshi for making my suit. It got here this week and, frankly, it's awesome. Any of you guys in New York or London wanting really well-made clothes should ring him. I'd also like to mention all of the people who can't come to the wedding but who have nevertheless sent the nicest messages to us. We'll miss you! I am going to single out Dr. and Mrs. Vardaman in this regard, but only because they were the only people that asked to be put on the website despite not coming. Here you are! ;)

We'd like to leave you with a song cross-posted from our music blog. Music Is Love. It's a song we've become quite fond of around here. Have a listen, have a download, and have safe travels to Maine. See you in a few days!

LISTEN.

Weather watch, pt 6

Still ticking over nicely, High 73, low 43. and today weather.com agrees. That's worrying! This will be the last graphical weather update, but do keep an eye in it, and hope for the best...

Update to our registry

As you all know, we've asked people to donate to some worthy causes (Ubuntu and the MS Society) in lieu of wedding presents. In that regard, we just agreed to go on a bike ride in October to raise funds for the MS Society. So from now on anything that people give through that link will go towards our bike ride fundraising. Check it out, and if anyone wants to sign up to ride with us, sign up!

Weather watch, pt 5

More pointless pot-watching, but at least this forecast is nice! (Weather.com still has it raining both days...)

Saturday Schedule of Events Revisited

We're going to get tired of saying "I can't believe it's only x days until the wedding" right up until the wedding is over, but still, 8 days is blowing my mind. Tomorrow Amy is driving Martin up to Maine, and unless I can contrive a work reason to stay behind, I'll be going too. I'm looking forward to the trip, but I woke up early this morning fully convinced that we won't have enough room in the car for everything. We've got a list a mile long to do between now and then.

One way or the other, we'll get there, and all of you will to. But the point of this post is to tell you a little bit more about Saturday.

On the main website, we have a schedule of events for Saturday. Look at it here.

We've already told you about taking a ferry out to the island, with driving directions and everything.

Click here for directions to the ferry.

The ceremony starts at 5, and the last ferry leaves at 4 from Southwest Harbor. That ferry will probably arrive around 4:30, giving people half an hour to loiter and wander up to the church. We know the majority of people of people will be on that ferry, but we have encouraged people to come early if they can, by telling them about places like the museum, the Islesford Pottery shop, and most importantly, the croquet tournament on the town field!

If you would like to come out early, you can come in full dress or even bring your wedding clothes with you and change on the island. There are a few houses we have access to where you can freshen up.

We're looking forward to the wedding ceremony, and don't want to talk about it too much yet, but thanks in advance especially to our parents, Mayur, Christie, Darin, and the Rivals for helping us out with it!

After the wedding ceremony is over, we'll wander more or less directly back down to the Islesford Dock Restaurant, and the food should start coming pretty quickly.

Click here to watch a short video about our friends and the restaurant proprietors, Dan and Cynthia.

A word about the reception. There will be no formal "sit-down" period at the reception. There will be food stations, and food brought out by servers, more or less continuously, but not a sit down appetizer course, entree course, etc. We thought this would be the best way to let people mingle and relax in the casual spirit of things. Just make sure you eat and don't wait!

After awhile we'll be opening up the microphone for toasts and stuff, and eventually the music will start. We've asked our friend Jason to kind of oversee all this, so he'll keep you informed of things. Jason and Stu (and to the extent they need help, Jimmie) will be DJ'ing, and I can tell you now they've got some excellent material lined up.

Around 10:30 you'll have an opportunity to bid us adieu, as the first ferry back to Southwest Harbor will be leaving around then. After that, the music will just continue until people run out of steam entirely (there will be a late snack to help keep the party going). But all good things must come to an end and there will one more ferry taking everyone else home, leaving anywhere between midnight and one (depending on how it's going).

Thanks to everyone that has been helping us put this all together (there are LOADS of you, it's really humbling), and of course thanks to everyone for dragging themselves up 200, 500, 2,000 miles to get to the thing.

Weather watch, pt 4

Today 8/18 is within the ten-day forecast window, so most weather sites will have a prediction now. If this really was the weather, I'd be happy. Not too hot, not too cool. No rain.

[Edited for incompetent spelling.]

Friday Night at the Atlantic Brewery Revisited

I am re-posting what I did a couple weeks ago about the Friday night barbecue. We're really pleased with the response to the dress up idea--it sounds like there will be some pretty fantastic styles on display. We're still looking for a judge for best outfits, but that's not a problem. We also don't know exactly where the trolleys will pick people up, but we'll have that figured out too, by the time you all get up there.

***

FRIDAY NIGHT EVENT at The Atlantic Brewing Company's Knox Road Grille

Then, at 5:30 p.m. and at 6 p.m., there will be trollies leaving from Southwest Harbor (in front of the Cafe Drydock and Inn, smack dab in the center of town, Main Street and Clark Point Road) to take wedding guests to The Atlantic Brewing Company's Knox Road Grille, 15 Knox Road, Bar Harbor, Maine. (You can also drive yourself or join up later, of course, but the grill is shutting down around 8 pm).

Please plan to come! Drinks are on the house! Also, they have great barbecue supplied by Mainely Meats, all you can eat for around $17! It will be lots of fun!

At 9 pm the trollies will take everyone back to Southwest Harbor and surely for a series of nightcaps.

THERE IS A DRESS CODE! It won't be rigidly enforced, but we encourage everyone to come in their best cowboy gear to the barbecue. Boots, hats, belt buckles. Whatever you've got. If you've misplaced your chaps and lassoes, you can also come in the colors of the great Sooner Nation: Crimson and Cream! It will be a small patch of Oklahoma in Maine.


(Driving Directions from Southwest Harbor: Extremely simple. Take Route 102, aka Main Street, straight north from Southwest Harbor back towards the direction you originally came in. Go 8.5 miles north until you hit a fork in the road, and bear right on Knox Road. The Atlantic Brewery is immediately on the right. Here's a map.)

Weather watch, pt 3

See now it's warm again. People really shouldn't pay any attention to these forecasts...

Driving Directions Re-Revisited

Leaving aside the raw amount of time it takes, getting to the wedding is pretty straightforward.

If you're driving from New York, it's almost 500 miles up I-95. Around 200 miles from the Maine border. People have asked how long it takes, and I've said anywhere between 8 and 11 hours. It depends so much on traffic. We've encouraged people to not do it all in one day if they can avoid it.

You can consult the map for a graphical illustration of the route.

...But by now most people have figured out what they are doing one way or another. (There's the issue whether people should take the coastal route or take I-95 all the way, and we lean mostly to taking the interstate, unless you have lots of time. We love the coastal route, but most people don't actually have enough time to enjoy it.)

Those of you flying are coming into Bangor or Portland, mostly. From the latter, you just follow I-95 up to Bangor then turn right, and then follow the same directions we give to people flying into Bangor:

From Route 95N toward or in Bangor, take Route 395E. Follow for a few miles and take US Route 1A E toward Bar Harbor/Ellsworth. Follow 1A for about 26 miles until it becomes Route 3S and follow for about 10 miles. Stay straight onto the island and follow Route 102S/198S for about 5 miles. Continue straight on 102S for another 5 miles. Route 102 becomes Main Street in town, and Seawall Road south of town.

In addition to the website, we've posted several items on travel to the wedding.

August Eight

Happy Birthday Dad!

Weather watch, pt 2

Yankee Jigs and country dances: Weddings on the Cranberry Isles

Hugh L. Dwelley's "A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine," p. 119, has descriptions of the first wedding known to be held in the Cranberry Isles, plus social events on Islesford:

When British Captain William Owen visited the Isaac Bunker family on Great Cranberry in 1770, he performed a wedding and then noted that "a great time was had by all." ... Island neighbors attended []. Very likely someone played a fiddle or a banjo. Rum, cider, and a haunch of beef were consumed and Captain Owen wrote: "The evening was spent in Yankee jigs and country dances, much innocent mirth & social glee."