The guests were to arrive at Rockefeller Plaza at 6:30 that morning. We woke up at the tender hour of 4:30 to pouring down rain. No, not rain, a monsoon. We turn on the local news and all there is to talk about is the storm of the century currently taking place. If looking good for national television at 4:30 in the morning isn't challenging enough, try adding rain to the mix. Greatness. Needless to say we assembled in the lobby all dolled up to head over to the ceremony.We were ushered past all the typical Today Show spectators with their "hi mom" signs and into the building for breakfast. While we were lingering around our donuts, a Today show producer approached us. She commented on how lively we were for the morning and asked us if we could sing around a piano for the TV cut-ins. Our response. Heck Yes. Its Game Time. We walked into the ceremony site and all huddled around Jerry, the pianist, and his white baby grand piano. Our first cut-in was us singing to "Sweet Caroline". It was super cheesy, but its national TV baby. Who would have thought that years and years of dance training and my national TV debut is me singing. Go figure?
Onto the reception! It was held at the Hudson Terrace. We grabbed out name cards and headed up the elevator. (I may have debated whether to steal Al Roker's name card for a keepsake.) We walked into the first room and there he was. Joshua Radin. He's my favorite singer/songwriter of all time. No big deal. Unfortunately this is when the Today Show was too much to handle. The guests and the Today Show Crew and their huge cameras simply did not fit in the room, and they were doing their segments about the food and cocktails. Finally I got some chocolate mouse, champagne, and settled into a spot with a view of Joshua (and the couple). This ladies and gentlemen is heaven. The first dance was gorgeous, but they ushered us up to the rooftop for the meal. But I didn't get to met Joshua!!!
I was quickly distracted by about 3 different cocktails shoved in my face and the digital camera left in my seat as a wedding favor. Did I mention it was 9 am on a Thursday!? This simply does not happen. The rest of the reception was incredible. It was so much fun, and even more fun after the Today Show left! After the food we headed back downstairs for some quality dancing. We were kicked out finally at 1:30.
Oh yeah, we are supposed to check out of our rooms by 2. We hobbled down the street with our sore feet shoved into our heels and cocktail dresses to hail a cab. Thank goodness our cab driver was baller. He floored it to the Palace Hotel (as best he could in NYC). While stuck in traffic in Times Square, we even had a heart to heart about his frustrations of being a cab driver. Apparently he likes to drive fast or "fly" as he kept repeating but people here always get in the way. That may or may not have been a confession to hitting a pedestrian, but who cares, we have 10 minutes!!!I can only imagine what the people in the lobby thought. 2 o clock on the Thursday and 5 slightly intoxicated females in dresses come running through the lobby. We successfully crammed all of our stuff in bags and left the Palace. Sadly I only had time to put on flip flops, so I was forced to take the train back to Brooklyn in my dress with random things hanging out of my bag. I guess I have seen worse.
Yes, there is still another installment to this wedding. The photo below was taken with the owner of the reception venue. We all became dear friends at the reception. He offered to take us back out on Friday, which was my friend Amie and Anna's last night in the city. We took him up on that offer...
(yet again) To Be Continued.....
YESSSSS! The blog recap is HERE!
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