so we ventured to the wild, wild west for amandahugnkiss’ wedding. three and a half hours in the car wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be. it was actually quite fun. we got to listen to cade sing thank god i’m a country boy and blue and that was probably all the fun i needed. i also got a chance to talk to mamala and sister #3, something i don’t do often enough.

i think the most fun we had was at the hotel before the wedding. where sister #2 regaled us with tales about the awkwardness of the whole wedding. we had heard tales of amandahugnkiss’ sister amber from sister #4. sister #2 said it was true all true. apparently hospitality is not a south dakotan trait cultivated by the sister of amandahugnkiss. before we left we made bets on what time we’d bolt from the wedding.

of course, once we saw amanda, it was hard to stay sarcastic. she looked absolutely beautiful. happy and not nervous at all. ben, the future mr. hugnkiss, looked deadly serious and so grown up. the wedding was beautiful in all it’s catholicness. i did get a stern look from the stink (who has recently rediscovered his strong christian faith), when i made a crack that the stainglass window of st. martin (my mom’s maiden name) didn’t look like a member of the family. apparently, god does not like jokes.


max, of course, stole the day. in his adorable little suit. he had the actual rings tied to his pillow. when the time came to exchange rings, he ran up the stairs to the altar with his pillow and waved to us. then he gave the rings to amanda, turned around and waved again. “i did good.” he proclaimed when he got back to his pew. the clip-on tie was his favorite part of the day. he carried it around and talked to it. of course, he managed to lose it before we even hit the reception. as we were standing outside the reception waiting to pelt the happy hugnkisses with rose petals, sister #4 spotted the tie clipped onto the dress of some teenage girl. she went over to the mean sister of amanda and said that max had lost his tie and she thought that maybe that girl had it. the mean sister, she marched over and demanded the tie. let’s hear it for the mean sister. everyone needs a mean sister.

the reception was place that used to be the catholic church. it was decorated beautifully, lit by candles, rose petals everywhere, and behind the wedding party’s table was a big, beautiful potrait of the now mr. and mrs. hugnkiss taken at the eiffel tower. it was breathtakingly spectacular. my mom was in awe of the food and raved to mom hugnkiss about the pork. apparently you can’t go wrong with the south dakota pork council, mom hugnkiss said so.

it was a wonderful day. despite all my lonely, bitter singleness, i do so love weddings. they never fail to make me cry.