This was the third wedding of a nephew in August for the Kenningtons.  There was a Kennington nephew wedding the first weekend of August, a Printz wedding the second weekend of August and our Kennington cousin’s wedding this weekend. My sister, Mary Beth is related to all of the weddings, mother of the groom for this weekend, aunt for the first and second. This was a wonderful weekend, so relaxing since I had no responsibilities except to be of service, and it felt like I was truly on vacation.

I was able to fly into Dulles airport and get picked up by Mary Beth. We spent the night at their house in Va and helped her husband, Richard, and son, Dave, pack up the car with all of the goodies for the drive to Virginia Beach the next day. On our drive down to the beach, we accidentally met up with our brother, Joe, his wife, Jane, and their family at a  Chick filet restaurant for a quick lunch. We stopped by the venue for the rehearsal dinner on our way to the Marriott hotel. Most of us had never been to Virginia Beach and really enjoyed seeing the ocean and the beach. Our brother Paul, his wife, Maggie, and daughter, Meredith, were already in Va Beach, staying with friends. We met for dinner at a very nice, casual seafood restaurant. It was quite festive and yummy. We returned to the hotel in a heavy rain, and had a 25th birthday cake for our niece, Jessie. Hurricane Dan was on his way and no one was sure how it would affect the wedding plans at this point, but plans for setting up the rehearsal dinner and picking up incoming guests continued. Several of us went up to Beth’s room to prepare the wedding guest welcome bags after a long day. We all slept well that night!

Friday, many of the family enjoyed the beach and or pool, walked down the boardwalk, etc. I went with Mary Beth, Richard and John, the groom, to pick up alcohol at Sam’s and to set up for the rehearsal dinner. When we got to the party venue, we set up tables, ironed tablecloths, decorated the tables with sand, shells, candles, etc, and set up the photo montage which was to play that night.

After getting back to the hotel, there wasn’t so much to do but relax and get ready for the rehearsal/party. Our sister, Mary Kay, my roommate, arrived on Friday afternoon, picked up at the airport by Joe and Jane, and our family contingent was complete. I got dropped off at the dinner venue to be there while the caterers set up, to meet the security guard, and greet early guests, while the Kennington family attended the rehearsal. One of the groomsman’s car got hit in the rear while waiting to turn into the church for the rehearsal. Fortunately, no one was hurt, although the car was totaled. That was a little excitement for the evening. But the rehearsal dinner was fabulous, the barbque was great, the photo montage was excellently prepared by the groom’s brother, Dave, and much enjoyed by everyone. A totally successful evening.

Saturday morning held a golf game for the guys. The hurricane stayed out to sea and didn’t threaten the wedding, besides some slight bands of rain, which did not fall on the golfers. The rest of the family enjoyed walks on the boardwalk, sitting out on the beach, and relaxing. Mary Beth and I rented beach chairs and an umbrella and sat in the shade and read until time to get ready for the wedding. See photo to prove I was outside on the beach! We then passed the beach chairs on to other family members who did not need as much prep time and didn’t need to get to the wedding early.

The wedding was wonderful, everyone looked beautiful, especially the family members. I loved Mary Beth’s dress, it was so beautiful and she just glowed. Everyone was so photogenic. This is the video montage of the wedding from Knox Studios by Laura’s dad.

The after wedding socialization took place in the lobby of the hotel. At sometime during the later evening, John’s cousins went out onto the beach and stamped a design in the sand in the dark. It could not be seen from our rooms which faced the Atlantic and the beach at night. But I got up early on Sunday, sat out on the patio of our room, read my book while I waited for the sun to rise. I took a series of photos, which included the beach zamboni grooming the sand and eventually obliterating the design. Anyone who was not an early riser would have missed the beautiful message of love from John’s talented cousins (Meredith, Jessie, Jenny, John D, Victoria. and brother Dave). I am pleased to post the photos here for the first time for everyone to enjoy.

We had an uneventful drive back to Fairfax after loading up Richard’s and John’s cars with gifts, clothes, and leftover wedding miscellaneous and hugging family members good-bye. After a relaxing evening remembering the lovely weekend, Mary Beth took me back to the airport for my flights home on Monday morning. It was a wonderful weekend, enjoying my family, being of service, yet with no responsibility. I thank Mary Beth and Richard for being wonderful hosts, Mary Kay for being a great roommate, and Jay for giving me the time to spend with my family guilt free.