Matt on the Upper East Side says...

Well, it was quite a weekend for weddings. It went down like this: Saturday: After picking up the car from dear old mom and dad in Westchester, I drove to exotic Great Neck, Long Island for the rehearsal dinner before the wedding of one of my best friends, D. (names herein abbreviated to protect the innocent, yada yada). His was a quick engagement to L. In fact, a year ago was their first date, so as D would say, "we're not messing around here, folks." The rehearsal dinner was at a local Italian restaurant, and that was the designated time for yours truly (a groomsman but not the best man) to deliver a speech. I admittedly didn't put a ton of effort into the speech, but it was well received. I told a silly anecdote about when D. and I first became friends (over 14 years ago). I then bookended it by telling another silly anecdote about the first time he told me about L. Whatever, a bit corny, but it worked. That night I actually crashed on a cot in D.'s hotel room. No, L. was not present - she spent the night before the wedding with her family. The next day, of course, I checked into my own room and got ready for the big event. Sunday: Suited up in our tuxes, I went with D. and the other groomsmen to the country club where the wedding would take place. The weather was glorious, and the setting on the Sound was lovely.
D.'s wedding went off without a hitch. The ceremony was just before sunset, outdoors, with a view of the Sound. The food at the cocktail hour was great. Jewish wedding, but not a kosher one, so there was shrimp cocktail along with pigs-in-blankets. The reception was a lot of fun, with the standard centerpieces, steak-or-fish dinner option, dancing the hora, etc.

Monday: Woke up exhausted the next day for the post-wedding brunch. Wearing a suit. Why was I wearing a suit? Because I was off to yet another wedding, this one for my friend J. and his bride R. Again, another round of festivities, though for this one I was more of an ancillary figure - not in the wedding party, and a somewhat more distant friend. Venue was lovely in New Rochelle, and the costumes both more and less formal than D.'s wedding: The groomsmen wore morning suits and ascots at this one, but the guests were not dressed in black tie (unlike D.'s wedding, which was black tie for all).

Finally, after they served dessert, I bid farewell to the bride and groom and dragged my weddinged-out ass back to mom and dad's to drop off the car, return to the City, and get a few hours of sleep before work at 9am. No more weddings until December... and that's fine by me.