Trip the Light Fantastic

"Hey, mama rock me." - Old Crow Medicine Show

A couple of weekends ago, Jerry and I made a trip down to the coast for his niece's wedding. In addition to being the bride's Uncle and Godfather, Jerry was the wedding photographer.  I, being his lovely assistant, knew I needed to wear something appropriate for a wedding that was both comfortable and easy to move around in. I decided to order something special for the occasion, because I hardly ever get to go to weddings, especially fun one's at the beach that involve alcohol and dancing afterwards. As a introvert and all around people repeller, I've never been a bridesmaid and have been to very few weddings that weren't for family. Unfortunately, my family is not known for their partying ways, so the weddings I have attended have been pretty lame. My sister's were the exceptions, but I was a teenager the first time she got married and had to promptly go back to the hotel room with my parents afterwards. Her second time around I was 8 months pregnant, so I could barely walk, much less dance. I've always wanted to attend a wedding like the ones I've seen in the movies, where everyone is dancing and having a great time.

As is the case with most things, the wedding was much different than I had pictured it in my mind's eye. The invitation said it was at Fort Macon, which I had never been to even though it's just a short drive away from where I have lived my entire life. I had envisioned an intimate wedding around the remnants of an old fort. Instead it was a very informal but still lovely wedding right on the beach. I did feel a tab bit overdressed, though. We basically just walked up on the beach in the middle of a crowd of beach goers and had ourselves a wedding. I have to say, it was a little weird to see some fat lady's butt crack in the background of a wedding, but there was also something very charming and refreshing about a wedding that wasn't planned and organized to a T. It was very organic, and I loved that about it.

The reception was at a local bar, and once I got a few drinks in me, I ventured out onto the dance floor. I danced with Jerry's sister to get warmed up and then my man put down his camera for a little while and joined me. For the record, Mumford and Sons "I Will Wait" is really hard to dance to. It's kinda slow one minute and then fast the next. Every time the fast part would kick in I wasn't sure what to do, so I would just kick my heels up like I was at a hoe down or something. After a couple of songs, I collapsed into my chair, but before I could catch my breath good, a rather old and weathered looking gentlemen came up to me and asked me to dance (with Jerry's permission of course.) I was caught off guard by this turn of events and before I knew it I found myself on the dance floor holding the leathery hands of a complete stranger. He leaned in close and explained to me with cigarette-laced breath that he and his buddy over there at the bar were locals who frequented this establishment on a regular basis. He also informed me that they had been drinking for the last 24 hours and were "fuuucked uuuup," then he spun me around, looked creepily into my eyes, and started singing "Hey, mama rock me," which were the lyrics to the song that we were dancing to. The whole time I kept looking to Jerry with pleading eyes, hoping he would cut in and rescue me, but he just kept taking pictures of us and smiling. When the song was finally over, I thanked the stranger for the dance and made my way back to my seat as fast as I could, but before I could sit down, he whispered in my ear that I should stick around for the wet T-shirt contest they were having later on that night. Classy.

Once the festivities were over, Jerry and I decided to pay a quick visit to Fort Macon, and since I was all dressed up with nowhere to go, we decided to do an impromptu photo shoot there. The lighting was great, and the retro nature of my outfit combined with all the green grass and brickwork gave this shoot a very Downton Abbey feel. Oh, and I should mention that although I had never heard it before that day, I hear that "Rock me, Mama" song everywhere now - the grocery store, on hold on the phone, and most recently at a birthday party. It gives me the shudders every single time.