The Fleming/Miller Wedding

It's really hard to set your wedding apart from other peoples'. I mean, you have the ceremony, cocktails, reception, dancing, done. Right?

Well, leave it to my law school pal, Caroline, to plan a wedding that is special, different, and so her, that it was just perfect. It was clear she had put thought and attention into every detail...except the weather which she just happened to luck out on. Because, seriously, last Saturday was one of the most gorgeous days of the entire year, and it was all for her.

The wedding took place at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, just across the border with Virginia. Despite it being in Maryland (y'all know how I feel about Maryland), the park was lovely, and the wedding took place in this kind of kitschy 1950s era area, complete with carousel, arcade, and bumper car pavilion. Of course many of these places were transformed especially for the wedding.

Site of the ceremony. To entertain the guests before the ceremony, the string quartet played some of Caroline's favorite songs...like Sweet Child of Mine. Caroline does love her Guns N Roses.

Chris and I wait for the ceremony to start.

All the William and Mary folks wait eagerly for things to get started!


The reception was held in the bumper car pavilion. Naturally.

Carousel! All of the guests got a ticket for a free ride.

Joe catches a glimpse of Caroline...

And Caroline sees all her friends and family. And walks down the aisle to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond. Performed by the string quartet.


A good shot of the gorgeous bridal gown.

Mr. Joe Miller and Mrs. Caroline Fleming!

After the ceremony, the guests took a spin on the carousel. Here's Nate, working the poll.

And me striking a pose.

Arista and Virginia were all lady-like and rode side-saddle. I, of course, just straddled the damn thing.

After the carousel ride, we all headed over to the bumper car pavilion for the cocktail hour. Joe and Caroline were greeting family and having their pictures taken. At this point, I pretty much set the camera down for the evening so I could enjoy myself. I proceeded to drink way too much wine (provided by the russian waiter I had shamelessly flirted with earlier) and catch up with some of friends I don't get to see that often. One of the things I love about weddings is the chance to get all your friends together for a big party.

The food set-up was delicious; it was a buffet of brunch-themed vegetarian foods which meant delicious quiche, firtata, pasta, etc. It was really good and really rich. Instead of a traditional wedding cake, each table had a platter of 8 cupcakes (raspberry, peanut butter, pumpkin chocolate chip, or coconut), one for each person.

There was dancing (duh!) and Monique, Lori, and I tore it up. We couldn't really convince any of the guys to dance (big surprise) but a good time was had by all. Some people left early around around 9:30, but we stayed until 10:45 until they kicked us out. Hey, it's not every day you have the dance floor to yourself so we decided to live it up.

It was a beautiful night, a beautiful couple, and a beautiful wedding. I think it might have been one of the funnest and most original weddings I had ever attended, and I am just hoping that everything goes as smoothly for Joe and Caroline on their honeymoon (in Dublin!) as it did on their wedding day!