Wedding Mania, Part II...Bahston

Ok. Let's review. Wedding in Antigua. Quick dash back to Raleigh (with a pit-stop in Miami). Something like fifteen hours to do laundry, sleep and re-pack. Back to the airport to travel to Boston for another wedding. Arrival in Boston. SWAN BOATS.

The waterfoul didn't stop there. Boston is overflowing with all manner of feathered, web-footed creatures. These little guys (Yes, dressed in Bruins jerseys. The city was awash with Cup fever.) are part of a bronze sculpture tribute to the book Make Way for Ducklings - a story about a pair of mallard ducks who raise their family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Gardens. As one would imagine, these wee webbed ones are quite popular with the toddler set so it was near impossible to get a photo of one that didn't have a child riding it.

Jason was all abuzz about the Freedom Trail. He hadn't been on it since he was a kid so we jumped right in and got ourselves all learned up real good.

The dome on the Massachusetts State House is gen-u-wine 23k gold. Fan-ceeee! I wonder if they got one of them cee-ment ponds out back?

My two favorite facts about Park Street Church:

1) The first major public statement against slavery was delivered here on July 4, 1829.

2) My Country 'Tis of Thee (everyone's favorite kindergarten Thanksgiving assembly staple) was debuted here on July 4, 1831.

All this Freedom Trailing was making me want to exercise my right to pig out. I spotted this sammich shop and insisted this was our spot. I felt it in my bones.

I was right. This was the sammich to end all sammiches.

Next stop was the Granary Burial Ground. Festive! Skulls and crossbones are so hot right now. That gravestone was a real trendsetter.

Two of the graveyard's most notable residents are Paul Revere...

And Samuel Adams. Cheers!

I'll be honest. I was really hoping I would be able to photoshop this pic (from a pub window in Faneuil Hall) with "IN FAILURE" underneath the "BELIEVE" after the Bruins lost the Stanley Cup to the Canucks but damn if they didn't go and win the thing. Thanks for nothing, Tim Thomas. You beast.

But back on the trail... This is the home of Paul Revere in Boston's North End neighborhood. Everyone loves to tell you that "He and his wife lived in this house with sixteen children!" which makes a nice little fun fact...except it's totally misleading.

Here's the truth: He had eight children with his first wife between 1757 and 1773 and another eight with his second wife after the first one died. PLUS, the family didn't live there full-time in the 1780's and 90's. So there you have it. The more you know!

GIFSoup

The thought of that many children was making me get all clammy so we decided it was the perfect time for a vino break in a propah Italian cafe. Salute! (Or cin cin if you want to get all formal about it.)

The Old North Church played a large role in the American Revolution. This is the very steeple where two lanterns were hung and Paul Revere gave directions to light them "one if by land, two if by sea" to warn fellow patriots whether the Brits were approaching on foot or by boat. Take THAT, Redcoats!

Tim Thomas, is that you??

Nope. Paul Revere. He looks ridiculous. I mean, I know Boston's an Original Six team and all, but I'm pretty sure even the Habs didn't exist in 1775. No way was Paul Revere a Bruins fan.

And that's a wrap on day one. Except, I had my very first lobster roll EVER for dinner that evening and as I'm writing this, I still can't believe I didn't take a photo. Oh well. It will live in infamy if only in my mind.

Day two was kind of a big deal. We had very serious business to attend to. Legends of Boston. First up, the Sam Adams brewery.

Jason was like a kid in a candy store. That is, if a kid could legally consume alcoholic beverages and the candy store had huge tanks full of delicious Bahston Lagah.

I was very happy because our tour guide looked very much like Ben from Felicity (*swoon*) and Jason was very happy because, well...because.

Because of this delicious nectar, obvs.

We had it on good authority that if we went to Doyle's pub after the tour and purchased a Sam Adams beer, they would give us one of these very special glasses, designed for maximum beer enjoyment, for FREE! We also had it on good authority that you could get a wicked awesome bowl of chowdah here. Correct on both accounts.

And now, we continue our Legends of Boston tour. And you'll have to excuse us for the next eleventy billion pictures while we totally nerd out over Fenway Park and the Redsox.

Ted Williams even gave me this hat to commemorate my first ever visit. Nice guy.

Then we found a little hidden gem - a pub in the outfield! Seriously! IN. THE. OUTFIELD! From tv or inside the park, it just looks like an open garage door; like where they might store groundskeeping stuff. But no. IT'S A PUB. IN THE OUTFIELD! Seats are first come, first serve but you can totally watch games from here. This was the view from our bar stools.

And this is what you get if you stick the lens of your camera through the fence.

As if Jason weren't already in heaven, he got himself a Green Monsta IPA to round out the experience.

Is this the face of contentment, or what?

Hilariously, there's also a view from the bathroom urinals as Jason found out just before we left.

But if you thought Jason was happy before, just you wait. His cousin (the one whose wedding we were there to attend) got Jason on a small-group private tour of Fenway before the game. This photo was taken from home plate. Let that sink in.

Which way to the Monsta? Anyone?

The view from on top of the Monsta...

He even got to watch warm-ups at close range.

My first Red Sox game was everything I hoped it would be. Jason's cousin set us up with stellar seats right behind the visitor's dugout. I gorged myself on Fenway Franks. The Sox got the scoring started. Then they staged a comeback victory after falling behind. I even got to sing Sweet Caroline with the Fenway Faithful. (I also got to watch a few drunkies get tossed out.)

And the atmosphere. Well, the atmosphere is just about unbeatable.

And finally, when it was time to close it down in the ninth inning, I got to witness Papelbon's dramatic Shipping Up To Boston entrance. 'Twas all I could do to keep myself from breaking out into a riverdance.

Shipping up to Boston from heathers on Vimeo.

Serious pitcher is serious.

The morning of the wedding day, we killed time with a hahbah touah. (That's harbour tour for those of you not fluent in Bostonian.)

It was a gorgeous day but unbelievably chilly out on the water. Which is why I'm sporting this ratty-ass, giant J.Crew hoodie instead of the super cute top from Anthropologie that I left the hotel in.

The Brothers Sanger getting re-acquainted with their childhood home...

And finally. The wedding. The reason for the season. And the reason for another feather (!). You may read a short post about my feather (!) history here, if you wish. And here is that particular feather (!), the inaugural feather (!) if you will:

This wedding took place on the gorgeous rolling grounds of the Crane Estate (as in Crane & Co. fine stationery) in Ipswich. It overlooks the ocean and is every bit as magical as it sounds. And that's why I knew I couldn't show up in any old getup. So I shopped. I got a new purple dress. I got new Italian leather heels. And I got a new feather (!). In fact, I commissioned it and it was made just for me! Or as the Brits would say, a bespoke feather (!). This one was a bit flashier than the inaugural feather (!) of 2009, but still tasteful and appropriate for the occasion.

Now. This photo. I have a love/hate relationship with this photo. Here's what I love about it: 1) the ocean and 2) the fam looking all gussied up. Here's what I hate about it: I look chubby. Which leads me to one more thing that I love about it: this was my wake-up call to get my ass back on Weight Watchers and lose the pounds I'd slowly accumulated over the last five years. Down 13 and counting. (Coming soon - skinny Heather, v2.0.) Anyhoodle, moving on...

The ceremony positively took my breath away. It was sweet and sincere and beautiful and happy and you could just feel the love surrounding these guys. I'm not really much of a "wedding cryer" (except at my own) but this one got me. It got me good. It got a lot of us. Like most of the best couples, Dave and Adam have many opposite qualities. They touched on this in the ceremony. Dave works in insurance and is a planner. He likes order and for things to go according to schedule. Adam owns a very successful design studio and is impulsive and creative. He likes to go with the flow and embraces opportunities to be spontaneous.

So, obviously Adam coordinated all the design elements of the wedding. And the result was gorgeous. From the invitations with vintage postcards used for RSVPs (and used again to identify which table you were at) to the mercury glass candle holders to the centerpieces and music and food and photobooth (from which I'm hoping to have some photos to share at some point because the Sangers were on FIRE that night), the whole thing was just wonderful.

Purses and empties. Clockwise, from top left: Jenny, Me, and Amy.

(Those last few pics were played around with on Instagram, just for funsies. Want to make your photos look all kinds of vintage-y? There's an app for that.)

There are no words for how handsome I thought Jason looked that day. He was like a walking Brooks Brothers ad. Between my feather (!) and his bow tie, we were quite the fashion plates.

And then reality set in. These were waiting for us in the post when we got back home. They are handwritten thank you notes from Uniquities and Brooks Brothers, thanking us profusely for shopping with them. You know may have overspent on your wedding attire when...