Darby and Sam's Wedding

31 Dec 2015-06 Jan 2016

Lauren, Allison, Wayne, Betty, Darby and Sam Hunter

 We hadn’t even gotten an invitation from Darby before C.J. suggested that we go to her wedding. It sounded like a good opportunity to visit the Indiana Sturtevants whom we had not seen for several years. Brother Wayne thought that would be cool, and offered to pick us up at the airport and provide a place to stay; the invitation arrived shortly afterward. The only catch was that there wouldn’t be much time between Christmas with Ginny and Wally and the wedding on 2 Jan, but we could deal with that just so long as we didn’t get stuck in a snowstorm driving back through the Siskiyou Mountains. We booked flights with Delta for a New Years Eve red-eye and a return after the holiday was over in order to get something close to a reasonable fare.

31 Dec, Thu – Left home shortly after 2000 for our 1100 flight on Delta. We parked at Sandstone again and took the 2100 shuttle to SEA.

Purgatory Country Club decorated for the reception

1 Jan, Fri – Passing over a few small towns we could see some minor fireworks, but then we were in the mountains or at least away from the centers of population. We had a couple of hours layover in Detroit and I bought some steel cut oatmeal from Wendy’s for breakfast. Then we boarded a commuter flight back SW toward Indianapolis. Wayne met us in the main terminal around 1000 (EST) and drove us home to Fishers. After some lunch and visiting we napped for a couple of hours then had lasagna for dinner with Jeannie’s mother, Eileen, and Rick and Eileen (Eileen’s grand-daughter, and their two teens, Valerie and Nathan, while Wayne and Betty were at the rehearsal and dinner.

Hunter Family banner

2 Jan, Wedding Day – After an early breakfast we all went out to join in the decorating at the reception location, Purgatory Country Club. A bunch of the groom’s (Sam Hunter) family as well as Bill and Sherry Wynn and others were there stringing lights, setting out birch log candleholders, decorating the cake table and the “sweetheart table” for the bride and groom, and much more. We returned home and had some leftover lasagna for lunch. Wayne left us the keys for their van which we drove to Saint Simon’s for the ceremony at 1400. By 1500 the very nice mass and wedding was over and we hung around a while with the wedding party and photographer. Then we used my mobile phone GPS to get us to Purgatory. We (and quite a few others) were early as the bar didn’t open up until 1700. When the bar started serving there were also appetizers – fruit, cheeses, crackers, taco chips, buffalo chicken dip and spinach artichoke dip. Dinner started around 1800 or maybe a bit later, a buffet of Mexican dishes and a green salad. The DJ introduced the bride and

Slices of the wedding cake

groom and the rest of the bridal party made an entrance – Lauren and Allison, and Darby’s friend Erin were maids of honor, Sam’s younger brother, a cousin, and several friends were groomsmen. The cake table was moved to the side and the dance floor was busy until 2200 when things started to wind down. The finale was a double line of guests all with sparklers just outside the doors waiting in the cold for the bride and groom. All in all, it was an impressive ceremony and reception. We drove home in the van with Lauren and went past the big Christmas light display at the John Deere dealership in Fishers.

3 Jan, Sun – The country club was closed on Sunday so we

could not get in there to take down the decorations. We went with Wayne and Betty and Lauren to visit Allison at her new house, a beautiful new architect-designed building not far from where she works at Community Hospital. Then we all drove to Darby’s (and Sam’s) house to see all the improvements they have made since we saw it years ago (2011 on our fall foliage tour). After a slice of one of the very few wedding cakes left out of the 35 originals, we returned home. Later we had the lasagna for dinner. Lauren had to leave for St. Louis right afterward to get back to her Resident duties on Monday.

Sam and Darby at the Indianapolis Memorial

4 Jan, Mon – Wayne, Allison, and Darby had to work but we and Sam were able to help Betty box up
the decorations and stuff at Purgatory and cart them home. Most of the stuff went to Darby’s, some with the hope of selling or renting the many handmade birch log votive candle holders. After lunch, C.J. and I went with Betty to Goodwill and got some cookie tins (and a $2.99 bicycle helmet) ($5), then on to Michaels for some discounted cookie boxes, etc. Back home we hung out until time for a homemade-by-Betty stew dinner with Wayne, Darby and Sam (Allison had to work late). After dinner we joined the bride and groom, Wayne and Betty and Allison's friend, Ammon, an accomplished photographer at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in downtown Indianapolis for some photos with the Christmas lights of the Memorial as a backdrop.

5 Jan, Tue – Got up around 0800 and had breakfast well underway before Betty got up again. I checked in for our 0625 Delta flight on Wed. Betty let me print out our boarding passes. Later we

Darby, Jack and Sam

went out for lunch at Famous Dave’s BBQ joint with Wayne. Good brisket sandwich with a side of coleslaw. We hung out the rest of the afternoon doing some photo sharing on Facebook while Betty made a Walmart run where she got some of our photos of the wedding printed for Jack who is now confined to a nursing facility (although he made it to the wedding in a wheelchair with an attendant). [None of the official wedding photographer photos have been received yet.] Betty made a big chicken dinner because Darby and Sam and Allison were coming over, probably a fairly common occurrence. Darby brought the rest of the wedding cake (about a quarter of the layer but still piled high with frosting) and the four of us finished it up after the girls left. We went to bed reasonably early so we could rise likewise early in time for Betty (truly a candidate for angel wings!) to drive us to the airport at 0445 for the 0625 flight to Detroit.  

6 Jan, Wed – The alarm woke us at 0415 and I decided to go for a quick shower and then grab a

Christmas lights on the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial

couple of containers of Greek yogurt to take with us for breakfast. Amazingly, Wayne got up at oh-dark-thirty just to say goodbye to us. Thanks to Betty’s survival bags of chocolates, we didn’t need to stop for any additional food all the way home. We had under an hour layover in DTW, then we slept a good portion of the way to Seattle. Great views of the snow-covered Cascades as we approached Seattle. It was comparatively warm at Sea-Tac, about 43 deg. F, compared to the below-20 deg. temps around Indy. Waiting 15-20 min for the Sandstone shuttle wasn’t too bad (a lot better than the frosty cold on the jetway while boarding in Indy). We were home shortly after noon and C.J. whipped up some creamy tuna soup made with yogurt. The house felt really cold even though the thermostat was set for 50 deg; a fire in the stove soon warmed up the living room (not as convenient as the new gas fireplace in Wayne and Betty’s living room, though).

C.J. and I agree that this was a really fun trip. The nieces have always been charming, family-oriented,  and not at all conscious of how beautiful and accomplished they are. Now that they are grown up, they are still just as fun to be around. Wayne and Betty made us feel very welcome and included us in the wedding preparations and festivities. We felt very much part of the family. If another wedding (maybe Allison and her boyfriend, Ammon, maybe) were to occur, we hope we could make it to that one, too.