Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Ithaca!

Last weekend, I went to Ithaca to see my friends get married. The bride is my longtime friend from Microsoft, and she's marrying an engineering professor at Cornell.

They are so truly happy together!


It was an intimate ceremony outside a bistro, which then hosted the reception. The couple used traditional vows. The trend nowadays is to write your own vows, but it was actually extremely meaningful to hear them repeat the time-honored words to each other.

While the couple was exchanging vows, the bistro staff was consumed with rapidly slicing up chicken, preparing salads, and dicing pumpkin.


A pretty field next to the restaurant. I started walking down the cleared path. It felt like being in an English moor!

I could not get phone reception, so I turned back before very long, to avoid getting lost.


The wedding favor was a bride and groom in white chocolate.


It was a small intimate gathering, and the bride went around the room and really chatted with each table. It was nice to be able to have a real conversation, and not just do a toast in between 300 other guests.


The next morning, we all had brunch at the lovely Hotel Statler, which is run by the hotel-management division at Cornell. It was some of the best customer service I've exerienced from a hotel, partly because it came off so sincerely.

The day after the wedding, I hung out with the couple all day at their house. They have been living together for a while, and chose to spend time with their friends and family who traveled from a distance, rather than wanting to be sequestered away alone.

After brunch, the groom rode his lawnmower on their front yard to keep it looking pristine, then raked all the leaves. The bride and I drove to a nearby farm to pick up her dogs from where they were boarded during the wedding preparations. The groom cooked a lovely chicken curry for dinner. I told the bride how good of a guy she picked, who can take care of things around the house and also being very successful in his career. She said he's also the cutest, most attractive guy in her eyes, and they share the same sense of humor, and she feels like she's with the most suitable guy in the world for her. It was really sweet. They are both very kind-hearted people.

I am so fortunate to have these great friends!

4 comments:

Milkman said...

"Ithaca is GORGES!" - the saying goes. No pics of the waterfalls and gorges?? And no mention of the celebrated fall colors of the Fingerlakes region of upstate ny?! :( ah, whazzis...an incomplete report of the scenic settings! :P

O Relly said...

Very nice Niniane ! Happy for you :)
It's a fantastic feeling to feel happy in the warmth of comfort of good friends.

Anonymous said...

Niniane, when are you getting married?

John said...

Congrats to your friends "Melba and Hod." Fall is the best time to visit. Wow, visiting Ithaca twice a year! It's such a pain to get there from the Bay Area.

The Statler should have the best customer service. The Hotel school is the oldest in the U.S. (if not the world), and considered the best in the nation (if not the world.)