No Matter What

The Party Starts Right Now

After the ceremony, I had to take a quick bathroom and sensory break. Once I was all freshened up, we took a few more pictures before we could enjoy the cocktail hour, which took place on the big veranda surrounding the Lakeview Inn. Annie, Dawson, Abbie, and the groomsmen were up in her suite, but I chose to stay outside with Connor.

"I love that color on you. It looks great!" he said, handing me a plate while I sat down in one of the rocking chairs. "You should wear green more often."

"Yeah, maybe I will," I said, taking a bite of a cracker.

"The ceremony was cool. I've never been to a jewish wedding before," Connor said.

"When you have a family as big as I do, it happens a couple times a year. I think I've been to more weddings than years I've been alive," I said, chuckling. "The reception will be fun. Annie is afraid of heights so I can't wait to see her face when they lift her up in the chair."

After about an hour, it was time to move across the street to the town hall, where we'd be going for the reception. The top floor had a large room used for conventions and meetings, which would be our event space.

Everyone was in the event space, while we waited outside. I linked arms with Dante and waited for the DJ to call us. Behind me was Abbie, who was linked up with Dawson's two best friends, Isaac and Keith. Dawson and Annie would be the last ones called. It just occurred to me that there were a lot of A's in this bridal party. Hopefully the DJ won't get confused.

"And now, let's introduce our bridal party and groomsmen!" said the DJ. "Let's hear it for Dante and Ayla!"

I walked into the room and instantly felt overloaded. There were cheering, clapping people, lights going everywhere—it took everything in me not to run out of there. I wanted my headphones but I knew they'd look ugly in the photos. I took my spot next to the little square area that would be the dance floor, and so did Abbie, Isaac, and Keith.

"And let's hear it for the bride and groom, Dawon and Annalise!" said the DJ.

I was so happy seeing Annie walk in. She was practically jumping off the ground as she held her bouquet in one hand, and Dawson's hand in the other. They made such a cute couple. Not quite as cute as Connor and I, but I was a little biased. It made me wonder what our wedding would look like someday. Definitely not as loud.

Annie handed me the bouquet to hold while she did her first dance with Dawson. The lights dimmed, and the happy couple took their positions on the dance floor. The DJ started the song.

Brainstorm, take me away from the norm

I got to tell you somethin'

This phenomenon...

I had to put it in a song.

I actually hadn't heard the first dance song before. I found out that it was so old, it came out before I was even born. I was just glad it wasn't the love song from the Lion King. I think that was the first dance song at the past ten weddings I'd been to. Like, come on. Have some creativity, people!

After the first dance, we sat down to eat. I was so happy that I could finally be back next to Connor. Dawson's parents did the blessing over the challah bread, and then it was time to bring out the main courses. Annie and Dawson stuck to a traditional jewish menu with a lot of our favorites. I chose the holishkes and latkes, with chicken soup on the side. It really hit the spot, because this room was definitely not well insulated and super cold.

Halfway through dinner, I took another bathroom and sensory break with my headphones. I was in there for about twenty minutes. All the noise and chatter in that room was really getting to me.

"Okay. I can do this. Only two hours left," I told myself in the bathroom mirror.

I went back into the event room, finished dinner, and then it was finally time to dance. My feet were killing me, so I was ready to finally be barefoot. The star of the dance floor was of course, my eighty-year-old grandpa. I'd never understand how he could move the way that he could at his age.

The music was pretty good. The DJ paid a mixture of modern songs and traditional jewish ones. Finally, it was time for my favorite part: the hora! I really wanted to include Connor in our big circle, but it was just too hard for him to maneuver that quickly.

"I'll stay back with you, then," I said, stepping out of the circle.

"No way! Get back in there! This is your favorite part. Go have fun," he said, gently nudging me back towards my family.

I gave him a quick kiss and squeezed back in, next to Abbie and Dante. A group of guys in the middle lifted up Annie and Dawson in their chairs. Dawson was happy and lifting his hands in the air. Annie, on the other hand, was clinging to her seat, her eyes shut, and screaming to let her back down. As a vindictive little sister, I found it hilarious.

We took a break from dancing to finally have dessert. The three-tier cake was set on the table. I loved how different the cake was. The two bottom tiers were forest green and the top tier was white. It had a topper on it that said "Mr and Mrs."

"Can you imagine that being us someday?" Connor said as the couple took their places to cut the cake.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," I said back to him.

We were literally eighteen. We had practically forever to actually get married.

"Thank you so much for everyone coming to celebrate our special day," Annie said into the microphone. "I'm speaking to you all right now because I need to give you some context. I got an email this morning that the cake shop made a mistake. The flavors and colors inside our wedding cake got mixed up with the gender reveal for two weeks from now."

"Wait, what?" Dawson said.

Everyone around the room gasped and exchanged glances. Connor looked at me with his eyes wide.

"Yup. I found out this morning," I said.

"Yeah, I know. I know," Annie said. "So we're actually going to cancel the gender reveal and do this right now."

"Is this really happening?" Dawson said with his hands on his head.

Annie handed the mic back to the DJ and they cut the cake, revealing, as I already knew, a cake that was half pink and half blue. I covered my ears to tune out some of the cheers and screams. I still couldn't believe that Annie was having a girl and a boy.