bruce and jack's wedding wasn't until 2pm so i had time to run some errands. the bad weather finally broke and today was a nice day. i bicycled down to the wine & cheese cask to get a gift certificate for the wedding couple. they had a fancy card system but the reader was broken, so they issued me paper certificates instead. i took the motorcycle to belmont to check up on my balloon flowers, which had been sitting indoors for a week, neglected because i didn't tell my father about them. i was afraid the seedlings would all be dead, but they were fine. i brought them outside to water and to get some sun.

i got home a little bit after 1pm. i had about 30 minutes to get ready. karen's indian friend was in the living room chatting with karen. i made a quick hello and then jumped in the bathroom for a shower before picking out my clothes. the wedding was informal, but i wanted to suit up anyway for the special occasion. i hadn't worn a suit in years, i was afraid it wouldn't fit. but the jacket had a boxy cut, so i could probably gain a lot more weight and still be able to wear it (i like to get a jacket with a leaner cut in the future).

the wedding was at the MIT chapel. i'd probably seen the building before, but would've never guessed its true function. from the outside it resembles a large diameter short brick smokestack. i didn't want to go in too early, figuring bruce and jack were busy preparing for the ceremony. i waited about 10 minutes before the wedding and found everyone already inside. bruce seemed to be the organizer and was in a frenzy such that when i said hello he didn't acknowledge me right away. the inside of the chapel is pretty impressive, dimly-lit except for a ceiling window that allows natural night to shine directly on the altar. the altar was designed in such a way that it looked very futuristic, like the glimmering cascade of a star trek teleporter. later i learned that when the chapel was first built, light from the moat outside would reflect back inside and shine on the brick walls; the effect isn't as noticeable these days due to all the tall trees growing around the chapel.

bruce's brother dave was officiating, his sister-in-law was best woman, his niece the flower girl (a gangly teenage flower girl, but a flower girl nevertheless), and his nephew the ring bearer (the last time i saw the children was 7 years ago, they'd grown much since then). the guest list was a select few: dennis and susan, bruce and jack's friend graham, and myself. although gay marriage is now the law of the land (thanks obama!), massachusetts was the first state to allow gay marriages. in fact, cambridge was the first city in the US that granted marriage licenses to gay couples at the crack of midnight, and bruce and i were there to witness this historical event back in 2004.

i didn't know what was the etiquette was when it comes to taking photos at the wedding. graham was in charge of documenting the ceremony, with a video setup and taking photos with his camera. i packed my dDSLR but didn't take it out because 1) it's noisy and 2) i didn't see dennis taking any photos. nevertheless, i couldn't resist, and took a bunch of silent snapshots with my iphone. after the ceremony was over, i busted out the dDSLR to get a few higher quality photos. i was surprised dennis wasn't taking photos as well, since he's a photo guy too.

after the wedding everyone dispersed, to reconvene at 5:45pm for dinner at giulia on mass ave close to our house. i must've made quite a sight, dressed in my suit, riding my motorcycle through cambridge. my mother made more zongzi, so many that her hands hurt. most of these she was either giving away or selling, and there was almost none for ourselves. instead of going home directly, i stopped by the cafe briefly where i saw my grandmother.

i returned home by 3:30pm. karen was just on her way out to do some shopping (to michael's); i told her if she was interested, i'd take her to the somerville target. i quickly changed out of my suit and together we biked down somerville avenue. we returned home by 5:40pm. i actually saw bruce and jack walking to the restaurant. i had only a few minutes to change into some clean clothes before i hurriedly went down to the restaurant.