September 25 – “Wedding at a Museum?”

Last night I officiated for a wedding at the Bryan Museum.  Well, it wasn’t exactly inside the museum.  They have a beautiful gazebo area outside that is covered with vines, so it’s actually a living niche in the garden of the museum grounds.  They have Christmas lights strung on several of the really big oak trees, and when those are turned on, they provide an extra attraction.  Makes for a gorgeous setting.  Also for a hot one.  No breeze was able to fight its way through the branches.  Chris said the spectators were actually getting a nice breeze.  Me and the bride and groom sure weren’t.  But so much for the negative.  Other than having to wear a coat and tie in the muggy heat, everything was really nice. 

The reception was held in a huge glass building behind the museum.  Yep.  All glass.  It had tinted windows so you couldn’t see in from the outside but you could see out from the inside.  And inside was nothing short of breathtaking.  Huge chandeliers hung from the ceiling.  Tables were set around a dance floor area, with a bar at one end.  The bar itself was lit with an internal light giving it an eerie effect.  The event was catered by the San Luis Hotel, so the food was elegant (can food be elegant?).  Some kind of fish, a cut of beef or breaded chicken were the entrée choices.  The fish was not bad.  I tasted the chicken, too.  Certainly passable for wedding grub.  They also served rice and green beans (the long, skinny fresh kind) as well as asparagus tips (I think that’s what they were.  I liked them).  Oh, and those little potatoes that look like they dug them up way too soon.  All the guests were dressed to the hilt.  Chris said she felt way underdressed.  She was beautiful, of course.  We didn’t know anybody there except the wedding coordinator from the San Luis who had given them my name.  As we made our way to the reception, I did overhear one guy in the middle of a story say, “Well, when I bought the Flagship …”  The Flagship was the hotel over the water that was destroyed in Hurricane Ike.  It was purchased and razed and turned into the Galveston Pleasure Pier, a park on the water with a restaurant, a roller coaster and other rides.  If that was his reference, then I know who he was.  He also owns much of Galveston’s beachfront property, including the San Luis Hotel, not to mention his casinos in Las Vegas.  Fairly wealthy guy.  Never met him, though.  And he could have been talking about something else, I suppose. 

We are not all that comfortable hob-knobbing with people in long gowns and hot suits (Not “good-looking.”  I mean actually hot).  So after dinner we talked to the bride and groom for a bit and excused ourselves to head home. 

2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

Father, invade the lives of that bride and groom and their family.  Walk with them into their new relationship.  Amen.