Matrimony mistaken identity

Chel and I spent the weekend in Kansas City at her friend Katie’s wedding. This was our first trip to KC, and we really loved it. We had a great time with all the wedding-related activities, but because a lot of people didn’t know each other when we first got into town, there were a few cases of mistaken identity…

The senator
We stayed with the family of bridesmaid Jane in a beautiful Kansas City neighborhood. Jane’s family is the perfect American family. Three kids, two wonderful parents, a friendly dog. The house was practically a bed and breakfast.

When we got to KC, we unloaded our luggage at Jane’s house, and Chel noticed a portrait of the whole family. Jane’s mom, who we hadn’t yet met, looked quite professional — even politician-like.

“Jane, is your mom a senator?” Chel asked.

Turns out Jane’s mom is a corporate attorney. But from that moment, she became Senator Mrs. Jane’s Mom to us.

The tour guide
Katie’s friend Ed, who’s in the Army, came in from North Carolina just in time for the Friday night barbecue. Ed went to TCU, too, but since he’s been busy with his Army stuff for the past few years, he has been out of the loop with who married who. So Ed gets to the barbecue and sees me sitting at a table, chatting with some other TCU friends.

“What’s the guy who gave me my campus tour doing here?” he asked Chelsea.

“That’s my husband!” Chel replies.

The superstar
Chelsea looked absolutely stunning in her bridesmaid dress. (I’ll try to post a picture if I can get a hold of one.) She tried it on, and it fit great and looked great. But she saw a tip from the stars on the E! channel — for big events, the stars often use duct tape to tape certain…er…attributes down to ensure the perfect fit on their gowns. According to the E! channel, it wasn’t even supposed to hurt when you removed the tape! Perfect.

She asked Senator Mr. Jane’s Mom if he had any duct tape, and indeed he did. So on Friday night, Chelsea tried the great duct tape experiment.

Suffice it to say, the duct tape didn’t help the dress fit any more fabulously than it already did. And also suffice it to say, duct tape does hurt when it comes off.

The ex-girlfriend
As the reception was coming to a close, one of the groomsmen comes up to Chelsea.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so rude to you all weekend,” he says.

“Oh,” Chelsea said. “I didn’t think you were rude…we just haven’t even talked or anything.”

“Well, I was just shocked when you showed up the other night at the rehearsal. I thought you were my ex-girlfriend Becky! She was horrible to me and just broke my heart. So you’re not Becky, right?”

“Right! My name is Chelsea!”

So those were some of the highlights of our time in KC. The whole weekend was fabulous, and we wish Katie and John the best for a long, happy marriage.