Thursday night, Grace and I boarded a red-eye for Dulles, on our way to Burlington, Vermont, for the very exciting occasion of Jeffrey Taras’ marriage to Kimberly Maley. Jeff and I met 16 years ago as very unlikely pledge brothers. Later we were roommates at the house and have remained close friends ever since. In April, we were honored to have him as part of our wedding party.

Matt, also a pledge brother and former roommate, coincidentally had our same itinerary. After an early-morning “lounge crawl” of Dulles’ Red Carpet Clubs, we boarded our regional jet to Burlington. By mid-morning, we deplaned at Burlington airport and we were quickly on the road; Matt more quickly than us in his flaming-red Mustang coupe.

We all headed south down Rt. 7 and arrived at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes, Vermont, which is located along the shores of Lake Champlain. We all checked in at the main lodge, but Matt’s cottage wasn’t quite ready, so we all had lunch together at the Red Mill, which is adjacent to their private grassy airstrip. Matt tried to order an Amstel Light, but was informed that they were low on supplies as this was their last week of the season. Hanging in the rafters was an old canoe and along the walls were pictures of “Skit Night” from the 1950’s.

Suddenly, it became clear that Basin Harbor was not unlike Kellerman’s in Dirty Dancing (one of Jeff’s favorites), though we were in the heart of the Green Mountains instead of the Appalachians, it was a bit colder, and the closest thing we had to Swayze was Carlson, who had yet to arrive. Still, I was looking forward to the end of the season show, which never came to be, though Jeffrey on the dance floor was, as always, a good substitute … more on this later.

Our cottage, like the rest of the Basin Harbor Club, was charming, quaint, and rustic. I was pleasantly surprised by our partial lake view. Grace, unfortunately, spent the afternoon working while I napped. This was a little backwards as Grace didn’t sleep a wink on the trans-continental flight after being sucked into the movies on the plane.

In the afternoon, Frances, Jon, and Lily arrived from Detroit. We stopped by to see them before heading over to the lodge for cocktails and the rehearsal dinner. It was great to see the Doctors Taras after so many years and Jeff’s younger sister, Julie, as well. All are doing well. Incidentally, Julie has become a successful restaurateur in NYC. Though I have yet to visit her place on the Lower East Side, I can say that Little Giant comes highly recommended by Zagats, which gave it a whopping 26 for its initial score. I look forward to tasting for myself over the holidays. Benjamin, Julie’s truffle supplier and boyfriend, was also a pleasure to meet.

At the rehearsal dinner, Matt, Grace and I were seated with Jeff’s business partners, Amy, Bill, and Ken, as well as Kim’s good college friend, Alicia. Though Jeff’s partners are all connected through Columbia, proving it’s a small world after all again, Amy it turns out is from Northville, Michigan, and is good family friends with long-time campers-turned-counselors, Leah Jerome and the Qualmans. While I’ve known them all since they were little, Amy was actually present at the airport when they all came off the plane from Korea at six months; small world indeed.

The rehearsal dinner was an intimate affair. Jeff’s father, Rick, emceed toasts, or rather roasts of sorts, as Kim and Jeff’s mothers, Julie, and Rick shared their best wishes and told funny and touching stories. Kim’s brother, Chris, presented a wonderful slideshow of both Kim throughout her life as well as some of Jeffrey after he arrived on the Maley scene.

Afterwards, we all headed over to the Red Mill for drinks. There, we met up with Will Obeid, who I haven’t seen in ages, his girlfriend, Lynne, and Jeff’s friend, Sarah, who I met in SF when she lived there. Apparently, we missed the Carlsons’ party window, as they decided they were in for the evening because baby Lily was asleep. Grace’s combination of sleep deprivation and getting her drink on put her into a slight tailspin. Luckily, I was able to get her home before Bizzaro-Grace emerged. Evidence of Happy-Grace was limited to clothing strewn about, several loud announcements about how happy she was to be going to sleep, and a little happy jig she likes to do, which is somewhat akin to the running man.

The next morning, we got up just in time for lunch with the Carlsons. Frances had already gone for a run and they had long since enjoyed the breakfast portion of their B&B package. My exercise was walking to the Red Mill with them and avoiding the frogs, some large and others enormous, who didn’t make it in their very real-life game of Frogger while crossing the road.

Matt had gone to pick up Theresa, who had been in NYC for business, from the airport. We quickly got ready and headed to the wedding with Frances, Jon, and Lily. We were running a bit behind, but eventually caught up with the bus as they were just entering the Brick House, which was about 15-20 miles north in the town of Shelburne.

The wind and rain conspired to drive the ceremony into the waiting tent. Given the timing, we were quickly shuttled from the historic building through the tented dance floor and into the ceremony tent with umbrellas provided by the staff. Before we knew it, Jeffrey walked his mother down the aisle and Kim appeared with her father. She was a beautiful bride.

After the ceremony, the rain stopped and the clouds opened up just enough to reveal what a beautiful location the Brick House was. Seats for the outdoor ceremony were spread out over a lawn that overlooked Lake Champlain with the rolling Adirondack Mountains of New York as a backdrop.

At dinner, Mr. Maley gave one of the funniest and best wedding speeches I’ve heard, only to be rivaled by Kim’s 90-year-old grandfather, who also gave a rousing and touching speech. Matt, Jeff’s best man, had tough acts to follow, but also did a great job and was smart to omit his first opening, which shall remain an inside joke. Dinner was delicious and the dancing was fun, especially when JT not only hit the dance floor but also had his cohorts following his “Can’t Buy Me Love”-inspired dancing moves. The evening ended late at the Maley’s cottage back at the Basin Harbor Club.

Today, we had brunch and bid farewell to everyone. Grace and I went to Burlington to look around. It took us a while to find a Starbucks, but soon we were camped out for a couple of hours on Church Street and also enjoyed a bit of shopping and a quick slice before heading to the airport for our journey home. It was a great weekend and we couldn’t be happier for Kim and Jeffrey.