... you always come a bit too quickly after a long weekend of fun.
But oh, what a weekend it was! Despite not quite enough sleep, and a wish that I had been smart enough to take today off, I'm still riding a huge high from the fun of the past few days!
It started off Friday night with an opportunity for the wedding party to meet each other. As some of the most important people in our lives, it only made sense that they had a chance to get to know each other. Even though there was a threat of rain, heavy wind gusts, and possibly hail, we decided to take advantage of our roof desk and enjoy dinner up there. The night turned out to be beautiful and we had an amazing time. It certainly set the mood for the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday, the guys and girls split up.
The girls spent the morning making posters for the night's event, getting coffee, doing some light shopping, checking into our hotel for the night, opening gift bags, putting together our costumes, and participating in undercover spy adventures before the main event: going to the Taylor Swift concert!!
Going in, I knew this would be special. Taylor was the first solo woman to headline at Gillette ever. This was the first NFL arena she ever played. It's a special place. Taylor is also pretty special herself. She is the youngest person to ever win a Grammy award for Album of the Year. She is the only person to have an album hit the $1 million+ first-week sales figure three times. She is the first artist since the Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more weeks at #1 in the U.S. with three consecutive studio albums. There's a reason for all of the hype around her.
Armed with my bridesmaids, posters, and my bride-to-be sash, we found our seats and checked out our "gifts from Taylor." I'd heard about the light up bracelets everyone received at her concerts, but nothing can describe what it's like to experience them in person. They lit up to the music, yes, but they were more than that. They knew where you were sitting, so floor seats could light up a different color than the stadium seats. They knew who you were sitting by so that colors would alternate and you'd never have the same color as the person next to you. Sometimes the color would spread through the stadium like an infectious disease. Small clusters at first and then randomly spreading through the rest of the stadium as we all held out our wrists to see whose would light up red first (it was Brooke!).
I've been to concerts before where I spend the entire show mezmorized by the performer - never taking my eyes off of them. This concert had so much going on, I'm not sure if I watched Taylor for more than half of it (and she was killing it up there - dancing and strutting and singing and performing her heart out!). Watching the light up bracelets alone would have entertained me. There were lasers, and fireworks and dancers and parts of the stage that lifted up over the crowd and spun around. We were dancing, we were screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs, we were embarrassing my niece every way we knew how. We were connecting to Taylor in a way that I've never done with another performer - she stops the show for long periods of time where she just talks to the audience. Every one of us walked away and commented on how it felt like "She really knew us." How often does that happen at a concert with over 60,000 people? I may be low hanging fruit when it comes to crying at concerts, but I know I wasn't the only one crying at parts on Saturday. In short, it was an experience I will never forget, experienced with some very special women whom I love. (And totally worth it, despite not getting to bed until ~2am!)
Meanwhile the boys were having an experience of their own.
In Tom's words:
Unlike Caitlin, I did not know what Saturday had in store for me. My best man, Matt, utilized his savvy for challenging puzzles and scavenger hunts, and his experience working at Escape the Room NYC to build a full scale Boston adventure. Following clues with theming from parts of Matt’s and my lifetime friendship, full of brain teasers, solving mental and physical puzzles, and physical challenges, my groomsmen and I ventured around Boston, clad in our matching shirts.
Highlights of the day included taking pictures with several strangers while posing as seals, superheroes, and sports stars, barely completing Escape the Room Boston’s “The Dig”, getting some rest while eating some great meals, burning all those calories and then some while fighting extended families and teenage girls in paintball, and combining the artifacts acquired over the course of our adventure to produce an N64 that was played into early Sunday morning. All of this incredible adventure culminated in all of us having a great time together, giving me a chance to hang out with my groomsmen, and giving my guys all the opportunity to bond with each other. It was absolutely the best bachelor party experience I could have conceived happening. Leave it to my Best Man and Groomsmen to know me well enough to come up with what may be an unconventional bachelor party, but one that suited me perfectly.
Tom and I are both extremely grateful for everyone who traveled, and took time off of work and away from their families to spend the weekend with us and make it as magical as it was. We can't wait to celebrate with you again at the wedding - 40 days and counting!!