Rachel and Chad's Wedding

Rachel and Chad got married in Austin on April 25th, 2009. Rachel is my wife's niece and one of Christie and Ray Szempruch's five kids. I find it interesting that they got married in Austin as Rachel is an Aggie and Austin is the last place Aggies like to hang out, but I guess a lot of Chad's family live in the area. Speaking of Chad's family, it was an interesting crew. I would say they represented about 75% of the attendees and a lot of jeans and cowboy boots. Didn't Uncle Golden manage to get a suit on for our wedding? Granted it was a western cut suit with a big eagle on the back, but he made the effort.

We started out on Thursday night with a fun get together at my brother-in-law John's house in Ceder Park, about 30 minutes outside of Austin. His wife Gail made some great red beans and rice and jambalaya. It was nice to see all the Baugnon family there. Friday we took a walk around the UT campus and visited some of the old haunts, including Texadelphia for a cheesesteak sandwich. That night the rehearsal dinner was at a nice Mexican food restaurant called Serrano's. It was my first time to eat there, and the fajitas were great. We also got to meet Chad's family and make a few toasts. Later that night a few of the wedding party took advantage of the SMU FIJI keg party at the hotel.

Saturday morning I drove around Austin a little to catch up on the places I hadn't seen for a while. Mean time the wedding party was turning a beer hall next to Scholz Beer Garden (the oldest bar in Texas) into a wedding reception. I have to say they did a great job decorating as the room was transformed when I came by later that day. The reward for the workers was a lunch at Green Mesquite, my favorite BBQ place in Austin (the Salt Lick is not in Austin). We all got heaping plates of brisket, pulled pork, and smoked sausage. A nice bonus, the weather was great so we were able to sit outside on the patio.

Saturday afternoon we all made it over to Our Lady of Guadalupe church in East Austin for a nice (and quick) ceremony followed by the reception back at Saengerrunde Hall. The reception was very nice and the hard work on the decorations paid off. They were pretty much able to cover up most of the scary elements. The food was good and I have to say that was one of the better wedding cakes I have had. There was lots of dancing as the DJ swung back and forth from country to 70's disco with abandon. We blew out of there at around 10 PM to head down to Austin's infamous 6th Street, but several hearty souls stayed to help take all the decorations down. While they worked away we continued the party on the roof patio of Maggie May's, the only bar I recognized from when I was at UT in the 80's. It was nice to be back in Austin having a good time, but I also realized a lot of time has passed.