A Homemade Wedding Homestead-Style: The Pit Crew

I must have spoke too soon, because we are completely socked in now. The rain started yesterday afternoon and is supposed to continue through the entire week, with some sources even reporting it will last until early next week.

This is our Pit Crew hard at work, 4 hours before dinner was even supposed to be served. The Pit Crew was comprised of what I consider my uncles (and maybe a real uncle or two), men who have been very close friends with my parents since their high school days or before. When my family has parties, these are the people that come. When, growing up, we would go camping, these are the people we would go with.

This guy was sorta kinda the head of the Pit Crew. He was my dad's Best Man at his wedding. My dad was also his Best Man. They are still best friends, and cannot go a day without seeing each other. His oldest son is my age, and we graduated high school together. Unfortunately, our parents also have pictures of us in diapers together.

Speaking of which, here's the son. He was a last minute addition to the Pit Crew so he did not get a custom-made apron. However, he played a crucial role in the ring saga, as he got married about 6 months before us and let us borrow his wedding band for the ceremony. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect fit. More on that later.

This is my Uncle Jimmy. He is my dad's youngest brother and my God-father. He is a surfer-dude and a beach bum. Really, he lives right on the beach. I love my Uncle Jimmy. And, there you see the custom aprons I made for the crew the day before the wedding. Not only did I want them to protect their clothes since they also were invited guests, I wanted to give them a "Thank You" of some sort. Plus, they looked really cool.

This is my Uncle Joe (or one of them I should say, there are two on my mom's side). He is married to my God-mother, one of my mom's older sisters. This guy is part of a Roadster Club and has a 1920's Ford Roadster, painted bright orange. When my brother and I were younger, we thought he was the coolest guy ever (okay, we still do). He was on the Pit Crew primarily to make is Famous Garlic Bread. Trust me, if you love garlic, you will LOVE this bread. If you don't like garlic, STAY AWAY.

There on the left in the burgundy shirt, is my "Uncle Paul". There really are no words to describe him, but I love this guy. He's the one that you want all your boyfriends to meet, cause he will scare off the weenies. He can also weed out the good ones. His ties to my family also go back to before high school. He now teaches English at my (Catholic private) high school, which is unbelievably hysterical if you know him.

Over on the right, is my "Uncle Marc". Unfortunately you can only see his back. Marc is one of the guys that goes on our annual summer backpacking trip. Again, my parents have known him since high school or earlier.

I know a lot of people could not imagine asking their guests to work at their wedding, but I couldn't image any other people doing it. First off, there isn't a better BBQ crew in the area (my completely unbiased opinion, of course). Secondly, I really wanted the wedding to be as personal as possible. In fact, the only people involved in the wedding who I didn't know before I started the planning where the photographers. And even they felt like old friends. Honestly, having these men cooking up our main course made me so excited.

See? Okay, well maybe the food on the grill contributed a little bit.

Or wait, it was time to head to the church!

Let's get these blue boots moving!

Up next: People are actually coming!

All photographs in this post (as well as all wedding posts so far) are credited to Applemoon Photography.