Grounded in Philly

As new transplants in the Philadelphia region, we've been looking forward to any chance to visit family and friends in the good ole' Midwest. And the final wedding in a three-year wedding spree of friends and colleagues in Madison, Wisconsin (where we just moved from), was the perfect opportunity to see as many friends as possible. The wedding of our friends Carol and Mark was drawing friends from as far as California and several friends were moving away from Madison shortly after the wedding. Attending the wedding was the best chance to see as many of these friends as possible in one place, at one time. We weren't going to miss it for the world. We made sure our wedding attire was properly dry cleaned, purchased a wide array of personal hygiene products in small, airline-approved 3.4-oz, bottles, and packed our bag for the weekend.

Fast forward to midnight Friday. After 8 hours of waiting in the decrepid Philadelphia airport, a short period during which the airport was closed to all air traffic, and numerous announcements of half-hour, hour, and four-hour delays in our departure time, the good people at United Airlines decided to cancel our flight. We were left stranded in our new hometown.

During the 45-minute taxi ride through south Philly (my first experience of a taxi driver immediately locking the doors after exiting the highway), we debated how we would get through the weekend, knowing that our friends were all together enjoying our favorite dive bars and badly dancing to wedding music without us. We decided to do the only thing we could under such circumstances: celebrate.

The following night we prepared a lovely three-course meal, donned our wedding garb, popped open the champagne, and celebrated our friends' wedding in our own small way. The steak was perfectly done, the mood intimate, and the centerpieces breathtaking. My favorite aspect of the event was the venue, which sported a lovely view of downtown Philadelphia. So romantic.

Classic wedding music was played, some people in the room did "get down," and the bride and groom were toasted. May they always be surrounded by friends and family who love them, even from across the country.