Scotland, Day 2

So, today was Cory and Natalie's BEAUTIFUL wedding. We headed out to Baloch, the wedding site, around noonish. The wedding wasn't until 2:30. The church's keeper let us sit in the vestry and warm up for a bit, which was nice. The church was over 100 years old, very small and darling.

Cory looked wonderful in his Marine dress uniform and Natalie's dress was absolutely gorgeous. The wedding had about 65 guests, and we were proud to make up approximately half of the American guest list. However, we learned that Cory and Natalie had actually been married in a private ceremony a month before in the States, for legal reasons. Had I known they were already hitched, we would not have come! (kidding.) Cory monster got very teary during his vows, and I started bawling. They said very sweet things to one another, and their sentiment was wonderfully offset by the humor of the pastor.

A bus took us to the reception hall, which was on the bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond. The food for dinner was fantastic, and the father of the bride and the two best men gave some great speeches, talking about how Cory and Natalie met, and the fact that most of the Americans had never met Natalie before either today or two days ago. However, in the time we were able to spend with her tonight, it was easy to see why Cory is so head over heels. She's a great girl. Tim C. gave the best man speech, and when he talked about Cory going to UCLA, Jake, Tim and I cheered, and when he mentioned USC, we hissed. It was a good cultural lesson for the Scots. Trojans, bad. Bruins, good.

The Scots throw a great party. There was plenty to eat, lots to drink and some good dancing. They played a traditional Scottish gig and I got a gentleman named Steven to take me for a spin. I was not the worst dancer out there, but there was a lot of hysterical laughing when I screwed up. Which was often.

At the end of the night, the crowd held hands around Cory and Natalie and sang along to Loch Lomond. I cried.

Cory will find out next month where he will be deployed - he is hoping for California or Japan. It was a very emotional night for her family because Natalie is not only getting married, but she is leaving to become a Marine wife in a matter of days. The song at the end of the night was a wonderful send off.

We took a long cab ride home, and are up early tomorrow morning to meet the bride, groom and their families for a trip out to Edinburgh. It's our last morning with the other two military boys, Rocco and Tim C. Rocco is off to Afghanistan in a week, so we're all happy to have had these past few days to spend time with him. He's another fine dancer, though he did not do the electric worm.

Another few photos.

The wee kirk in Dunhill.

The very sweet and obviously much in love bride and groom.

Some serious smooching.

Me and Medieval man at the reception.

Did I mention Cory changed into a kilt halfway through the night?

Tim, Jake, Rocco and two of the Scotsman. Steven is on the left - he's a pretty fabulous dancer. I am now ready to kick up my heels in any pub in the land!