On Sunday July 1st, Alexandria married Noah at the Thresher Memorial Chapel at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. It was the perfect setting for soon to be Naval officer to marry his best friend. It was the reception that followed at The Tirante Tavern where things really heated up.

Noah and Alexandria were introduced, along with their wedding party to “This Is What You Came For” by Rhianna. The energy was great! They mixed and mingled with their guests as the catering crew prepared for Dinner to begin. When the caterers were set, and the newlyweds had made the rounds to each table, the stage was set for the toasts. This is when the thermometer was about to explode, and no one was the wiser…

Turning up the Heat

Alexandria’s Maid of honor Bethany had taken the Microphone and was about 3/4 into her toast when the fire alarms went off. This is a military base, and the fire alarms are hard wired to the fire department. We had to wait for the fire department to come, inspect the building, reset the alarm, and give us the all clear.

While we were outside, guests mixed, mingled, laughed, and had a great attitude about the whole thing. For the bride and groom’s part, I don’t think they could have enjoyed it more! They got pictures with the firemen, and an incredible photo in front of the fire trucks. You know what they say, where there’s fire, the has got to be s’mores 🙂

The party continues… sort of

When we got the all clear, we headed inside to continue the toasts, and the celebration. The best man, Chase, made a quick joke about the fire alarm. He then gave a brief, engaging, and heartfelt toast before handing the mic to the father of the bride. It was a bit longer than the best man’s toast, but gave an endearing dad’s eye view of his daughter’s wedding day. He made a joke about “at least this time the fire alarm didn’t go off”.

Right on cue, the fire alarms went off again! Once more, we filed out, still rather jovial all things considered. I don’t think the fire trucks had even made it off base. The process for this second alarm took half the time of the last one. The firemen determined a faulty zone on the alarm to be the culprit. They neutralized the alarms for the duration of the event, and remained on base with the promise we could carry on worry free.

Foot Loose and Fire alarm free!

With all of the drama and toasts behind us, dinner was served! It was delicious and uninterrupted. The catering staff at the Tirante Tavern were extremely accommodating, gracious and friendly. They extended the event end time by half an hour to make up for time lost to the fire alarms.

Once dinner was done and the buffet cleared, we adjourned to the room once occupied by the buffet, now set for dancing.

The newlyweds cut their wedding cake, and swiftly moved to the center of the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife. They chose Owl City’s “If My Heart Was A House”. Noah then handed his beautiful new bride to her dad for a dance with her to Jimmy Buffet’s Delaney Talks To Statues. Noah’s mom was in the spotlight next to dance with her son to “All You Need is Love” by The Beatles.

Dance a lot, Learning a little, and loving every minute of it!

Brisk dancing commenced for the next hour until a break for a little trivia. We got to know our newlyweds just a bit better with the Shoe Game, or Bride and Groom Trivia. They answered questions about each other with some very fun and funny results. There was a lot of laughter as we learned about things like Midnight Cookies, Alexandria’s planning prowess, what made Noah so annoying (and why she married him anyway). 🙂

Happily Ever After…

Dancing then continued until we wrapped it up with their last dance. A Tale As old As Time from Beauty and the Beast.

It was a hot day, and things just got hotter as the day wore on. Far from merely standing the heat, Noah and Alexandria, and their guests basked in the heat. You may even say frolicked in it, and you can certainly say Danced through it!

Thank you Noah and Alexandria for asking me to be a part of your wedding day. It was truly an honor and a privilege.

~Mike