Minnesota Reception
Today we had our reception for my family and friends in Minnesota. We decided early on to have this reception for two reasons: first, we wanted a fairly intimate wedding and reception here with only close family and friends, and second we knew that many people wouldn’t be able to take the time and expense of travelling out for the wedding.
The reception was held in the Discovery Hall at the Science Museum of Minnesota. My family has been members of the museum for more than twenty years, plus, of course, I’m a scientist, so it seemed the perfect place for the reception. The Discovery Hall has a lovely view of the Mississippi River and a terrace that we were able to use for pictures.
We we arrived, some of the guests were already there, but Andrew and Dad had been there for a couple hours overseeing the set-up. It was a lot of fun to see some of my old friends who I only keep up with through Christmas cards. I also got to catch up with some of my parents’ friends who I haven’t seen since I played with their kids while our parents had silly parties.
Perhaps the most special guest, to me, was Greg Greer, the man responsible for getting me into physics. He was a physics instructor at Normandale Community College, and when I first took his class I was there only to fulfill the math/science requirements for an Associate of Arts degree. I took the second quarter physics class ‘just for fun’. Now, here I am, working toward my PhD in astronomy at NASA. I don’t know if either of us thought it would come to this!
Since we didn’t have the whole wedding party for a head table, we decided to modify the traditional head table. In addition to me, Andrew, and Sweetie, we had my parents and grandmothers…and two very special kids, my nephew and niece.
After dinner, Andrew and I walked around to the tables. I must confess that I didn’t know everyone there, especially members of my Mom’s extended family, but most of them knew that I might not remember them and introduced themselves to Andrew (and me…) They served the cake while we were walking around, and a couple kids gave us a gift from the kids’ table (a sand art picture of a rocket and astronaut — way cool).
Just after the cake, Dad started up a photo montage that they’d had made of me and Andrew from pictures of us throughout our childhoods. This might not have been so bad, but the Discovery Hall has a huge disco screen, so there I was in all my childish glory on a 20-foot by 15-foot (or so) screen. There isn’t much in life quite as humbling as that!
Andrew and I grabbed our cake after that (with Sweetie yelling at me to eat and shooing people away — I love Sweetie!), and then we went out on the terrace to take a few pictures. It was a lovely day outside, and with the view of the Mississippi it was the perfect place for some pictures.
It was a very nice reception, and I can highly recommend the Science Museum for anyone thinking about it. Dad actually did all the planning and coordinating, but he was very happy with the people at the museum. Another plus of having a function there is that all of the guests get wristbands to see the exhibit free. And, if that’s not enough, they can get tickets for the IMAX show for just $4.50, the price of adding the show on to an already paid-for museum admission.
