America 2015: Day Nine (7 August 2015)

Come on, oh baby don't you wanna go
Back to that same old place
Sweet home Chicago

                                                                                                    - The Blues Brothers

Friday 7 August

The weather seems to be getting better and better – and thankfully it will be awesome for the #LoveMeLonghini Wedding on Saturday – and the same can be said for the amazing hospitality that Matt and Jaimie are showing us. We had incredible cinnamon rolls for breakfast and got to hang out with Brooke, Miles and Paige at the breakfast table once again. They’re such fun kids to hang around.                   

      

Friday is the start of a pretty big wedding weekend, and we’re temporarily moving into the same hotel as Karen and Lauryn, the Candlewood Suites down on Warrenville Road, and back with Matt and Jaimie’s family on Sunday, after the wedding festivities die down.

It’s been nice to relax a few days, and take things pretty slowly, ahead of what promises to be an epic weekend. We had another lunch out, this time at Shane’s Deli in downtown Wheaton. I had a sandwich there called The Clegger, with chicken, jalapeños, chilli sauce and so much more goodness. Amazing price at $6.99 and a giant size. I can eat like crazy back at home, but the size of the meals in America are incredibly challenging.

We attended the rehearsal this afternoon, sitting a few rows back in the church, watching the pastor arrange everything so that it will be perfect in front of 190 people on Saturday afternoon. It’s being run with the precise timing of a military operation, and it feels like – from my perspective, at least – that nothing’s been left to chance. I’m really hoping that everything goes off without the slightest hitch on Saturday.

 

I got to meet Will’s family for the first time tonight, and as I suspected, they are wonderful people, just like he is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the outpouring of goodwill towards us Aussies here in Chicago (and elsewhere across this wonderful country) has been nothing short of extraordinary. Even Matt’s speech at the dinner after the church rehearsal featured a pretty cool “blokes and sheilas from Australia” moment, which brought the house down.

If the rehearsal dinner is anything to go by, tomorrow’s wedding is going to be absolutely epic. Ceremony at 2:00pm at a Wheaton-area church and the reception later in the evening at Medinah Country Club. Can’t wait!