Muskegon & BBQ 
I arrived in Grand Rapids Michigan on Thursday night, with the plan of driving one hour west to Heather’s hometown, Muskegon Michigan, located on the east coast of Lake Michigan.  I must have been a bit too excited, as I was pulled over for speeding within 90 seconds of leaving the airport – the officer fortunately took sympathy on my little Hyundai rental car and let me off without a ticket.  I arrived in Muskegon around 12:30am, and went directly to the beach house that Heather had rented for the attending college crowd – I must say that this beach house certainly was a key element to the upcoming weekend, as you could virtually step onto the beach from the front porch.  I was greeted by Eric, his girlfriend Christina, Baker, and the groom, and enjoyed a few drinks with them for the small remainder of the evening.

Saturday morning featured brunch at a local place called Cherokee, followed by several hours of Frisbee-throwing and swimming at the beach.  The rest of the college crowd arrived throughout the afternoon and early evening, including Luke & Denise, Brian (Badfo), and Chak & Tiya.  The missing members of the college crowd were Chad, Ramos, and Bullard, who had been able to attend the bachelor party in Vegas three weeks previous but had not been able to make it for the wedding weekend.  Most had good excuses, including newborns for two out of the three.  Saturday night featured the rehearsal dinner and a subsequent bonfire on the beach.  My favorite moment of the day was building the impressively big (and hot) bonfire to rival the fire of another group further up the beach, and not having it collapse dangerously despite the dire predictions of many in the surrounding fearful group.  A few images from the beach and BBQ:

---

Ceremony & Reception

Sunday morning again featured brunch at Cherokee, followed by more time on the beach.  The wedding ceremony took place in a small quaint park alongside Lake Muskegon, just inland of the coast.  Following the ceremony we adjourned to a local country club for dinner and dancing.  Jason had assembled a photo slide show that was displayed on the wall throughout the entire night, and featured several memorable (but not too shameful) moments from our college and assorted past lives.  We danced for the remainder of the night, then returned to the beach house at 2am where we made our own bonfire in a fire pit on the front porch, cooked pizza, and finished what drinks were left in the house.  Baker was the first person to leave to the airport for his trip home, which required that he leave the house at 4:30am.  We were fortunately still awake to see him off.  Some photos from the day:

The look of love	The boys at the ceremony
With the girls	The real love trolley
The look of love	With the bride

Sunday morning the newlywed couple visited us at the beach house, where we all said our good-byes and wished them a happy honeymoon in Curacao.  We had lunch at a bar alongside the beach, where they produced a very suspicious looking California Club sandwich that I ate despite my fears of food poisoning.  Luke had the same sandwich as me, which at least made me feel better in my risk-taking.  The remaining college people headed to the airport around noon, taking with them memories of a fun wedding weekend in Muskegon!