My friend, Danny, married Maria on October 2nd this year before a small group of witnesses at the city courthouse. To celebrate and share the event with a larger collection of friends and relations, they invited many more to a formal dinner at the Xanadu Asian Restaraunt in Berkeley.
Danny and Maria met sometime in the first half of 1998, but remained in seclusion so that I at least was not sure of the exact nature or extent of their relationship... I first met Maria when we went together to attend Omar and Saba's wedding, who are mutual friends of ours. I was charmed by Maria instantly, and I was overjoyed to see Danny with someone so well suited to him.
Maria has two sisters, both also named Maria. In Argentina, people are referred to by their first two names, so this isn't as confusing as it is here -- especially when they look so similar! Danny's Maria is "Maria Ines," and her sister in red is "Maria Elena," and her sister in black is "Maria Jose." I did Maria Jose a disservice by messing up the framing in this shot -- it was so dark that I couldn't see much on my camera's display back, and I learned later to use the view finder.
Here is Danny with his father, and below is Danny and his mother.
Here are some of my table mates. Left to right: Maria Jose, Maria Elena, and her husband, Miguel. Miguel and I spent some time talking about digital cameras, a common interest of ours.
Here are a few more of my table mates: Kathleen, who was seated next to me, Hector, and I didn't catch his pretty friend's name....
This is Danny's long-time friend, Vashti, whom I'd heard about many, many times but never actually met until this night. She's great!
Danny has a large family, with 7 siblings altogether. I was lucky enough to sit next to three of them: Nicole, Bryan, and Claire. Truly wonderful.
Here is a better picture of Claire, as Bryan consults with the family matriarch in the background.
Danny kept making the rounds, just to assure himself that everyone was enjoying themselves, which seemed to come naturally to this group. The child in Maria Jose's arms is one of Danny's nieces, who dropped off at the second entree. (There were at least four entrees, and I don't know how many nieces.) She and her sister shared the honor of holding the dreaming child.
Danny and Maria at the head table just behind us.
On the left is Maria (and now Danny's) son, Paul. I didn't actually get to meet him, but I think this must be Paul due to the family resemblance.
Maria Elena takes a turn as cradle.
After dinner, Danny and Maria got up to speak, and were toasted by the exhuberant crowd.
After much coaxing and cheering, Danny finally speaks his piece in his direct and unassuming style.
Danny and Maria gave several encore kiss performances to appease the many photographers in the audience.
To the delight of everyone, the bride and groom also performed the cake-cutting tradition.
Here's the wind-up...
The pitch...
And it's a hit!
Miguel took this shot of me with the newlyweds as the party was winding down.