Wild Family Weekend

Talk about a wild and amazing weekend I had. I was lucky enough to be blessed with good timing. I finally felt I had enough time to contact Veronica, my Mom Mom's first cousin, who lives in county Dublin. She told me that their was a wedding reception for her son Stephen on Saturday night and that all but one or two of the Callaghan family would be there. A truly rare occurance. She invited me to come and of course I obliged (you really had to drag me kicking and screaming ;)

It was held at the St. Helen's Radisson Hotel, a five star hotel on the south side which is about 4km south east of Rathgar where I live. I believe the marriage ceremony was held privately in county wicklow.

It was pretty easy for Veronica to tell who I was when I walked in because I didn't have a suit with me in Ireland. Instead I just had nice pants and a button down. The first hour they called a "drink hour" rather than a cocktail hour. They made short work of introducing me to everyone. I don't think I had to move at all, people just came or were dragged to me. Some of them I had recognized in photos and by name since they either visited the US before or my parents had visited them in mayo. My first impression of the family was that I could have picked them out as mine in a line up. Many looked similar to other cousins I have, but more the older generation for obvious reasons. It was sort of an older affair there also, as the youngest was 16 and then probably me next. I tell you what though, the Callaghans are gorgeous just like all of my first cousins!

The first hour was pretty tame. I met a bunch of people so I was just trying to remember names and faces. I had a drink with long lost uncles and we had a 2 minute speech by the groom. Dinner was then served buffet style. I found my seat with the younger crowd under "Andrew Clayton". The food and chat were very good as me and the 16 year old Fergal talked about sports, he plays gaelic football. I was also able to pick up on where people were from based on their accents. The one boyfriend was from northern ireland and I was able to guess it, which I am pretty proud of. For food they served soup or salad and rolls to start and for the entre a pasta/kiesh sorta thing, salmon, chicken (I think) and some steak. Desert they had chocolate pie, cheesecake, and all sorts of things. In fact it was a little too much for desert. The meal lasted along while and they didn't have any music on during it. After the meal the bar turned into a cash-bar and that's when things started to get a bit nuts. They moved some tables out of the way and started the music. The DJ was god awful and couldn't keep people on the dance floor until the very end of the night, so people mainly stuck to the bar like glue.

The guys involved in the wedding met me around the bar and said they wanted to see if I was really related, not just in blood. So they forced me to chug a Guinness to see if I could and if so how fast. Well I couldn't refuse and didn't try to, so I downed it faster than almost any of them could which was in about 4-5 seconds (not too bad). They claimed respect for me and confirmed that I was related. After that I was in for the rest of the night. I was getting bought drinks left and right. When someone would order a drink, they would say, "And a Guinness for him too!" without me asking. The only drinks I bought the whole way was one round for me, the bride, and groom. The entire night was filled with good stories and meeting interesting people. Stephen now lives in Dubai and works as a pilot for the royal family which is apparently a dream job. He said that one weekend they got stuck at their hunting mansion in Pakistan, and for the "inconvience" of it they gave him an envelope filled with cash! At one point I was picked up on the dance floor and carried around. The one out-of-family boyfriend stated to me afterward, "You've gone from the token american to the trophyamerican."

Here's what the big difference was between our weddings and theirs though or at least this one. At ours it is more out of control from 6 until about 11 or so, for theirs the DJ was awful so it wasn't that nuts during the allotted time and just kept going until about 12. After 12 the majority of the people that weren't too old went upstairs to the residents bar. We sang, talked politics, and had drinks late into the morning. I was proud that when they started the Irish songs I actually knew them and could sing along. I felt it about time to leavearound 5:30 but I knew a couple of them weren't going to stop. Breakfast is normally served at an Irish wedding.

The best way to sum up the night is with what a few of them said after I was singing along with them, "Get me a family tree, we need to pencil Andrew in!" I did my best to be a good ambassador to our Irish family and I think that last night was a huge success. A couple of the young ones live in Dublin and we already have plans to go out wednesday night. A few of them play the fiddle too so they are going to help teach me some songs. I kept my composure the whole way through and made sure to keep the amount of drinks they wanted to buy me under control (which I did a good job of). I think Mom was in the back of my head pointing her finger going, "hey boom, don't let them force you too much!" haha

I could go on and on about the conversations I had, this is really just a start of what was really an awe inspiring night and the connecting of two families that I was lucky enough to help make happen. They were all very proud of what our family has become in America and how close we all are. More than one of the pictures I have taken were specifically stated, "For your granny! She'll love it."

So to all in the Hayes camp, the night was a HUGE success.