To make you believe in love...

I went to a wedding in Northern Ireland a few weeks ago...

It was near the little town of Downpatrick, which is where St. Patrick is buried!

in this freaking gorgeous old flour mill called The Mill at Ballydugan.

This wedding was extra special for so many reasons:

#1 Tammy & Pete are one of those couples that so obviously belong together...they make you believe in real, wonderful, happy love.

#2 It was the first time all of our college friends had gotten together in 6 years!

#3 I got to leave my surgery rotation for a few days and be reminded of how many wonderful people and places there are in the world.

The day before the wedding we spent some quality time getting nails done, picking up the marriage license, putting together favors, and setting up the tables.

Don't worry, my next post will be entitled "Why Tammy should be a wedding planner" with all the wonderful little details of the wedding.

In Britain, they don't do formal rehearsal dinners, so after the rehearsal, we had a ladies dinner, which was pretty rocking since not all of us make it to the hen do (aka bachelorette party).

Some more friends arrived...more reunions...and possibly some tears. :)

Morning of the wedding we were up early to get all prettified.
They were geniuses, taking us from this:

and this...

to this!
(the girl on the left was like our personal beauty manager...spray tans: check!, nails: check!, makeup: check!)

We went back to the Mill, shimmied ourselves into dresses, sipped champagne, laced, clipped, zipped, and buttoned the beautiful bride into her dress, and took photos with the photographer (which I can't wait to see!).
We also got to watch everyone arrive, including the groom to which Tammy remarked:
"Ooo, he looks fit!" (aka attractive)
I hope I say that on my wedding day.

The ceremony was beautiful and perfectly them:

*Pete was crying as soon as the music started.
*Pete was so worried about not saying "with God's help, I will" instead of just "I will" that he said it at the wrong time.
*Pete and the preacher made jokes during the ceremony.
*In Britain, they sign the marriage certificate during the ceremony, and Tammy surprised Pete by having one of his good friends play and sing "You are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne while they were signing. Pete cried again.
* I loved that at the end of homily the preacher said that he hoped their love would continue to be an inspiration to people. Because that's exactly what it is.

Oh, I also backed into the standing candelabra during the ceremony, which dumped hot wax all over my back! Luckily none got on the dress, but it took all my self control not to yell in the middle of the ceremony and Sarah had to scrape the wax off my back before we recessed back down the aisle. Ha. So graceful, this one.

After the ceremony, more professional photos.
So can't wait to see them!

If you ever get married in Northern Ireland, check out Sarah Fyffe Photography.
She was great, even if she did just refer to me as "the tall one".

This is just a photo of Meeshpups getting the party started,
because that's what happened next.

Mr. & Mrs. Gilpin!

The lovely bride at the best meal I have ever eaten in Britain. For serious.
I would also like to give the shout out that Pete gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard during dinner.

As darkness fell after dinner, we ventured outside to set off sky lanterns.

So pretty!
This one really looks like a fire bird, doesn't it??

Then the party really started.
Sophie and Meesh demonstrating how the photographer kept wanting us to stand.
Hip out!
Nailed it!

First dance!
True love!

Impromptu wedding party circle around the bride and groom. Why not?!

This little guy was the ringbearer and allstar dancer of the night.
I'm pretty sure he made his rounds with all the ladies.
Stud.

This is the first time Neil has gotten Steph to dance in 4 years of dating.
I told you it was a special day.
Also, can you guys get married next? Kthanks.

Crazy dancing!

4th year flatmate love.

Cutting the cake, which the mother of the bride made and the bride iced! For realz.

They also had jars of candy.
(Marissa and Jenna, take note.)

A damn fine lookin' bunch of rugby girls if I do say so myself.

Impromptu scrum for old times sake.

Line out too. No big deal.

This couple knows how to get down.
Exhibit A: the bride

Exhibit B: the groom

The ladies at the end of the night.

Sadly I had to leave at 8am the next morning.
But it was all so worth it.
I couldn't be happier for the Gilpin's!
And it was amazing to see everyone.

Clinical Pearl

This photo has nothing to do with this post but is a teaser for my Vermont weekends post.

And then sometimes, there were amazing shining examples, veritable beacons of hope in a medical wasteland.

Dr. Awesome: What do you think the most important thing on this sheet is?

He was waving the sheet of paper that nurses put outside your exam room when you go to see the doctor. I had often grabbed that sheet looking for information about the patient before going into see them, but found that it didn't have any health information or even why they were here to see the doctor; it only contained insurance information and was really for the patient to check out with at the end of the visit.

Me: To see whether the patient has insurance or not?

Dr. Awesome: Wow, is that really the kind of doctor you think I am?

I want to eat my words.
No, not at all!, I want to say, I think you're Dr. Awesome. I've just apparently let myself become jaded in 3 short weeks.
Nice.

Dr. Awesome: It's to see when their birthday is. Because if their birthday is coming up I like to wish them Happy Birthday.

And that is why he is Dr. Awesome.

Ways in which Surgery is like Star Wars

In the many, many hours I've spent standing and observing surgeries over the last several weeks,
I've come to notice how much we are living in what I imagined to be the future and how much that reminds me of Star Wars.

Star Wars had R2D2.

The hospital has "TUG", a robot that delivers lab results and supplies all over the hospital.
He has his own elevator and he talks to you when he's arrived at his destination.
He's adorable and I want to hug him sometimes.
I feel the same way about R2D2.

Star Wars has battle droids.

The hospital has Artis Zeego (even sounds like a Star Wars name!), a machine that takes real time video pictures of the blood vessels during vascular surgery.
He moves by remote control and lets you see what you're doing inside the body.
Totally the future.

Star Wars has Darth Vader.

Surgery also has men in masks that I would be devastated to find out were my father.

We had our oral exam today.
I have my last 4:30am morning tomorrow (at least until Ob/Gyn),
and our Shelf Exam (standardized test) on Friday.

Then hopefully I'll have more time to tell you about the AMAZING wedding I went to in Northern Ireland and all the beautiful Vermont weekends I had during this clerkship.