Missing Emily's Wedding

First, let me share the good news. See? The reception was beautiful, well thought out and executed. As a guest, I must say I felt very well taken care of.

And even better, Emily and James are a fantastic couple. They're off toward a wonderful future together, and I'm so glad they invited us to be here for their wedding.

As good news goes, that ranks pretty high. But there's bad news, and I really have no one to blame for it but myself. The ceremony was to start at 11, and I arrived at nearly 11:40. Yes. 10 minutes after the ceremony ended. ENDED. I missed all of it. They were well into the family photoshoot by the time we arrived.

How did such a thing happen? Do you really want to know?

Glossing over too many details, let's just say that I ended up strapped for time, behind the wheel, with a GPS unit I thought I could trust. The girls and I made it to the car by 10:45, at which point the GPS informed me that it would take 18 minutes to arrive at my destination. This made no sense. I'd looked at a map. I thought the wedding was nearby. It looked close on the map, but maybe I read it wrong. Maybe a road was closed and I had to take a huge detour. Maybe a thousand things that made it plausible that the drive would involve highways. I was immediately completely overwhelmed. I thought about going inside to check google again. Instead, I re-entered the address (straight from the invitation!). I thought about calling someone, but figured everyone would have their phones off. And then I decided to just trust the GPS, follow the directions, and hurry. If I hurried, I'd only be three minutes late.

18 minutes later, after jumping a median, running a stop sign and a red light accidentally because I was looking at the GPS, I arrived at a mini-golf place. MINI GOLF.

Admittedly, I don't know Emily and James really well. Maybe putt-putt says wedding to some people, but I was pretty sure it wasn't what they had in mind for the most important day of their lives. I was supposed to be at a real golf place, a country club, and that place was supposed to have a wedding at it.

Another 18 minutes later, I was back at my hotel, back on google, and then back on the road to do the 5 minute drive to the actual real golf place for the actual wedding. Ceremony was over, and everyone asked where I had been. Everyone noticed. Everyone had worried.

But, guess what?  After the pictures,  I sat down and enjoyed a lovely wedding reception filled with people I love and good food and dancing and fun.  If only horrible tales of getting-lost-in-Detroit stress could always end on such a positive, happy, delicious, love-filled note.