Doug & Naoko :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Naoko :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Masu Drinking :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Josh, Brad, Dallas :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Dallas & Rachelle :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Christopher & Dallas :: Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Gibson’s Steakhouse, Gold Coast, Chicago

Naoko & Doug’s wedding continued on as all guests were trollied (our trolley was named Elvis) from The Drake Hotel to Gibson’s Steakhouse. Joey was on our trolley and got on the mic to give us a drunken “Doug is my best friend and I never thought I’d see him get married, I’m so happy” speech combined with a White Sox World Series score update. It was pretty funny. At Gibson’s, after getting drinks and being seated, there was a sake ritual with a KEG of sake and traditional wooden sake cups called masu. Have you ever seen a KEG of sake? It’s A LOT.

The dinner and party were tons of fun, but here’s a tip: eating a grilled cheese at noon.. then later on having a ton of drinks and not eating dinner til like 10pm isn’t a very good idea. Especially when you’re sitting at a table with some underagers who wind up out-drinking you. And also when there’s a lot of banzai and kampai toasts going on. Not so great. Some people might have even drank so much, so fast that they got scolded for helping themselves to liquor behind the bar and couldn’t even remember the steak they ate from the best steakhouse in the city.. the one they’d been looking forward to for weeks… and then that person might have had to be the first to leave the party! But that wasn’t me. My steak was yum yum and so were the cheesy scalloped potatoes with the.. eh.. crunchy stuff. Really good. And the sake was probably the best I’ve ever had.

See all of my photos of Doug & Naoko’s wedding at Flickr or Ofoto.

So this was the last wedding in the Rachelle & Dallas wedding circuit this year. Each one was very different from the others and was really a lot of fun… but honestly, I’m glad this was the last one.. and so glad it was local! To show the diversity of the weddings this year - here are links to them -

2005 Weddings

» Tweeny & Josh’s wedding in an art museum in Washington DC

» Jen & Matt’s causual wedding at a large country house in Illinois

» Tandy & Chris’s tropical outdoor wedding on Kaua’i

» Megan & Scott’s more traditional, slightly Jewish wedding in Peoria

» Naoko & Doug’s classic Chicago wedding that mixed American, Buddhist & Japanese traditions