July 05, 2017

Doug and Anni Married

Flew out to Helsinki, Finland to attend Doug & Anni's wedding!

Wednesday, July 5th

Meredith came over on Wednesday afternoon to grab Maddy! I said farewell...

...grabbed my suitcase and headed to JFK!

I splurged on a business class ticket so I got to hang out in the fancy lounge by myself...

...and gorge myself on beers...

...and all sorts of slices of fancy assorted sammiches.

Pulled an Osho tarot card about my trip and pulled 6 of Wands.

Had the front seat in the middle row. Nice to have so much room on a long flight.

Thursday, July 6th

Five and a half hours later we landed in Iceland Thursday morning.

...and after a brief layover, I boarded a new plane...

...and was back in the air for another three and a half hours.

The meal was pretty solid.

After I finished a movie, started reading Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology!

Coming in for a landing over Finland.

I landed a little after 2pm and took the train into Helsinki.

Made my way over to Kaartinkaupunki...

...and checked into my hotel at the Rivoli Jardin.

doug, matt john, tuomo — After unpacking and resting up a bit, I took the train out to Doug's neighborhood...

doug, matt john, tuomo — ...and met up with his friend's Tuomo and Matt!

We drove out to the suburbs outside of Helsinki to have Doug's bachelor party at Tuomo's house!

doug — Tuomo cooked us an amazing dinner...

doug, matt john, tuomo — ...and we stayed up SUPER late talking and drinking whiskey and coffee.

Friday, July 7th

doug, matt john — The groom on the morning of his wedding!

We had a nice breakfast in the backyard.

matt john — Matt has perfected the morning wizard look.

Tuomo drove us back to Doug's...

...and then I took the train back into Helsinki.

Doug & Anni's wedding was held on an island off of Helsinki called Suomenlinna...

...I took the ferry over to help set up for the wedding.

After I headed back to my hotel for a nap and to get dressed for the wedding! At 3pm I headed back over to the ferry.

Two-headed Russian Imperial eagle in Helsinki Square.

Second trip out to Suomenlinna.

Passed a cool outdoor pool that borders the edge of the Baltic Sea.

The ferry terminal on Suomenlinna.

Walked across Suomenlinna...

...and arrived at the building where the wedding was held.

Suomenlinna is an old naval base from the 1800s and all the buildings were really interesting.

Their wedding was themed around Shambhala Buddhist center, which Doug has been very involved with over the years.

...and were being married in a ceremony following the group's traditions.

Their rings were next to portraits of founder Chögyam Trungpa and his son, Sakyong Mipham.

matt john — Matthew in the corner getting ready to record the ceremony

anni, doug — Ready to get married? HERE WE GO!

anni, doug — The ceremony was lovely.

anni, doug — Exchanging rings!

anni, doug — Doug's dad couldn't travel to Finland so he attended via video conference!

anni, doug — CONGRATULATIONS, DOUG & ANNI! <3

The wedding reception line getting ready to receive the new bridge and groom!

The reception was held in an area of the building that all of these cool arches.

anni, doug — Congrats Mr & Mrs Toth! <3

anni, doug — Photo board!

anni, doug — Doug's father got to attend via video conference and they had him up on the big screen for all of the toasts!

After we went outside to take some wedding photos.

doug — Lol. This bastard.

doug, me — All growsed up.

doug — Doug's friend from Boston also made the mega journey out for the wedding and was wearing a rad suit.

matt john — Doug's sister made it too!

anni, doug — Getting ready to cut the cake!

That's one sexy-ass cheesecake!

doug — Doug read some poetry...

anni — ...and then some of their friends played music.

anni, doug — First dance!

anni, doug — Then everyone else got in on the action.

anni — Anni getting ready to throw the bouquet.

Finland is so crazy in the summer. 11:15pm and still looks like daytime

Table gift...

...was filled with salty Finnish licorice...and a Hersey's kiss to help you get rid of the taste of the salty Finnish licorice. Lol. (Also Doug, don't you DARE write me a poem. How dare you?)

Doug treated everyone to a little air guitar...

...and then we had some (???) Finnish empanada type snack things!

anni, doug, tuomo — Doug adn Anni thanked everyone for coming!

Making everyone get all misty.

We left at 1am...

...just in time to see the sun set for the night!

anni, doug — Perfect timing for the ferry ride back to Helsinki.

anni, doug — Newlyweds! <3

Strange to have such a late twilight.

anni, doug — By the time we'd gotten back to Helsinki, twenty minutes later, it had finally gotten dark.

anni, doug, tuomo — Everyone said goodbye to Doug & Anni....

anni, doug — ...and they headed off to the Honeymoon Suite!

The rest of us went to a bar to have a few drinks and when we closed the place down around 4am, it was already light outside again!

me, tuomo — Tuomo walked me back through the park towards my hotel and then we said goodnight!

The burger place near my hotel was still open!

Popped in to experience...

...the Finnish version of the Big Mac!

It was almost 4:30 by the time...

...I got back to my hotel and already full daytime!

Headed back upstairs to find my sleep mask and to try to get some sleep! Congratulations, Doug & Anni! <3

1 comment

jonathanseptember 30, 2022
Looking good all suited up Brian! I'm so happy to see more entries from you, thanks and keep em coming