Well, sadly, the Jets lost last week, the day after the wedding of Geoff Foster and Meg Sylvester. And given just how much Geoff loves his team, so much so that even the New York Times wedding announcement couldn't resist poking fun, it certainly would have been a nice coda on the weekend. I grew up on Long Island surrounded by Giants and Jets fans, though our household leaned decidedly towards the latter. That is, until Joe Pisarcik committed one of the most famous fumbles in football history back in 1978--The Fumble, as it's still known--and my interest started to wane.

Still, I know how long Jets fans have been waiting for someone to lead them to greatness (and past the legacy of Joe "I Wanna Kiss You" Namath). This certainly felt like the year. But Geoff's a smart guy--an editor at the Wall Street Journal--and as he and Meg lay on a beach in Hawaii right now, having traded football for margaritas, snow for sun, and courtship for marriage, I'm pretty confident he has no regrets. Like the song goes, "When you're a Jet, if the spit hits the fan, you got brothers around, you're a family man."

(Family man. We all laughed after I asked Geoff to stand next to "your wife" during picture time at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown. No matter how many times I've said that to couples over the years, I always get a double take. As in, whose wife? Oh, right. My wife.)

But let's go back a bit.

Last Saturday began at the Sylvester home in Spring Valley, D.C., Meg's wonderful mom humorously apologizing for the state of calamity and chaos she perceived. But there was no calamity, only laughter from the upstairs bedroom as Meg helped one of her bridesmaids fix what could only be called a hairdressing malfunction. Not quite Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary, but a malfunction nonetheless. As I poked my head into the room I started laughing myself. Who knew mousse could provide so much entertainment?

A few minutes later, sitting on the bed in her brother's room (which, incidentally, looked like every boy's room since the beginning of time, American flag and sports posters galore), Meg and her mom, both still in curlers, shared a beautiful moment as they practiced putting on her ring. Hotels are great for some things but there's something very special about getting ready for one's wedding in the house you grew up in--the stuffed animals, the sports trophies, the family photos, all preserved like the Smithsonian. Twent minutes later, both Meg and mom were out of curlers and into gorgeous dresses, this time mother proudly beaming at her daughter in the mirror.

I always have great time at my weddings, as you've probably figured out through these dispatches over the years, but Meg and Geoff's wedding proved to be Old Home Week for me. Meg and her mom came to me because I had photographed the weddings of four of her high school friends: Carroll Kilty, Mari McDonald, Emily Macht and Shana Madigan. Seeing Carroll, Mari and Emily all sitting in the same pew was a wonderful deja vu. It reminded me of how close I stay in touch with all my couples, and how fun it is to follow them in their post wedding lives.

Later in the evening, as people danced like crazy at Columbia Country Club, I had my assistant take a photo of me and my brides, current and past. I'm sure someday, a few years down the line, I'll be at another wedding and Geoff and Meg will come up to me, little one in tow, and the cycle will repeat itself yet again.

To see a mini gallery of pictures from Geoff and Meg's wedding, click here.

Matt

p.s. Speaking of families, some fun news in the greater Mendelsohn family this week. My brother Daniel has a very long piece in The New Yorker about the origin of memoirs, and, specifically, the beginnings of the fake memoir trend. And perhaps even more exciting, my brother Eric was named best director at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night for his feature film 3 Backyards. The film stars Eric's best friend, Edie Falco, as well as Law and Order's Kathryn Erbe, Elias Koteas and Embeth Davidtz. If you want to see my crazy brother's acceptance speech, click here. (Eric comes in around the 1:46 mark.)