Wedding Bare Feet & Pranks Aplenty! ..."Uhhh, where's my shoes?"

Coindre Mansion, Huntington, NY

     As was stated in an earlier blog, I am pretty much the "no shoes" guy at all points in my life, but especially when there's alcohol, friends, & a dancefloor involved! Things like weddings/engagements/other semi-formal parties, etc...it's always the "wind him up, watch him go" show! In the past, that meant ditching the shoes and basically doing a 50's-style sockhop in black socks the whole night. Never really cared what anyone thought, because it was never NOT fun for me! But there was funny prank incident, years ago, that began the transition from "sockhopping buffoon" to "barefoot ape", and there was just no looking back after that..
     The above photo is Coindre Mansion, in Huntington, NY, a beautiful, historic mansion that provides a picturesque, storybook backdrop for anyone's special day. My dear friends Denise & Pat got married there around 13-15 years ago, and it was one of the best, and one of the most fun, weddings I have ever attended. Such a great group of people to hang around & party with, and a fantastic collection of very funny personalities! But Coindre Manison, being the historic building that it is, never had A/C installed, EVER! So, if Mother Nature decides to drop an "Africa-hot" day in your lap, you just gotta deal with it. Well, that was the case on the day of Denise's wedding, where temperatures soared into the high 90's, with maximum humidity that was just strength-sapping. Didn't matter, though, because we were ALL ready to rock, and celebrate our awesome friends' big day!
     The reception began, the dancefloor filled up, and, even though the mansion had set up many industrial fans to circulate the air around, the brutal heat forced an almost instant disrobing of many articles of dress clothing: vests, ties, jackets, etc. ..Of course this also meant me immediately dumping off my dress shoes (which were boot-style) at my table with my jacket, rolling up the sleeves, loosening the tie, and hittin' the dancefloor in socks! Game on! The first funny moment of note was Annie, who was already barefoot, asking for my boots, so that she could put them on for some funny pictures. The sight of a tiny blond woman in my size 13 black boots definitely gave some people a few good laughs. Annie finished with the boots, put them back at my table, and the party continued in earnest; drinking, dancing, laughing.. About halfway through the reception, the sky could not hold back the oppresive humidity anymore, turned an ominous shade of dark purple, and an apocalyptic, torrential rainstorm began, with thunder & lightning so pronounced, it seemed like the storm was directly overhead! It was at that moment that I realized that I had left the gift card envelope above the sun visor in my car. I looked and saw how bad it was raining outside, and strolled over to my table to grab my shoes...GONE. What. The. Hell? Where are my shoes?? I went and asked Annie if she had taken them again, and she said no. Looked around for a few more minutes, and then asked my fantastic, lifelong friends, Mary & Dennis, if the had seen my shoes. They said no, but the looks on their faces totally gave it away. They had sneakily taken and hidden my shoes! Guilty!, but I had no proof AND no idea where they hid them! I even said, "Guys, I need my shoes! I gotta run out to my car!!" Nope, they were absolutey not budging on giving up the location of those shoes! So there I was, standing at the door of the mansion, looking out at the monsoon, looking down at my socks...and then, just like that, it was buh-bye socks! And the fastest barefoot sprint you've ever seen, out to my car to grab that money card! Hah, the rain was actually cooling for a few seconds, so, in hindsight, I didn't mind getting soaked for the 2 minutes I was out in the deluge! Left the dress socks in the car, and happily stayed barefoot for the rest of the reception! On the dancefloor again, Annie said to me, that phrase I hear ALL the time at these types of parties, "I LOVE that you're barefoot!" ..The reception was a intoxicated blast even before the shoe-hiding incident forced me outta my socks, but then it was just that much better afterwards! The capper is that I saw Annie out watching Sunday football with a group of people in 2009, and as we were reminiscing about "the good ol' days", Annie said to me, "Remember Pat & Denise's wedding??" Where I had your big black boots on, but then you were barefoot most of the night?! That's one of my favorite memories of you!!" ...Hah, little did we all know, that wouldn't be the last wedding reception I would be barefoot at! Now that I have dressy Steven Madden guys' flipflops (for dress-up days above 70 degrees!), and painted rockstar toes, it's a safe bet I'll be rocking all warm-weather receptions with NO annoying dress shoes & socks cutting down on my freedom! Plus, I never mind looking like a jackass..  :)

Of course, when you barefoot it all night, sometimes drunken bad things happen! OH WELL!

Me & my pal, Meg, rockin' our friend Mary's St. Pat's Day wedding barefoot. Her shoes are off and, trust me, the "dressy" Steve Madden flipflops that I wore to this particular wedding were long gone too! Bare feet + dancefloor + a few cocktails = Total WIN!