You know what is difficult?
Unexpected/humorous events
There had been some minor fretting about a limo my mom had ordered to take us girls from the hotel to the Picnic House, as she’d ordered an 8-seater and we thought we might have to squish a bit. We’re still not sure what happened, but what pulled up in front of the Marriott was the biggest, SUVist, glowing display panel-ist, pimped out ride of a limousine. We all piled in and took up approximately one eighth of the length of the car. We also sipped some complimentary champagne.
The bridesmaids apparently coached the groomsmen in how to walk down the aisle, but this translated into a hilarious lurching shuffle on behalf of the guys (apparently. I haven’t seen the video yet).
The officiant decided it would be fun if she started narrating a bit and gave a play-by-play on some of the wedding party as they headed down the aisle. (“This is my fault; I told them they should walk slowly!” “There’s George, the ringbearer!” If anyone glanced outside at that point they would have seen me smiling nicely while whispering frantically at my parents, “What is she doing?!”
All our friends bursting into a spot-on rendition of the choreographed dance from A Knight’s Tale (J’s favorite movie. I know.). I could not have been more thrilled. Honestly, it was like we were living inside a teen movie. I about died from happiness.
We had a slight car “situation” after the reception, in that there were no cars. Apparently they won’t enter the park without a permit and much trouble ensued. There was a brief moment where J and I were standing on Prospect Park West in full wedding clothes trying to hail a car. This turned out to be nothing compared to what eventually happened to my parents who, after failing to find a car to pick them and all the equipment up, ended up in a Penske truck with the Picnic House crew, my mom sitting on my dad’s lap. There is a picture of this somewhere and I am dying to see it.
Coming home from our honeymoon, we had a three hour layover in Denver. I called my mom and she told me she was headed to the airport at that very minute because my dad’s flight (he was on a canoe trip) was coming in early. We got all excited and ran to surprise him at his gate. Who gets an at-the-gate greeting anymore? It was so fun. He gave us some bottles of fancy Minnesota soda and we gave him a bottle of rosemary olive oil from Napa. It was fun.
Delicious things eaten and drunk
The cupcakes, oh lord, the cupcakes! This was the only thing (save a mushroom puff) I ate the entire night. And good gracious it was divine.
Room service ordered on wedding night, consisting of two grilled cheeses, piles of French fries, tons of ketchup, some pickles, and ice water, eaten in bed while watching the end of Saturday Night Live. Bliss.
[moving right along into the honeymoon]
San Francisco is awesome. They have burritos they make with potatoes. Potatoes = sheer genius addition to Mexican food.
SF also has Ghiradeli Square, which if you are a chocoholic like Jason, was like hearing, oh hey SF has heaven right over here by Fishermen’s Warf. Angels and halos and eternal happiness, right here in this city, who knew? I am slightly embarrassed to say we went there twice, both times visiting both stores where they give you free samples, and both times ordering this super crazy sundae they make with hot fudge and the brownie and warm cookie, etc.
Grilled spicy cornbread.
Some sort of caramel mousse that leaked chocolate and liquid gold caramel when you dipped in.
The inn we stayed at in Napa Valley served a three course breakfast every morning. EVERY morning! Fruit course, French toast/scone/pancake/etc course, egg course. With fresh squeezed orange juice and hot coffee. They kept a whole fridge full of snacks and wine, along with an entire chocolate cake that was constantly replenished. Sometimes we ate cake for lunch. BY THE POOL! Ha, life was hard.
[at some point, my body stopped being able to distinguish “hungry” from “not full” and there were many MANY things consumed for not solely nourishing purposes.]
Cornbread served in a skillet.
A very expensive wine tasting that some random lady bought for me because she was a member or something and could get it for free. I cannot lie: a $160 bottle of cabernet tastes gooood.
The dirtiest martini I’ve ever had, sipped while at a country club with my uncle at Pebble Beach overlooking the fog roll over the ocean just past the 15th hole (prior to this trip, I wouldn’t have understood that either. It’s a big golf thing. Or THE big golf thing. Mmm, martinis!)
Quick, an anecdote!
While driving in a parking garage, I came too close to a wall and smashed part of the bumper of the rental car. We didn’t notice until later when there was a distinct piece dangling off. We decided to ignore it until the last night, where we purchased some superglue and frantically tried to slap it back on. It looked pretty shitty, so we made the next logical conclusion that we needed to fix it up a bit with a black sharpie. I managed to procure a marker from a gas station attendant (with whom I ended up in this extravagant lie about cracking my dad’s car’s bumper and him being away on a trip and he was coming into the airport TONIGHT! That’s what happens if you smile and gently agree to things attendants guess at). You won’t believe this, but the marker made it worse because, oh, it looked exactly like marker on a car. After officially vandalizing the car, making peace with the thought of having to buy a new bumper, we returned the car the next morning to a guy who barely glanced at it before sliding the standard paperwork across the desk and dismissing us. We felt very good about this, but then my dad told us cracking a bumper isn’t any big deal at all and rental companies expect stuff like that. So, in the end, good for everyone.
End this thing already!
I missed you all! Seriously. I confess that I checked email twice over the honeymoon and ended up sneaking into blogland to see if Amalah and Zoot had their babies (yes and no) or if anyone had posted wedding pics (Willow) or general recaps (Krista). I’m excited to be back online!
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