Come with me my love to the sea.

On her wedding day, she was relaxed, excited, glowing, and beautiful. I hope to hold it together nearly as well as my friend, mrs. w. To prepare for their 10:30 am wedding ceremony, mrs. w was getting ready with a cocktail in hand at 6:30am. Lucky for her, she is a total morning person. I, on the other hand, would probably be late for my own wedding if I had to get ready that early.

mr. and mrs. w were married at one of their favorite places -- the beach. How awesome is it for guests to kick off their heels and walk barefoot on the sand to their seats?! I love how the groomsmen wore their shirts open collar and no jacket. I think this was a great way to distinguish between the mr. w and his groomsmen.

mrs. w is not a shopper, but she did not stop until she found a dress that was flattering and comfortable for all her bridesmaids. I love her selflessness.


I don't know how she did it, but mrs. w looked so incredibly cool and collected as she walked down the aisle with both her parents to "Sea of Love" by Cat Power (from the Juno soundtrack). That song along with her happiness was more than enough to bring tears to more than a few eyes.


The reception was held at The Chart House, which overlooks, what else but, the beach! Her table numbers were so cute and personal. To say mr. and mrs. w are baseball fans really is an understatement. Each of the eight tables was a different baseball team and stadium that they went to together!


I really loved mrs. w's dance with her father as they sang the words of Anne Murray's Could I Have This Dance to each other. This is exactly why we are not doing these dances...I cry too much.

Remember my post about the delish favors from mr. and mrs. a's wedding? mr. and mrs. w had a different, but equally wonderful, "favor." Animal lovers that they are, mr. and mrs. w skipped the favors and made a donation to the Best Friends Animal Society.


This bride and groom had no time to rest. After the wedding and a little bit of downtime, they had a wedding afterparty at our favorite spot for happy hour. What an awesome way to end a fun-filled wedding day.

Congratulations, mr. and mrs. w.

Everybody seems so happy today, it's a sunshine day.

The Reception
The party was definitely good times. When you go to a wedding that you only know your date and the bride and/or the groom, you tend to bolt as soon as the cake is cut (if not sooner). A wedding with all your friends is so much fun! Before we knew it, we were being played out of the reception hall to the last minute last song request of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (the song completely ruined by drunk girls in every LA club).

The digital photobooth from Cheesy Photobooths was a MAJOR hit. mr. c and I were deciding whether the photobooth would be worth the $1000+. We realized quickly that it was mostly our friends that were being photobooth whores that night and we had so much fun with it. So survey says, HELL YEAH!

These are only a few of the many taken by us in the Cheesy Photobooth.

One of my favorite parts of the night was when a certain someone (ahem, mr. c) requested a certain Bone Thugs n Harmony song...and passed the mic to the bride to spit some rhymes..and she rocked it! That girl can drop the first two verses of "Let's Ride" like no other. Yet another reason why we love her.

Bone Thugs rappin' bride photo by SA.
FYI...there might be a youtube video out there if you can find it. ;)

We have a collection of wedding glassware that we sometimes seem to "misplace." Sorry my friends that have given out these favors or are planning to use these favors...don't be mad. While a forever keepsake is a nice idea, I haven't used your wedding favor at my latest dinner party. I will remember your wedding more through pictures.

My favorite kinds of favors: yummy treats. mr. and mrs. a gave two. The first were delicious chocolate mints. They gave us a bag full of the extras. Yum. The second was a take out box with arare (rice crackers to represent mr. a's Japanese culture) and fortune cookies (to represent mrs. a's chinese culture).

200 + created and stuffed by the bride and groom

Instead of your typical fortunes, these contained wonderfully cheesy pick up lines like this:

Go ahead and use this one at your next club night.

My notes from this reception:

• I might be a horrible "host" at our reception because I will most likely be at one of three places all night: dancefloor, photobooth, bar.
• We are definitely getting a photobooth. The question still remains: digital or classic? We love the look of classic photobooth pictures, but they don't print out double copies like the digital photobooth and people (including myself) like being able to take a copy home.
• SLIPPERS for the ladies! mrs. a had a basket of about 20 pairs of Old Navy slippers for any girls that wanted to swap out their heels to get their dance on.
  
• Speeches at the beginning of the night to avoid slurring words.
• Super cute idea for escort cards, created by the bride:

Duh, click on the image so you can read it!
front: How well do you know the bride and groom?
inside: answer = table number
back: entree selection

mr. and mrs. a, your wedding was fabulous and fun, as a wedding should be. Thank you for putting your (sometimes undeserving) trust in mr. c to officiate your wedding (aka potentially ruin your wedding). We are lucky to have wonderful friends like the two of you and we wish you all the best in your new life together. We can only hope that you and all our friends will enjoy our wedding as much as we enjoyed yours. Have an amazing honeymoon and we will see you in a couple of weeks.

It was with GREAT pleasure that mr. c was able to present for the first time, mr. and mr. a:

photo taken by miss s.

Everybody's laughin', sunshine day...

The Ceremony
At 5:30, the sun was slowly beginning to make its way down. Unfortunately, not fast enough for those standing at the alter. Check out Mission Impossible: Budget Wedding in LA for his hilarious take on the heat.

I cry at almost every wedding (even weddings on TV) and this was no exception. My fiance', mr. c, was their officiant (Deputy Commissioner of Civil Marriages to be exact).

The (self-proclaimed) Wedding God

It was a lovely, short and sweet ceremony. Even though I heard the mr. c's speech several times prior, I still can't get over how beautifully written it was, with the utmost respect and love for the bride and groom, tied in with his undeniable sense of humor. Now I kinda wish he could perform our wedding. Just kidding, mr. wook...you are going to rock our wedding.

Things I gathered from the ceremony:

• Short, sweet, and funny is the best combination.
  
• The bride and groom really rocked their own vows. We will not be writing our own vows because I cry too much.
• If you are not sitting in the front row or an aisle seat, it's hard to see...we are thinking of having our guests sit at their tables for the ceremony. Since chairs are not included in our venue, this will save us some money.
  
• A microphone stand might be nice for the officiant because mr. c was having trouble juggling the mic and his notes and at one point, the rings.
• I love the content of their ceremony programs. Each person in the wedding party, the officiant, and the ushers had a personalized one line description. And, on the back, they wrote a nice thank you to all their guests.

I know you can't read that! Click on the image!

Everybody's smilin', sunshine day...

Congratulations, mr. and mrs. a!

photo by char.

I admit, I used our friends' wedding as a trial to see how our mutual friends "behave" at a wedding. I've gone to my share of weddings in the past few years, but this is the first with so many of the friends that we will also be inviting to our wedding. Sorry for you using you, mr. and mrs. a, but thank you for an amazing and "memorious" wedding. There are so many things that I want to share from this Sunday wedding in June at the Friendly Hills Country Club.

Friendly Hills Country Club image from Here Comes the Guide

My notes overall:

• By far the most fun wedding that I have been to.
• The Friendly Hills Country Club is a beautiful place to get married.
  
• A Sunday wedding might suck for many because they have work on Monday. Not for me because I'm on summer vacay. Bring on the vodka tonics!
  
• I saw my uncle's best friend. His wife is the groom's second cousin. Is that relevant to anyone besides me? No...but how random is that? I guess it just shows how small this world is.
• I met EBM of Mission Impossible: Budget Wedding in LA. His fiance' is a lovely, sweet girl. And, he is a nice guy, always with his camera in hand, except when he is getting crazy on the dancefloor. We met, we chatted, and we took pictures in the photobooth: