THE WEDDING - THE ACTUAL WEDDING

Finally -

I'm getting around to the actual wedding.

Hmmm......debating how many pictures to post.

A few have been posted on Facebook and my neighbor mentioned that the newlyweds are getting in some trouble with their photographers because random photos are showing up and the photogs have exclusives.  Who knew?

And the newlyweds are off in Bora Bora and can't really deal with it from there.

So anyway -
the Wedding.

We were shuttled from the Beverly Willshire to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church for the ceremony.

The groom anxiously awaiting the appointed hour.

The bride's brothers - looking dapper.

Brian and I - looking wind blown.

We all went into the church and some seats had been saved for Brian and I.  It turns out that we were sitting next to the pastor's wife - Debbie and her sister and brother in law Terry.

We chatted for about 10 minutes before the ceremony.  As I was seated next to Terry, he and I made small talk for awhile.  He told me about his three boys, where they went to college and what they were doing now, etc.

The church and all the flowers were gorgeous.

The bridesmaids were gorgeous.

The groomsmen were handsome.

The pastor/priest/whatever did an excellent job.

He was a very humble man and really focused on making the homily about the bride, the groom and God.  I have seen many priests turn the homily into an opportunity just to hear themselves speak.  But I was very impressed by his efforts to keep the service focused on the couple and God.

I will post more of the bride and groom when I am able to - but out of respect - I'll limit it.

                                      

The ceremony really was beautiful.

After the ceremony, we came out of the church to be shuttled to the reception in Malibu.

But while waiting to get on the motor coaches, we took some pictures and chatted with the guests.

I found Debbie (the pastor's wife) because I wanted to tell her what a good job her husband had done.

She was pleased and said she was really proud of him.  As I walked away, someone told me that Debbie was Debbie Boone - as in "You Light Up My Life" Debbie Boone.  Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhh.

And Terry?  That was Terry Botwick - the producer of X-Men:Wolverine and the Veggie Tales - The Movie.  I would never have figured that one out.

                               

My niece - the flower girl - with my sister in law and brother.

The "Get Away" car.  Frank Gifford wouldn't get out of the way!

Kathy Lee should have gone over and gotten Frank so that I could have gotten a clear shot of the car!

Oh well!

When I have permission, I'll show you some more pics.

But you get the idea!

We watched the wedding montage DVD (shot in HD) last night (my neighbor brought it over) and once again, we were in awe. Words cannot describe the whole weekend!

We also had fun discussing how much everything cost and some of the private details of the weekend.

Seriously - the most fabulous wedding I have ever gone to or will ever go to.

TWO DOWN. ONE TO GO.

If you know me, I'm not very sentimental.
I don't scrapbook.  I don't take a lot of pictures.  If my house burned down, I'd walk.  No - I wouldn't run to save Aunt Tilly's quilt or the baby books - didn't quite complete those and Hello!  I lived life.  I don't need books about it.


So it was with some reluctance,
I dragged myself to Garrett's graduation.
Afterall, I went to one already.
And it's HIGH SCHOOL.
What kind of person DOESN'T graduated from high school.
Do we really need to celebrate this?


But then again,
I am kind of sentimental.
I cry when I hear random songs on the radio that remind me of Trammell in high school, or Garrett as a four year old or Parker as a toddler.
I cry when choirs sing - and my kids aren't even in the choir.


So I did what I always do
and built a shrine to Garrett.

And we all put on our dresses and heels and shirts and ties and went to graduation!


A good time was had by all!
Congrats Garrett!

Garrett is awesome!

He rocks.
He makes me laugh.
He makes me cry.
He makes me want to throw my arms around him and hug him.
He makes me want to wrap my hands around his neck and squeeze.
He always entertains me with his humor.
He always surprises me with his depth and his strong convictions.
He stands tall as a leader.
He's not afraid to do his own thing.
He's creative.
He's an inventor.
He has a wide range of talents from classical violin to hip hop violin and dance to snowboarding, lacrosse and golf.
Garrett is his own man.

Congrats Garrett!
High School Graduation IS a big thing.
It's a stepping stone on your path.
May you make your next step with confidence and continue the fabulous journey of your life.
I love you!

WEDDING DAY! (Not the Wedding, but THE DAY!) Part FOUR

I know, I know.  I need to continue the wedding extravaganza.  I just got caught up in living my own life yesterday and had NO time to blog. We had this teeny tiny event called HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION!  I'll post more about Garrett, graduation and how great he is later.

But for now, I will satiate the voyeur in you.

Saturday - Wedding Day!
The official wedding agenda called for a tour of stars homes (the outsides) and famous places in Beverly Hills.
Brian and I had our own agenda.

We got up and left the hotel in search of breakfast.
I wanted a big breakfast with protein.
I swear I don't drink, but I felt like I had a hangover.
It must have been from all the champagne bubbles in the air at the rehearsal dinner the night before.

Can I just tell you how DEAD Santa Monica Boulevard and Willshire are at 9:30 am?
They sure weren't this dead the night before at 2!

We found a place to eat and because the weather was completely beautiful, chose to eat outside right along Santa Monica Boulevard.
We were totally entertained by the cars driving by.
EVERY car was a Mercedes or a Porsche.  Okay - we did see 1 or 2 "normal" cars, but I have never seen so many Bentleys, Ferraris, and other luxury cars in such a short time.

Just across the street was another Cafe.
In front of it were parked, Mercedes, BMW's, Porsches and a rare WHITE Ferrari.

Hmmmm...........
A few minutes into breakfast, a large group of men in sweat suits and ugly but expensive clothing came out.  They were all of Italian descent, spoke loudly and issued orders to one another.  It was JUST LIKE the Sopranos.  So of course, I stared and took blurry pictures!

But also across the street, something else caught my eye.

Who cares that I had just eaten 3 scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, toast a HAM STEAK!  Nothing makes me happier than a cupcake with buttercream frosting!

After breakfast, our next priority was to visit Kat VonD's place - High Voltage Tattoo.

It was 10:30 and we had two things going against us. 1) This is LA and nothing is open yet. 2) It's a tattoo shop. Really?  What time do you think they are going to open?

NOON.  Not ONE SECOND before noon.

Noon is getting awfully close to wedding time.

But I have my priorities.

While waiting for noon, I checked out the back parking lot.

Remember last season when Kat had the mural on the back wall redone and Aubrey was all ticked because she was a complete idiot and had worked at the shop for 2 1/2 seconds but thought she should be on the mural?
You don't?  What's wrong with you?  What? Are you like 40 something and watching stupid shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "Glee?"  What are you? A normal American?  Join me on the darkside!

Look!  It's the mural.  Good thing Aubrey wasn't included since she got fired pronto!
So finally, I was fashionably late for the noon opening time.  I wouldn't want to be the first one through the door.  I'd look like some overanxious, totally unhip housewife/mom.  So uncool.

You will never believe this!
The shop looks just like it does on TV!

I saw Adrienne - the real shop manager. And she is much prettier (and nicer) in real life!  No, I didn't see Kat or Corey or Dan.  It was too early!  Who would ever expect artists of their magnitude to show up for work at high noon? WTH? - that's hell not heck.  We're talking about tattoos afterall!  

I did buy a really super duper cool High Voltage Tattoo T-Shirt with naked ladies, skulls and butterflies.  I'll be wearing it to the next church picnic!

Seriously, I'm a conservative, preppy, suburban, housewife with a sick and twisted mind.  We could have gone home right then, and the trip would have been a 10.

BUT WE DIDN'T!

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the wedding.

Enough Rehearsing! LET'S GET TO THE DINNER! - PART TRE

Alrighty then - we've seen the museum and we're mixing and mingling with random famous people who I don't know are famous.  And at this point, I'm not quite comfortable enough to just walk up and say, "Who are you?"  But wait - I warm up to the crowd tomorrow.


While waiting for the bridal party to finish practicing,
we are on an indoor terrace looking over the courtyard.

Those chair cushions, table clothes and napkins were custom made......in case you were wondering.

These were the napkins and the little treats - mini wedding cakes.
We were each supposed to take the mini wedding cake. The napkin?  Probably not.


Okay, okay - I'm getting to the food.
We had a welcome by the groom's father.
Then Marty Goetz sang a psalm he had written for the occasion.
Google him.
He's a well-known Jewish/Christian musician.  I know -that's contradictory but he was Jewish and his partner became a born-again.  He as "horrified" and they broke up.  Soon though, he began to study the New Testament and decided that Jesus was indeed the Messiah that everyone was waiting for.  That's the super duper short version.
Anyway, he sang and it was beautiful. Really.

There were several toasts.

Seriously!  I'm getting to the food.
And then the first course was served.
It was a special macaroni dish that is a Hammer tradition.
Grandma Hammer would make it for every special occasion.


Then we were served an heirloom tomato salad.


After the first and second course, we were invited to go to the buffet.
There were four buffet stations set up, so the lines were not long.


We had roasted vegetables,
potatoes and leeks,
beef medallions on polenta,
and white fish,
jalapeno cornbread and hush puppies.

The food and alcohol just kept flowing.
We had 92 glasses at our table.  Since we don't drink, they sat empty all night.
However, there was sparkling cider for the 1,264 toasts.


Toward the end of the meal,  we saw the cutest video in the whole world.  (All produced in HD)
Really!
It helps that the ride and groom are 1) Beautiful and 2) Used to being in front of a camera.
They were interviewed separately and asked different questions like describe how you first met, when did you know it was love, tell us about the first kiss, etc.
Their answers were really fun!

Dessert was served and it was a raspberry cheesecake (the color was a light purple) with a green vanilla bean coulis.  We were almost too tired to eat it.  Too tired? What?  The weekend is JUST STARTING!  There is no time to be tired!

The happy couple thanking everyone for coming.

So, it's roughly 11 pm and this whole welcome reception started back at the Beverly Willshire at 4, so it's kind of time to wind down.  The motor coaches pull up to the museum to take everyone back to the hotel.  It's time to get some beauty sleep for tomorrow.  What no one knows, is that it's also time for the bride to find her elusive wedding shoes.  They've got to be somewhere!?!!!?

ART & DINNER or JUST THE ART- Part Deux

After getting settled into our hotel, we changed for the "Welcome Reception" and Rehearsal Dinner.

The Welcome Reception was hosted by the Bride's parents in their suite.
We mixed and mingled until it was time to get on the shuttles to the rehearsal dinner.

We rode a shuttle with several of the bridesmaids' husbands.
The bridesmaids weren't there since they were at the rehearsal.
Although the ride was short, we garnered a LOT of information.
I'm a good eavesdropper!

These were all 20 something guys.
One was talking about the State Department and all of the different embassies around the world- which ones had the best grounds, the best security, the ones that were styled out, etc.
He was speaking from experience.
He was Jenna Bush's husband.

One guy was talking about living in New York and working at/on/for a hedge fund.
It took me awhile to figure out that he worked for Goldman Sachs.................
because his last name WAS SACHS!

The third guy was not as dressed up as the others.
Everyone was in business dress.
He was dressed in some pants, combat boots and a loose jacket....just a little bit more laid back and casual.
He was going on and on about being "on tour" this summer.
He listed city after city that his band was going to.....Prague, Vienna, London, etc.
Brian was like - "This guy can't be that big.  It sounds like he's bragging too much.  If he was big, he wouldn't be talking about it"
I didn't think he was bragging.  Brian couldn't hear the other guys asking him question after question.
Turns out, he wasn't bragging.
His "little" band is opening for U2 all summer.
This guy was Ryan Tedder.

Perhaps, you've heard of him.  He's from a little group called ONE REPUBLIC!  Although he wasn't bragging, he certainly deserved to!

So our fun filled listening in ended as we arrived at The Hammer.

Named after the groom's great grandfather Armand Hammer.
The locale for the rehearsal dinner (as well as the guest list) changed several times during the planning process.
For some crazy reason, the family was a little worried about security!?!
I wonder why?  The museum was stuffed with -
Van Goghs

Cezannes

Rembrandts

                      

Gaugins

and much, much more.

The art was incredible.

All of this before joining all of the guests and bridal party in the Museum's Courtyard to see Tori Birch, Chanel, Prada and Jimmy Choo.

Darn, my time is up and we haven't even gotten to THE DINNER.

Sorry!

Tomorrow - The rehearsal dinner.

OVER.THE.TOP Part Uno

That pretty much sums it up!
The wedding festivities were OVER.THE.TOP!


We left for the wedding on Friday and got back yesterday.
I don't even drink, but I pretty much have a party like a rock star - all be it, a classy rock star - hang over!


Words cannot describe the wedding.
Photos cannot describe the wedding.
It was beautiful, incredible, very classy and a ONCE IN A LIFETIME event.


So I will do my best to share the details.
It's going to be a 20 part series - sorry!

And now, I bring to you - Friday Arrival


After Brian and I were in charge of the lacrosse banquet for 200 on Thursday night,
we came home and made breakfast casseroles for Brian to serve his seminary class Frday morning.
We packed, went to bed, got up at 4:30 am and left right after seminary at 7.I knew it was going to be a good trip when we went to the rental car place to pick up our car.
I had arranged for a "Full Size" rental car at Hertz through Hotwire for $62 for two days.
We were supposed to get something like an Impala.
All they had were mini vans.
We asked if maybe they had something else.


They offered up at 2010 - 3 week old Black loaded Lincoln Navigator with 1,700 miles on it and air conditioned seats.
Yes - this was better than the mini van.
Oh, and it was still only $62.


We left the airport, went five blocks and immediately stopped at In-n-Out.
Oh yes, this will be a good trip.


We checked into the hotel and received a "welcome bag."

filled with goodies:

Go ahead - look at the special cups, water bottles, matches, etc. -

Oh, and the specially made cookie

Oh wait - also in the bag was a copy of Santa Barbara magazine.
Why?
We were in Beverly Hills, not Santa Barbara!
But the soon to be newlyweds were featured in a six page photo layout.

Maybe I will eventually get the article and pictures scanned in, but you get the idea.

I know we are just getting started and I haven't told you much, but it's time to get back to real life and start some laundry!

Fairy tale weddings are just that.  They eventually have to end and everyone has to go back to their boring lives....well, at least some of us do.

Tomorrow - Rehearsal Dinner

The TRUTH Will Come Out - Or You Might Get Ejected

There are always those little stories that your children fail to share with you.
Ahhh.....but they will come out!

This little adventure came out at the leadership banquet -

The leadership class decided to support one of the lesser cheered on sports - Girl's Field Hockey.
They made posters and banners and invited all the students to dress in black and come to the stadium to support the team.

I've been to a field hockey game.
There are usually 3 parents and 2 siblings making up the fan section.
How exciting for those girls and their coaches to a couple of hundred students come support them.

Evidently, the game wasn't going our way.
And evidently, it wasn't just the players who lacked talent.
The refs left something to be desired.
And evidently, the game was pretty boring and needed to be spiced up.
The inmate fans grew restless.

Finally, after 15 "bad calls."
Garrett made his own "bad call."
The ref blew her whistle and pointed at the player who she deemed should get a penalty.
From up in the stands,
came a really loud voice:
"What?  Don't you point at her.  If you point at her, I'll point at YOU!"

The ref turned to the crowd and called, "Who said that?"

Garrett stood and said, "I did."
YOU'RE OUT!

Yep - Garrett was ejected from the game.
The crowd had a field day.
The coach actually had to leave the field and walk him out of the stadium since it was an official call.
(And Tiny Baby had to leave too......since his ride just got kicked out.)

It was the BEST field hockey game in the history of the school!

Give Mommy a "TIME OUT!"

When you are a parent, you have to pick your battles.


Bedtime was my battleground.


Brian travelled a lot or he was at church meetings.
By the end of the day, my patience was thin
and so help me - you were going to bed!


I'm not sure how many times I marched up the stairs to deliver death threats or spankings.
But when I said, "Be quiet and go to bed," I meant it.
If you startied asking for 20 drinks of water, 10 stories, or started jumping on your bed and giggling - one of us was going to die.


When Parker was 3, Garrett 6 and Trammell was 8,
I resorted to switching up the sleeping arrangements
because Garrett was naughty needed more sleep.


Before leaving their rooms one night,
I gently explained threatened that it had been a long, long day,
Mommy was very tired and this was not the night for jacking around.


Everyone must should be quiet and go right to sleep or else!
Death was nigh!


My feet barely hit the bottom of the stairs
when I heard noise.
Was I not clear?
Smoke started coming out of my ears.
Flames were shooting out of my eyes.
My head spun around my neck three times.
And I flew back up the stairs.


I whipped open the door, ready to come unglued on the disobedient child who dared to get out of bed and make noise.


Just as I opened my mouth to unleash my anger,
I saw Trammell sitting on Parker's bed with a book.
"What are you doing?"
I could barely get it out without sounding like a possessed demon from hell.


All innocence and light,
Trammell held the book up and said,
"I'm just reading the scriptures to Parker."


Oops! I needed a time out and perhaps my own lashing!
Have you ever yelled at your kids for something they didn't do?
Apparently, a lot of us supermoms have.


I'm pretty sure this is the only time it happend though!
My little remembrance was inspired by Big Mama Cass.
It's one of the prompts at Writer's Workshop over at Mama Kat's place.


Head on over, take a look around and pick a prompt!

There is HOPE!

I know that there are a lot of people who are discouraged with today's teens.

And maybe rightfully so.
I know that there are a lot of teens out there who are lazy, misdirected, make poor choices, and seem to be going no where.

But, I LOVE teenagers.
In them, I see so much hope.
Hope and excitement for the future.
Sure, there are some bad teens, but there are mostly good, awesome, wonderful teens!

We went to the high school leadership banquet last night.
It was impressive.
What was impressive?

These 65 kids are smart.
They are going places.
They serve in the community - they are required to perform a minimum of 40 hours of service each year.
This is not the only thing they participate in - they play sports, they sing in choirs, they are cheerleaders, they go to church, they hold jobs, they tutor, they mentor, they coach.
They plan all the activities for the school - pep assemblies, spirit weeks, dances, homecoming, prom, lunch time activities.
They support each other. They work together.  They learn and grow together.

But most of all - they love each other.

PS: YES - That is a VELVET sportscoat that Garrett is wearing.  There is hope.  But there's not THAT much hope.