7.07.07

D-DAY arrived...and well, let's just say that 'twas a day that I couldn't wait to be over. Isn't it Murphy's Law that says that if something's going to go wrong, it will? Well, it did! Now albeit, many guests, bride and groom included, may not have known all about the chaotic moments that us cousins had to endure, let me set the record straight and say that we did our damndest to make things run as smoothly as possible with the time and resources that we had. We made do with what we had...and that's not saying much.

The craziness began the day before, Friday, as Ate and I hustled about to look for a rehearsal dinner venue. We called restaurant after restaurant searching for one that would be able to accomodate approximately 30-35 people keeping a budget in mind. Well, considering that we were trying to make reservations for that very night, our options were very limited. After that was taken care of, I had to quickly pack and head over to Hotel Adagio to check in. It was about 3:45pm when I did, but I literally only had time to drop off my bags because I had to head over to the Palace of Fine Arts for the rehearsal at 4pm. Hotel Adagio, by the way, has some really great staff- totally friendly and helpful- but the pictures of the rooms look better online than they do in person. Nice rooms, but small. I'll tell you about the cute porter named Justin in a bit...

The Bay Area had been forecasted for a round of heatwaves this entire week. Unfortunately, it's been hot and sunny everywhere EXCEPT da city. If you travel 15 minutes in any direction AWAY from Ocean Beach, you could sit in the warm sun and even work on a tan. But along the coast? Forget it...'twas fog, fog, and more fog.




Being at the Palace of Fine Arts (again) gave me so many mixed emotions. First of all, one can't help but be taken by its architectural beauty. Simply put, it makes for some really great photographs. There really is something about tall, long columns...the entire structure is so majestic and elegant. On the other hand, I've had this emotional attachment to the Palace because it's the very place where I exchanged my own wedding vows back in 2002. How ironic that I was here for a wedding when mine has just ended! All personal drama aside, we took care of business that day, but still...I can't say that it was the easiest thing in the world to revisit that lil' corner of the Palace...




Hotel Adagio is a boutique hotel on Geary. As nice as it is inside, across the street are a couple of bars where drunken fools continued to stumble out at all hours of the night. And yes, we were up! In my room, I had the cousins: TripleD, BebeBallerina Girl and hubby, and Isa. By the time we all settled in, it was already 3:30am...TripleD, BBG's hubby, and I were fighting to stay awake. We were so tempted to order a pizza, but by 5am, we were all out...only to wake up at 6am! I thought it was the funniest thing, but we had all set our cell phones as our alarm clocks...at 6am, they all went off and it was so obnoxiously loud that it was seriously laugh-out-loud hilarious when all these tired voices shouted, "Turn it off!" "Omigod, that's hella loud!" "Sorry, that's mine!" LOL!

The Boys got ready first because they had to head over to the Palace and meet the vendors. Us Girls got made up, but before heading out, we went up to the bride's suite. As expected, there were a lot of things that needed to be done and it just so happened that BebeBallerina Girl and I were the available bodies around to do the running around. Now perhaps it was because it was early in the morning...it could've been the heels that we were wearing...it could've been the fact that we didn't have our Starbucks considering we all had but a few hours of sleep...or it really could've been the fact that we were sent up and down that freakin' elevator way too many times that did it...but yah...we were NOT happy campers that morning. In fact, we were two unhappy C-R-A-N-K-Y campers. Lol...yes, I laugh about it now, but then? Shit.

Let me backtrack to the Hotel Adagio staff for a sec...so after all the running around, all the rides up and down that elevator, we were finally on our way. First stop, Starbucks! But wait, we get a call from the suite and turns out that in the process of running errands, we forgot to return a room key. Okay, I said that we'd run in and drop it at the front desk, but that was a no go because no one was free to go down. WTF? Well, since I was driving and poor Isa and Bina were pinned by everything else, BebeBallerina Girl had to do it. Not happy...but as quickly as she went back in, she was out in a few seconds. Huh? Well, turns out that the cute porter guy Justin who helped us load my car saw her run in, asked her if she forgot something, and offered to run the key back up to the suite for her! Sweet, right? Well, after that, the Girls voted and decided that we'd get cute porter guy Justin a coffee from Starbucks- "...a hot coffee for a hot guy..." Lol!

That would probably be our highlight of the entire morning. From there, things went wrong left and right, but I won't go into it. It's almost too hard to write about it as I don't want to re-live it just yet. Didn't help that my Starbucks spilled and I didn't even get to enjoy it...

But the couple made it down the aisle, albeit 35 minutes late, and my aunt truly made a beautiful bride. I think the ceremony could've done without all the damn tourists. Yes, it's a public place, but who says it's okay that complete strangers can sit among the guests and be part of the congregation? Then there were those snapping pics...again, fine, take pics of the wedding, but do you really have to get THAT CLOSE...hell, even the official photographer wasn't that close! Some people have no shame, I swear...




After the ceremony, us cousins were off to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, which is right across the way from the Palace. Nevermind that MnM took a wrong turn and ended up going back towards 19th Ave, and yes, cursing the entire way back...lol. Again, Murphy's Law must be applied here, and let's just say that my stress levels skyrocketed in about five seconds flat. The setting was nice and as the guests arrived, they were greeted by some Caribbean steel drummers. After all the guests were signed in and seated, us cousins HAD to sit at the bar...it was VERY necessary.




After a few drinks, we were all able to finally relax and enjoy the rest of the reception. Kinda funny because I downed my first drink way too fast...and I felt the buzz pretty quick. To give you an idea of how stressed us cousins were, even my Ate and BruthaMan had a couple of drinks...and THAT rarely happens! It's safe to say that I'll never blog about what happened behind the scenes, but what it comes down to is that we did and would do it again for family...anything for family.

*Wishing the newly married couple all of the happiness in the world...I hope that you had the wedding of your dreams...


Hands down, one of my favorite pictures of the day! This is what I'll remember...this is us getting our drank on after doing our reception duties..."anything for family...anything for family..."



Birthday Shout-Out

I recently hung out with Mommy Hernandez briefly last week because at the Borders at Stonestown, there was a live recording of a Harry Potter Podcast! It was neat to check out the podcast hosted by The Leaky Cauldron...although I have yet to listen to any Potter podcasts, the excitement of not only the movie, but the final installment of the Harry Potter book series is due out this month. Exciting, yet sad at the same time...almost the same feeling I had when Lord of the Rings: Return of the King came out and the trilogy was over. In any case, Mommy Hernandez and I will be at the midnight release of Book 7 along with the other Harry Potter fans.

Just wanted to send Mommy Hernandez a whole bunch of love and hugs on her 33rd birthday! Hope you had a fabulous day...many blessings to you always!