CASEY AND GREG’S WEDDING WEEKEND

I celebrated the engagement in SAN FRANCISCO. I partied at the bachelorette in Bermuda. And now, CASEY AND GREG’S WEDDING WEEKEND has finally arrived!

CASEY is one of my very best friends from high school in Connecticut. We have remained friends through years of being separated at different colleges, settling on different coasts and finally with just a very long shoreline between us (she recently relocated to San Francisco). When we are together it’s always like old times. CASEY is just as nuts (if not MORE so) than me. We are two silly peas in a pod with an amazing bond. GREG is awesome too and a great match to her silliness. I love both CASEY and GREG and you know, I love a good party so I was stoked to head up to SAN FRANCISCO for the wedding weekend.

After weighing the price of an airplane ticket and taxis against the price of gas and parking, I made the decision to drive to SAN FRANCISCO for the WEDDING WEEKEND. I hit the road at 10:30am (after rush hour to miss traffic) and headed up the 405 to the 5 Freeway.

Although it is a long drive (5 ½ hours driving at mach speeds), I still appreciate a good road trip. I love that you can bring as much as you want and not even put it in bags (I just hung all my dresses in the backseat). I also love a good book on tape. I downloaded “Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger, popped it in and the drive seemed to fly by! I also love a good excuse for fast food (the road tripping food of champions). I opted for lunch by Taco Bell though I was dismayed that they refused to make a cheesy gordita crunch and had still not added tomatoes back to the menu after the recent recall. My sad little taco put a damper on the trip (so did the uber-expensive gas), but as I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and into the city my excitement returned!

I checked into The Nob Hill Hotel, which I found on Yelp.com while searching the area of the wedding for the cheapest options. Most wedding guests where staying at The Fairmont and The Huntington, both beautiful hotels right next to the Cathedral, but both where extremely out of my price range! I opted for a four-block walk at ¼ the price. The hotel was actually very cute and clean with extremely helpful and friendly staff. The only downside was no air conditioning on one of the HOTTEST weekends in SAN FRANCISCO ever! UGH!

I got settled in, showered off my road trip funk and dressed in a cute green dress (a hand-me-down from my mom) for the first night’s festivities. I headed over to The Huntington to meet up with my other high school best-ies (Annie and Kim). The walk was more challenging than I thought in the heat and heels! SAN FRANCISCO is so damn hilly! When I arrived Annie was nowhere near ready and Kim was running late too (I guess that’s what happens when you have 2 kids to tend to before your makeup and hair).

Finally, the ladies where dressed and we headed to the Marina to catch the ferry. Well, that was the plan at least! By the time we arrived the ferry had already left! We hopped a cab to Tiburon to meet up with the party at Guaymas, a sweet Mexican restaurant with spectacular views of the city.

Though we were a little late, we hopped right into the Mexican festivities wearing sombreros and fake mustaches. There were so many people I hadn’t seen in years that it took at least an hour to work my way around the party. We dined on Mexican treats (I love guacamole and salsa and tacos), sipped on margaritas (Ole), rocked out with the mariachi band and laughed till our stomachs ached (there are so many hysterical things you can do with fake mustaches and sombreros)!

We piled in Mexican party buses back to the city where we headed straight to The Tonga Room to get our groove on. The Tonga Room is the cheesiest, most fantastic, kitschy tiki bar (an odd spot to be located in the basement of the super swanky Fairmont Hotel). A live band performs pop hits from Michael Jackson to Britney Spears while aboard a floating boat in the middle of a murky sea (which more than one wedding guest threatened to jump into for a swim much to the dismay of the crabby bartenders)! The dance floor is the deck of an old ship, which periodically gets surrounded by a rainstorm. We danced till they kicked us out (everything in SAN FRANCISCO closes so early) and I hopped a cab and headed home to my little sweatbox of a hotel room!

I tossed and turned all night in the heat, but eventually got a pretty good rest (sleeping in way later than I usually do with no doggies). I headed down to the free breakfast (coffee and a bagel) to write my speech, which I planned to give at the bridal luncheon.

After a quick shower, I changed and headed over to The Huntington to get Annie. She was running late (again), but eventually we hopped a cab and made our way to St. Francis Yacht Club for the luncheon. We sat at a huge table overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge where we ate mushroom soup and a yummy Caesar salad. As a bridal gift, CASEY’S mother had bought a gold charm bracelet and each of her best friends then bought a charm to represent their friendship (such a great idea)! We went around the table explaining our charms. I bought a phone, which represents all the phony phone calling CASEY and I did in our youth (Ha! Ha!)

As dessert was brought out, I clinked my glass with my knife to quiet the room. I had collected silly pictures of CASEY and I from 7th grade until now and put them into a scrapbook (I love scrap booking)! I had written a note at the end recounting memories of our friendship and how lucky I feel to have CASEY and GREG in my life and, finally, I said how happy I am to be a part of this wonderful weekend. Many people were planning on speaking at the rehearsal dinner, but I’m glad I got it over with first and in front of a smaller audience. Many people also commented that I set the bar high (pat pat on my own back! HA!)

It took forever to get a cab from the yacht club back to the hotel, which left me little time for a shower (I think I took more showers on this trip then ever before) and to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Once dressed and looking FINE (if I don’t say so myself), I headed to The Fairmont (I didn’t wait for Annie this time. I hate being late). I hopped on the chartered trolleys to Town Hall, a yummy steak restaurant that I had actually eaten at before.

I sipped wine, chowed on salad, chicken (on the bone which I don’t like), ridiculously delicious jambalaya and this sticky pudding that nearly made me pass out it was so delicious. The groom’s sisters and father made speeches, as did friends of both the bride and groom (I’m SO glad I spoke at the lunch). We watched cute slide shows of GREG and CASEY’S history, which included embarrassing pics of the gang and me (lord, was I a sight growing up with my glasses and baggy clothes!)

After dinner, we headed to Varnish Art Gallery for wine tasting and dancing. The gallery was hip and modern and the DJ awesome, but it seems very few places in SAN FRANCISCO have air conditioning and it was HOT! I’m talking sauna, dripping sweat, unbearably HOT! I stood by the fan, put ice in my wine and tried to grin and bare it. After a couple more drinks, everyone seemed to forget that they were dripping sweat and the dancing began, serious dancing! At midnight, when they kicked us out there was talk about heading back to The Tonga Room (my new favorite spot), but realizing how nasty and sweaty we were, we hopped the bus back to the hotels and hit the hay.

Saturday morning, I cruised Chestnut Street with Annie, went to Crissy Field beach with her babies Tommy and Lucy (I love babies and Tommy and Lucy are cream of the crop) and had a fabulous lunch at Sociale with Annie and her husband Chris. Oh my goodness, this was the cutest little restaurant! We sat outside and had the yummiest artichoke salad and paninis. I got the artichoke, broccoli and pesto which I didn’t love, but Annie’s and Chris’ where both delicious!

After lunch, I headed back to the hotel for another shower (Lord, was it hot) and to get ready for the wedding! The ceremony was at 4pm at Grace Cathedral (Spectacular), the same spot that Courtney Cox and David Arquette got married. I sat in an aisle seat (the most coveted seat at a wedding) next to my friend from high school Alex and her husband. We waited in anticipation for Casey to make her entrance and walk down the aisle.

CASEY looked gorgeous in her Vera Wang gown and so happy as she walked the aisle with her father. Her eyes stayed right on GREG the whole time and he smiled from ear to ear. The ceremony was beautiful and finally they were husband and wife. “You may kiss the bride!” (They opted for a classy peck. I plan on going all out with full tongue!)

We left the Cathedral and boarded trolleys to The Olympic Club for the reception. Bad choice to sit on the outside! The ride was long and the wind whipped my hair back and forth. I arrived a wind blown mess! But after a quick fixer-upper, I was prepped and ready to party. We enjoyed cocktails and appetizers looking over the golf course and Casey and Greg danced their first dance. You can tell they practiced because they were smooth!

After the first dance, we headed into dinner. I was seated at table 8 (table 8 RULZ!) with all my pals from high school and their husbands (what a bummer to be one of a handful of singles at the wedding). The best man, JP gave a touching speech followed by Mr. B, CASEY’S dad. There was not a dry eye in the house. Then GREG spoke about when he knew CASEY was the girl for him. It was very sweet and touching.

After the ceremonious cutting of the beautiful tiered cake, I chowed down on the carrot cake layer. YUM! Then I hit the dance floor to shake my tail feather. The band was great and rocked out all sorts of fun tunes. We rocked the dance floor for hours! Before CASEY departed, she stood atop the stairs and threw the bouquet. There was only a small handful of single girls and the bouquet was meant for me DAMN IT! Sadly, I was in the bathroom (I’m still sulking! Damn you Chippie)!

I continued to sulk and whine all the way out UNTIL I spotted a hot dog vendor with sizzling sausages and onions parked by the bus (what a great surprise)! I LOVE HOT DOGS! I shoveled mine in my face as we rode the bus back to the hotels. A handful of us (mainly, the single peeps that had no one to go home to) didn’t want the fun to end, however it seemed everywhere in SAN FRANCISCO was closed. To our delight, we finally found a crappy little dive bar not far from the hotel. As we sat a top the pool table drinking warm beer (and still sulking over not getting the bouquet), my eyes started to droop. I was worn out from the wild WEDDING WEEKEND (So fun)!

I headed back to my hotel. As I drifted to sleep, I dreamt of all the FABULOUSNESS of CASEY AND GREG’S WEDDING WEEKEND. So fun! I slept peacefully with a smile on my face and woke well rested for my long drive home!