The Big Day

Today is the day. We have been planning this day for an entire year. All this hard word was about to pay off but first we still have quite of bit of stuff to do before 2pm. Both Harry and I got up early and finished up what we could around the house and waited for the rental place to drop off tables and such. He said he was going to be here between 8am and 10am. We pretty much finished everything we could do and had to wait.. seemed like forever but finally the guy showed up a little before 10am. He dropped off all the tables, chairs, table clothes and water pitchers. As soon as I saw the tables I had rented for the food and main table I knew we were in trouble. But as it was too late so Harry and I came up with a plan. Also we had ordered five black and four white table clothes but received nine black ones. He said he would exchange them but took about two hours to do so. We set up the tables with centerpieces, salt and pepper shakers, water pitchers, camera’s and chairs. At 11am Harry’s family showed up to help out with the preparations. We tried to set up some shade for the main and center table but after several failed attempts we gave up and instead pulled out an umbrella for the center table which gave it some shade. Around 11:30am my Dad, Brother and Sister-in-law Lora showed up to help with preparations. Also my replacement photographer showed up. His name is Alex and he was a lifesaver.

We placed the altar but it was so windy that it was about to fall over so we came up with a way of pushing it down into the ground and stabilizing it more. We put out cups, plates, spoons, knives, forks and napkins. The place looked fantastic and all we had left was putting up some sun blockers for the main tables and some starry plastic sheets on the patio ceiling.

Then the winds picked up again and spoons, plates, napkins, forks, knives and cups when flying. The tents almost blew over and everything was lying in the grass… we had an hour and a half till the wedding. We tried several times to put everything back in place but the wind kept fighting us and in the end we gave up and just placed everything in the center of the table which worked for the most part. Also the sun blockers that we put up kept blowing down so we gave up and figure we would have to sit in the hot sun.

As the time ticked away I had people putting up starry plastic on the ceiling of the patio. I had a co-worker running to the store to buy ice, toilet paper and beer. My bartender was MIA, he was suppose to be here at 1pm so we could go over things but so far he was missing and Harry and I were going over plans on where everyone was going to sit and how we were going to walk out.. it was craziness.

It was now 1:30pm and we had a half hour till the ceremony and people were starting to arrive and Harry and I were still setting up and haven’t taken showers or shaved. I made Harry get ready as I took care of a few more details. The food showed up around 1:45pm and there was a lot more then I had expected and of course the table was too small. We stacked the food up and hope it was make it until it was time to eat. It was now 2pm and I was still sweaty and not even close to being ready. People were arriving, my bartender was still MIA. And since people were coming from long distances they had to go to the bathroom and we have only one room so I couldn’t get in there to take a shower or shave. Finally at 2:15pm I was able to slip in and take a quick two-minute shower and shave. I went into the bedroom where both best men and Harry were getting dressed. I dressed as quickly as I could. While we were getting dressed my cake and cake maker was lost and was still a half-hour or so away. I couldn’t worry about that or anything else that didn’t get done. We finished getting dressed and headed to the kitchen to let them know we were ready.

We took a few pictures, a few deep breaths and began the ceremony. Bruce (Harry’s best man) and Christopher (My best man) walked out first. Then Harry and I walked out.

The ceremony went off without a hitch. Tom (our ordained minister) went above and beyond with a funny and sweet ceremony. I had written the words but Tom made them work.

After the ceremony we sat at our front table in the hot sun while the paparazzi took photos’.. at least that is what if felt like. Christopher and Bruce did their toast then Chuck (step dad) and Tom (friend/minister) did a few toasts. We announced lunch and prepared the table. Luckily Bruce, Christopher and Bernd helped out with setting up the food and also we forgot to put water in the pitchers which Christopher and Bruce took care of. They also handed out Champaign for the toasts.. so not only were they are Best men but waiters also.

After the toasts we did pictures with family and finally my missing bartender showed up. After pictures Harry and I changed out of our tuxes and put on shorts and our tux t-shirts and made our way to get some food. After we quickly ate we made our rounds to visit every table and thank every person who attended.

Once we did that it was time for cake. If you read my blog you know I had a hard time finding a cake maker. I had given my cake maker Tina an idea of what I wanted and when the cake was set up it was UNBELIAVLBE. Everyone got up and came over as they set up the cake and took pictures. I was blown away. Tina had gone above and beyond my expectations. She created Three Borg Ships and with the addition of my metal Enterprise they placed it in the middle of the battle. There were two chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and the other one was while cake with strawberry mousse filling. It was by far the best wedding cake I have ever seen. It was every Star Trek Fanatic’s dream cake. I have to admit it was so hard to actually cut the cake but once we did I couldn’t wait to taste it and it was not only the coolest cake but also the best tasting cake I had ever had. So we had cake and managed to save one entire Borg cube (which I’m going to try and preserve forever).

After cake we had planned dancing but with the weather being so hot folks pretty much just hung out under the tent and enjoyed ones company. We did dance a little to YMCA but other then that there wasn’t much dancing. Slow folks began to leave until it was just a core group of friends and family. And by the way our bartender disappeared. The final few people left around 9pm. Then Harry’s family and Harry and I cleaned up a bit as the rental person was coming in the morning to pick up the tables.

Even though things didn’t go as planned and there were a few issues we had to overcome I couldn’t have asked for a better ceremony.

Thanks to all those who helped with the entire process.

I would like to personally thank Christopher, not only did you honor me by being my best man but you made sure everything went smoothly even if it meant you were passing out water and champagne, you also managed to find me an awesome cake maker and photographer.

Bruce you honored Harry by being his best man and also stepped up by passing out water and champagne.

Maggie and Brian for helping out with decorations and running to the store.

Harry’s family (Gerda, Zita and Bernd) who helped with set up and clean up.

Alex for stepping in at the last minute and capturing some great moments.

Tina for making one of the best looking and tasting Star Trek cake that I have ever seen.

And of course Tom who went above and beyond as our ordained minister and turned our ceremony into a fun and sweet event.

Missing Photographer

Well after several emails my wedding photographer has disappeared. I have sent several emails the past few weeks and have yet to hear back from him. Luckily when I was talking to my friend Christopher (my Best man) and told him about my missing photographer he said he may have someone who is not a wedding photographer but had a good eye and enjoyed photography. I had nothing to lose so we called this guy and he was kind enough to say yes. Thanks Christopher for saving the day.

One Day To Go!!!!

Today, Harry’s family went to Santa Monica Beach. They had a really great time.

Harry and I couldn’t go as we had tons of wedding preparations to take care of...

We got up early as we had a lot to do today.. this was the last day to clean and decorate everything. We cleaned the house, cleaned the backyard, and set up the tents. At 10am when the Men’s Warehouse opened we picked up my tux. Luckily it fit great and I was able to take it home.

We came home and started to decorate. Our first idea was to wrap the altar in Starfleet colors (Blue, Red and Yellow). Well I did one side and it looked like a circus tent.. we were not happy with it so then we decided to so tulle but the while tulle and while alter didn’t really look that great so we headed back to Michael’s craft store to get some green ivy type plant to put all over the alter… well we found some that we liked but it was very expensive and we needed 14 strand’s which was going to cost way to much. We did find some red, golden and green ivy, which Harry and I both kind of liked but it was on sale so we bought it. We also picked up some more sunflowers (my favorite flower) as I felt we didn’t buy enough the first around.

We came home and started to decorate like crazy, it was getting late and we were both so tired from showing around Harry’s family the past week. We knew we had tons still to do but called it quits around 7:30pm. We did get a lot done. The alter was decorated in sunflowers, ivy and star trek figures, the patio was decorated in ivy and sunflowers, the tents were up, everyone was stored away that need to be stored away. We had to wait till tomorrow morning when the tables, table clothes and other rented material would arrive.

Harry’s family arrived from their day at the beach around 8 pm and Harry’s mom made some vegetarian food for herself, Gerda and Leonhard, while Bernd and I picked up some food for the rest of us... around 9 pm we all called in the day...

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY!!!!!

Disneyland

Today we took Harry’s family to Disneyland. We arrived about 10.30 am. The first thing we did was ride the Jungle Cruise. Leonhard really enjoy this, next was the Tarzan Treehouse, that was a lot of fun but Leonhard didn’t like the animal sounds, as he thought they were real. We then checked out Tom Sawyer’s island (or whatever new name it has) that was a lot of fun though Harry’s nephew didn’t like the dark caves and after going through one of them decided it was safer not to do it again. From there we went to Splash Mountain. There was a long waited for this ride… about an hour but it really took about 80 minutes. Harry’s mom stayed behind as she didn’t want to stand with us in line for so long and she didn’t want to ride any of the more “wild” rides. I guess it had been a while since I had road that ride, as I didn’t remember getting soooo wet on it. Everyone got soaked but everyone seemed to really enjoy it including Leonhard. Next we went over to Big Thunder, but it was closed. We moved on to the Matterhorn and the Finding Nemo’s Submarine ride, but the lines were too long for Harry’s sisters taste so Harry and I decided to grabbed a bite to eat, while the rest of his family took the Train ride around the entire park. While eating we got to watch the new Jedi Academy Training show…that was a lot of fun

After lunch we met up again and rode Autotopia and Leonhard really loved that ride. After that we tried Space mountain, but after we stood in line for about 20 minutes, we were told that they had issues with the ride and was going to be shut down until further notice. So we walked over to FantasyLand and one ride caught Leonhard’s eye.. it was the Circus Train, Harry’s family rode that while Harry and I sat down and relaxed. After they train ride, while heading over to Toontown, the Parade started and Harry’s family decided to watch the Parade instead. His nephew really loved the parade, which was cool since he had never seen a Disney movie and didn’t really know the characters. We decided to ride Big Thunder since it was working again. So we left Harry’s mom and nephew with another ride on the circus train ride and Bernd, Gerda, Harry and I went over to Big Thunder. We had the fast pass so it only took about 15 minutes to get on the ride and everyone really enjoyed it. Everyone was tired but Gerda wanted to take Leonhard on one last ride, the Storybook boat ride. We headed over to Downtown Disney to grab a bite to eat and then we headed back home... all in all it was a really great day. It’s not how I would have spent the day at Disneyland but when you have a five-year-old you tend to change you plans. It was still a lot of fun on the ride we were able to get on.

Sailing the Pacific

Around 10 am Harry’s family picked us up at our place and we drove down to my Mom’s in Newport Beach. She and my step dad Chuck were taking us out for a sailing trip. We got to my Mom’s around noon and a 1/2-hour later we made our way slowly out of the harbor. We sailed for about an hour and a half, Bernd enjoyed doing all the boat duties, it’s always fun bringing along guests as it means I don’t have to do the work myself. Bernd even drove the boat for a while. As we headed back in we stopped by the seal “hotel” as they call it. It’s a buoy at the entrance of the harbor where a lot of seals sunbathe… Harry’s family really enjoyed that part. We got back to my Mom’s and they made us some burgers and fish on the BBQ. Everyone enjoyed lunch. Harry’s nephew Leonhard likes to pretend fish and I knew Chuck had real fishing poles so I went and got one. Leonhard’s eyes lighten up instantly. He was so excited to really fish. After a few attempts we finally go the pole set up right and he started to fish. You would never think a five year old would be so quiet and still for so long. He fished for hours but in the end didn’t get a bit.. but he seemed to have fun just the same. My mom told Chuck that they should give Leonhard the fishing pole he had been using (it was brand new) and they did. Harry’s family seemed genuinely shocked and very appreciative of the gesture. Leonhard LOVED it and even said Thank you to Chuck in English (which is a big deal). After that we drove back home and called it a night. Another fun day with Harry’s family.

Fishes, Sharks and Earthquakes.. oh my!!!

Today we picked up Harry’s Tux at the The Men’s Warehouse and it fits perfectly...whoo hooo. Around 11:30 am we gave Bernd a buzz to let him know we were ready to be picked up, as we had planned to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We left our place around 11:30 am and got to Long Beach around 1:00 pm. We started to walk through the exhibits, Harry’s nephew, Leonhard, was really excited and seemed to have a lot of fun. Harry’s sister and I took tons of pictures while Harry took about 1 hour of video.

We were about half way through the entire exhibit when my Dad called, he had asked if we felt the earthquake, supposedly we had a 5.4 earthquake at Chino Hills at about 11:42 am. Of course we did not feel it as we were driving but it was a pretty bad shake… the worse since the Northridge quake 14 years ago. Several other people from around the US gave me a call to make sure we were okay also.

We continued through the exhibits and got to see the feeding of sharks, sea lions and sea otters. This part Leonhard really enjoyed. Around 5.00 pm we were done with all the exhibits and decided to head back home. I’m really amazed at Leonhard’s endurance while walking through all the exhibits.

We got home by 6:30 pm and Bernd and I picked up some fast food from Taco Bell, which Harry’s family had never eaten. We hung out in our backyard for a couple of hours and spent some quality time together.

Later that night when we watched the News it seemed that the quake had been felt widely in the San Fernando Valley and even in Canoga Park, what is only a couple of blocks away. Then Harry noticed that our Serenity / Firefly pictures were out of alignment, so we checked the rest of the house. Turns out that in my toy room some books and the Enterprise D model tipped over, the Voyager model fell from the shelf and a bunch of loose action figures either tipped over or fell of the shelf. Other than that nothing really happened at our place. All in all another fun day though I’m a bit tired from all the touristy things, but it’s fun hosting out of town guests.

A Relaxing Day

Well, today Harry’s family came over to our place around 10:30 am. We had planned a low key day, so we hung out at our place. Later we headed over to the Topanga Canyon Shopping Mall and spent time shopping at Target. After Target we headed over to the Northridge Shopping Mall, where Bernd stopped by at the Apple store as he was looking for a 3G iPhone and a new iPod. After that we took a stroll through the Mall, it was fun to see Harry’s Mom so amazed by the variety of shops and store. After that we tried to get some lunch a Panda Express, but turns out that all the meals without meat are prepared with animal byproducts so Harry’s Sister and Mom as vegetarians and really didn’t appreciate that fact. We finally found a food place that worked out for all of us, California Chicken Cafe. After having lunch Harry’s family dropped us off at our place, and we decided to meet again 1 1/2 hours later for some quality time at our place. We spent a couple of fun and quality hours together, we even tried to test out Leonhards new Remote Air Plane, that Bernd bought for him at Target, but the wind gusts really didn’t allow for that. Later that evening the wind died down and we managed to make a few flight attempts in the front of our house. After the ‘Flying Adventure’ we had a BBQ Dinner in our backyard and everyone really enjoyed the food a lot. Harry’s mom has corn on the cob for the very first time in her 70 years. She loved it… all in all it was a really nice and relaxing day.

Poor Daisy

Today we noticed that Daisy was really lethargic and not moving. We investigated and noticed that she had blisters on her paws. During the hike yesterday we walked out on this large cement slab and noticed that she was bouncing back and fourth on her paws so we moved her to a dirt area but I guess it was to late. I felt horrible and so guilty. Not only because of her paws being burnt but yesterday she was taking extra long breaks and stopping a lot but we keep making her move on. Her paw blisters didn’t require a vet visit but she needed to be carried out to the back yard to go to the bathroom and she didn’t move much today.

Hiking

Today we picked up Harry’s family around 10 am and went out to Griffith Park. Harry’s family are outdoor type of people, we also decided to take Daisy along as it was a great opportunity for her to go for a really long walk and to get to know Harry’s family better. About 2 hours later we ended our hike up at up on top of Mt. Hollywood, the view was really great, considering the air quality, we had a really good view of the Hollywood Sign. Harry’s 5 year old nephew did really well on the hiking up to Mt. Hollywood. Harry’s family really enjoyed the long hiking trip, his Mom was really amazed by the beauty of the park and she really loved the view from the top, as you can see the Valley, Los Angeles, Hollywood and the Hollywood Sign. One thing we should have done different, we should have started earlier, it was quite a hot day, the temperature was in the mid 90’s and the humidity was about 30%. While we were spending quality time at the top, we saw helicopters hover over an area of Griffith Park by the LA Zoo, when then saw smoke. There was a wild fire in the park, it didn’t appear to be that big and it was far enough away, so when we were hiking down we got a better look. Harry’s family where kind of excited as in Austria, SoCal is known for its wildfires and here they had it happening right in front of them. But as the wildfire started to flare up more we decided to head back down and 1 1/2 hours later we ended up at the car. During our way down Daisy got really tired and needed way more rest stops than the previous times on this same hike. We contributed that mostly to the heat and humidity. During the hike Harry’s nephew, Leonhard, managed to pet Daisy several times, which is quite amazing, considering the experiences we have with our dog and kids. Guess we gave her enough time to get used to his family and by taking a long hike together she has accepted them as part of the pack and therefore they’re all okay.

Due to the wildfire we couldn’t take the same road back to the hotel and had to make a little detour... We then dropped my family off at the hotel to freshen up and rest a little. About 1 1/2 hours later we picked them up and headed over to our place for a pasta dinner. And believe it or not Daisy let everyone pet her and she got lots of attention especially from Harry’s nephew... all in all it was really fun day.