Wedding #2

The Marraige of Josh Herms and Ashley Morrow

So it was back to San Diego for the last of my roommates to pledge holy matrimony unto a lucky boy. The bachelorette party included mud baths (fun: 10, health benefits: 0) and cowboy karaoke with some suspicious characters (fun: 10, health benefits: -8) followed by some quality late night catching-up with Erin, the only other person who goes to as many weddings as we do. Friday meant i finally got my requisite California burrito and was officially introduced to my new BFF, Lizzie Alexander. She is very cute and very small ("Like a tiny Nerf football with a bobble head" according to Josh) and pink and soft. i actually held her for like 3 whole minutes before she started to cry! it's a record! Lizzie likes flying cross-country, hanging out naked on the coffee table, and dancing with David. In her spare time, she conducts symphonies.
At the wedding rehearsal, i learned how to stand on a sticker and hold imaginary flowers, then it was off to the Harbor House for delicious steak whilst baby ducks floated around outside and Mark the waiter-gunning-for-an-Oscar worked the room. Back to Poway for reruns of 'So You Think You Can Dance' with Whit and Winter and sleeping in a Jewish bunkbed. Good times.
Saturday proved that what can go wrong for a bride, will. But it also proved that when you have a bridal party full of pros, you can accomplish anything. There was a minor emergency with the centerpieces, and whoever decided padded tables was a good idea needs to have their fingers chewed off by a pack of rabid yorkies. Nevertheless, we made it work, and nearly got Whit's car chopped in half by a train-track guard thingy in the process. In getting ready for our close-up, Erin found someone else's eyelash in her eye and i ate a whole box of Cheezits.
Then it was ceremony time! We walked down the aisle to Joe Cocker's "Help From My Friends", and Ash and her cowboy-booted dad coming down the aisle made Herms, and then everyone else, pretty teary. Pastor Storrer told it like it is and Molly Jenson and Greg Laswell offered a beautiful, new-ish rendition of 'Amazing Grace' that seemed like they made up on the spot. (it must be nice to have a bunch of professional musicians as buds) It was a very perfect ceremony. Tears all around.
The reception featured my first DRB performance in years, which nearly brought more tears. Ashley performed a beautiful hula for her families (more tears) and i got to eat twice-baked potatos. A hilarious 'mockumentary' reminded everyone (not that we needed it) just how much we adore Ash and Herms and how much they adore each other. FANTASTIC cake and spiffy dancing, especially by Deven Carter, marked the rest of the evening, until we finally bid goodbye to the happy couple and headed back to Poway.
We said goodnight to Lizzie and her fan club and hopped in the spa til 3am, then got up at 6 in order to meet Rachel and Jason2 at Mission Bay for some oceanic wakeboarding. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. We had MUCHO fun! Winter and i abstained from actually boarding, but we rocked the flag and decided we could totally open our own wakeboarding school, based solely on our ability to grade the performances of others. i learned that i've been eating wax all my life and will heretofore buy my apples out of the organic bin (thanks Rach!) i also learned alot about the liver. It was a momentous day because, folks, i got my hair into a ponytail! it wasn't pretty, it wasn't long, but it was a ponytail! (and no, i'm not going bald, that's bedhead.) Breakfast was a godsend, followed by an inspirational-albeit-depressing trip to West Elm with J and Winter and a pick-a-nick on campus with the Kanes, Potter, Friberg and other people with no first names. i also met a dog named Fletcher!
So that was the weekend. Thanks to Herms and Ash for throwing such a great party and giving us a reason to come down, Whit and TanTan and the Kanes for housing us as usual, Rach and J2 for the aquatic delights, Dave for the Davidy and Winter and J1 for Niemyness.