Wedding

Sunday, September 7
Today we awoke and had our usual breakfast that was included in our stay. It had everything from a cereal stand to an made-to-order omelette station. The only problem with breakfast was the annoying birds that were hovering like vultures for scraps. And, when you weren’t looking, the birds would be helping themselves to the peanut butter bowl! Once I saw this, no more peanut butter for me! We fiished breakfast and headed over to the bar for the free wireless internet to check some email and publish a few of our blogs. Not long after, the hotel staff came looking for us as we requested an upgrade to a sunset bungalow for the remaining 4 nights we were here. It was worth it too; a little more private and when you snorkeled from your deck the coral reef dropped off right there! The water was so blue and the fish and coral were incredible!

Dinner at Le Sud (French cuisine).

Saturday, September 6

Today was a day of relaxation. We laid around the infinity edge pool and both proceeded to get a little too much sun. Good thing we both had tans before arriving here otherwise, in my case, we be burnt and sporting some nice lobster tans! Not cool. Our overwater bungalow that we are staying in is very cool! It’s pretty much 2 rooms: a decent sized bathroom and a bedroom/living area. All the wood trim and accents are Teak wood and it is very neat. In the center of the room under the coffee table is a glass section in the floor that we could view the aquatic life through at any time. Plus, there is a deck off the back with a smaller side deck to swim/snorkel from. Later today Katherine sunbathed some more from our deck and I snorkeled around exploring the coral reefs and the fish that were living below each bungalow. Wow…there are so many types of fish and of all different colors! About an hour later and it was time to get ready for the Polynesian dinner and dance show that the resort was putting on. Dinner tonight was a seafood buffet and they even had tuna sashimi. The Polynesian dancing show was ok and even had some pretty young kids as part of the show. They were very good; one drummer and two little girl dancers.

Friday, September 5…

(Katherine blogging again)

We took the high-speed Catamaran from Tahiti to Moorea. Unlike the regular ferry to Moorea, this boat can venture from pier to pier in 30 minutes where the regular ferry takes 1 hr for the same trip! Learning our lesson from the ultra-expensive Sheraton Tahiti, we decided to venture into the town of Maharepa for some shopping and a visit to the local Supermarche for some snacks and other supplies like bottled water and beer. We hit up Maria@Tapas for dinner at the suggestion of Frommers and were not disappointed. Although we were the first to arrive we were pretty early as we wanted to catch their happy hour (Thursday and Friday from 6-7). They had one of our favorite beers, discovered on our trip to Paris: Hoegaarden. Bob quickly made a friend in one of the (obviously female) outdoor cats belonging to the establishment…a beautiful petite strawberry blond with eyes to match…he was smitten immediately. We ordered some nachos and salsa which our host obviously made herself upon order and proceeded to get the shrimp fajitas for me and the shrimp and tuna in coconut curry sauce for Bob. Both were excellent. More guests started pouring in and we enjoyed our meal overhearing our fellow Americans speak of their various and sundry journeys and lives. (BORING!) Miss kitty got fed at least a half dozen shrimp, removed of their curry and coco sauce by her kind suitor. She ate her fill and then wandered off to see what the other gents might be offering but soon returned to our table and the man of her dreams.
Later after dinner the owner personally gave us a ride back to our hotel, the Moorea Pearl Resort, and we got the chance to talk to her about life on Moorea and such. She was very interesting and gave us a ton of information and was extremely friendly. Meeting these kind of people on trips is great because you get more than just the tourist view of things. We must have chatted for 15 minutes in her car while sitting at the resort. Good meal, good friends, and now time for good night!

Thursday, September 4…

This evening we went to the Belvedere Restaurant…OMG…about 2000 ft above the Tahiti with amazing views of the city below and Moorea across the bay, what an incredible and kinda scary drive up! Honestly after you pass the last parking lot for bikers and runners the path literally becomes what you see inmost major cities as the bike/walk/blade path in parks! Two vehicles cannot pass at the same time, one of them needs to pull to the side (often having to find a spot where this is possible) in order to let the other one pass! The view at the top was definitely worth it, my only regret is all of the cloud cover over Moorea that somewhat obscured the sunset. The food was decent and the price included that harrowing trip to the top (and a liter of wine!), all in all a good deal (5800CFP/ $67).

Leaving the Belvedere, we were able to get the driver (who spoke no English but translated by the bartendar) to drop us off at the Roulettes. Here it was a quick walk to a great micro-brewery called Les 3 Brasseurs. They brewed 4 different beers on site: a lager, an amber, a blanche (wheat), and a cherry beer. Unfortunately they were out of the cherry beer and we did not get a chance to try it. However, the blanche beer was very good (nd we like our Hefeweizen beers!) About one beer in for the both of us and we notice a Tahitian lady at the table next to us who has had “quite” a bit to drink and starts to entice a couple other female patrons into an argument. She is just loud and obnoxious and her friends have to subdue her and all eventually move to another table on the other side of the bar. Too much excitement for us as we find a cab who is willing to take us back to our hotel for a pretty cheap price of 1500CFP (about $20) where the normal price is usually 2500CFP.

Time for bed, catch you in the morning.

Wednesday, September 3)

(Katherine still blogging)

We woke up at 7:30, showered, dressed and headed into town. Le Truck (basically a converted truck bed with seats and a cover that acts as the most common local bus) picks us up across the street from the hotel and takes us into town for 130CFP (about $2) each. Once in town we discover Papeete (Pa-pee-et-tay)…wonderful! All the sights and sounds, busy but still very small. We head first to a bank to change some American dollars for Francs then head to get some food. We stop at a small stand and get a water, ham and cheese Panini and a giant baguette for Bob that I’m pretty sure consisted of ground beef and barbecue sauce all for about $13…thank you Frommers and Lonely Planet books because if we’d eaten at the hotel the whole time we would have blown our entire budget in Tahiti in 3 nights…and probably would have been very disappointed (remember horrible Mojito…) We move on to a wonderful little Bikini shop called “Blue Glue” and the absolutely beautiful and friendly staff there. I pick up this gorgeous large bamboo “purse” for 6800CFP that turned out to be the purchase of the trip. This thing was beautiful and bullet proof…it was our shopping sack and “carry everything while still looking gorgeous” bag. We’re talking our camera, my purse, sunscreen, bottle of water, swimsuit wrap…seriously, this fit everything! We took it grocery shopping with us everywhere and it held a great portion of what we purchased without issue. Next we headed to the open air market. Just wonderful, all the fresh fruit and produce as well as flowers when you first walk in…reminded me quite a bit of Granville Island in Vancouver, BC. We stopped and purchased several gifts for the ladies back home in the US and Canada…some wonderful shell necklaces that were handcrafted there. We moved on to the other side and found some astonishing fresh fish…Swordfish steaks twice as large as what I pick up in AJ’s for 1000CFP or about $13…for the whole thing. We were both ruing the fact that we didn’t have a mini-kitchen in our room because we would have been cooking up some amazing fish dishes! There were all kinds of tuna as well as blue marlin and mahi mahi. We picked up some totally awesome bananas as well as a pineapple and headed across the street to a pharmacy to grab some bug spray (at this point I should have started just spraying Bob down with the stuff every 4 hours whether he thought he needed it or not as he soon became a human pin cushion of mosquito bites!).

Bob got a little frustrated here because he was hungry and everything was closed. He apparently missed the part where I told him that it looked as if everything closes between 5 – 6:30/7:00. I got very frustrated because the place that we had picked via the Frommer’s book had apparently disappeared…the Voodoo Bar Lounge. Of course with the lack of street signs and a very general map from the guidebook even this tiny little metropolis became an exercise in frustration! We eventually settled on the fact that indeed we were in the right place but the restaurant was gone…replaced by something I do not recall the name of now. We did happen upon a little find, I absolutely LOVED the décor and the bartender was friendly if a little effete. The Mango Café?…yes, spelled with the question mark. They had a happy hour starting at 5:30 which we took advantage of until nearly 7 when we decided we’d try to find one of the three restaurants we had picked as possible dinner choices. One happy hour drink in particular was made with the whites of a fresh egg. Bob’s been pretty adventurous and opted to try this drink, Pisco Sour. We ended up at Lou Pescadou…Italian and pizza. There was a steady line up of locals picking up at least 3 boxes a piece of the pizza and the staff was friendly and the food, excellent. The portion size was a little too much and there was a bit of a language/translation barrier, but all in all I would suggest it.

After we hit the Roulettes for an amazing Crepe…chocolate, apples, vanilla ice cream flambéed with an alcohol I don’t recall…really, really good! And, the people watching was great as well. These roulettes are all on the waterfront and there were choices for everyone, but predominantly Chinese type food.

Katherine’s Blog…(since Bob is still at the airport in our wedding and honeymoon story, I figure I’ll start with the honeymoon).

Tahiti Arrival
Tuesday, September 2

We arrive at about 10:00 pm and the transfer by Marama tours was very nice and got us to the Sheraton quickly and politely. Porter brought the bags to our room and we went to have a drink. Mojito…gross…not recommended! Bob had some local beer, Hinano, also pretty yucky. This totaled more than $25…after this we never bought anything other than an hour of internet in the hotel. Bedtime!

Monday, September 1…

We awoke to the knocking of our door for the room service breakfast we ordered the evening before. It was fabulous; orange & pineapple juice, coffee, pancakes, and an omelet. We had a few people stop by and pick up some things left behind from the day before. Our mid-afternoon flight was approaching and we had to re-pack everything in order to get it all home. The Little Nell shuttled us to the airport in a very nice black Audi. I actually wouldn’t mind owning that model!

Back in Phoenix, it’s still HOT! We get home give some loving to our 2 cats who probably by now think we went AWOL. Both are eager to see us! We head out for dinner at a local sushi bar and then back to the condo to pack for our honeymoon. Two weeks in French Polynesia – 3 night in Tahiti, 6 nights in Moorea, and 5 nights in Bora Bora. We can’t wait! Tell you more when we get there!

Sunday, August 31…

Katherine stayed with the girls and Gerry and I hung out until 2am-ish. Because we had a room at the Little Nell tonight, I had to pack all my stuff so that Katherine could stop by in the morning while all the guys were golfing. I didn’t want to get up early this morning but I wanted to do something with all my groomsmen the day of the wedding. I wasn’t really nervous, at least, that I could tell however I didn’t have much of an appetite.

So I trekked out the door at 7:45am and over to the North of Nell where I was meeting all the other guys. Twelve of us golfed this morning and we had a really good time. I think we had cracked our beers open by the second hole but I had no intention of having too many. I wanted to be very sober for my wedding. Word has it that you won’t remember much of the day as you are so busy with everything going on and talk with and thanking people for coming. We finished golf around 1:30pm. Regardless of which of the 3 teams we had today thinks they won, my 4-some won – it was MY day! Haha. And, the hockey stick putters were a hit. Not only did we have fun using them but other golfers were very interested in obtaining one as well and asked where to buy one. For those interested – http://www.hockeystickputters.com. They are becoming extremely popular so I wouldn’t be surprised if you find them in your local NHL team’s Pro Shop at the arena.

Despite my lack of appetite, I figured it would be best to eat something prior to my wedding. Gerry, Bill, and I grabbed a quick lunch at Zane’s. I like Zane’s – it’s a small little bar that is sub-street level and had great wings! I would recommend them for anyone who gets a chance to visit Aspen. It’s now 2:15pm and because Katherine and I had to move our clothes and things to the Little Nell, I need to find out what room we have and start getting dressed. All of our things are in different rooms – my tux in my mom’s room and the rest of our things are in the bridesmaids’ room. I’m starting to get a little frantic at this point. I needed my stuff to get ready and I just spoke with Katherine and she has her hair and make-up complete and also just finished writing her vows! Oh man, no pressure now since she is done and I still haven’t even started my vows yet. Crap! And to be honest, I began to panic a bit now (and curse) since I didn’t figure I would have the time to write my vow. I mean really, how was I going to accomplish writing my vows when I’m golfing 18 holes? The ceremony was at 6pm and the guys and I had to head over the gondola at 4:15pm to be at the top of Aspen Mountain around 5pm for pictures…AND…it was 2:40pm NOW! (More cursing.)

Scott helped me carry my stuff over to the Little Nell and went back to get his stuff. All the groomsmen were coming over to get dressed in my room and we were leaving from there. I was alone for the first time today. I decided to sit down and write my vow at this point. I fired up the laptop and went to Google to search for “traditional wedding vows”. There I found was I was looking for; some ideas about how to write vows. I remember laying in bed a week ago and Katherine and I discussing what to write for vows. She said, “Just speak to me from your heart and say what you feel.” Once I completed the first sentence and how I wanted it phrased, I was off and running. Everything just flowed. Of course I had a bit of editing to do but overall, I was happy with what I wrote.

Shower and shave time since its 3:30pm. The guys started arriving and once dressed walked to the gondola and proceeded up the mountain. For those who have never been on Aspen Mountain, it’s an 18 minute ride (2.5 miles) up the mountain to get to the top. During the ride is where I found out my brother doesn’t do well with heights! He wouldn’t look out the windows for anything and just stared at the jacket buttons on one of my other groomsmen. We arrived at the top of the mountain and…what a view, just as I had remembered it from February although a lot let snow! I asked a Scott and Ryan to run over to the Aspen Mountain Club and see if our photographer, Alan, was finished photographing the ladies. Katherine was still upstairs and outside so I stayed put at the gondola drop off. Once given the all clear, the guys and I went into the bar area and grabbed a quick cold beer for a last minute thirst quencher. Alan found us in the bar and we all headed out by the wedding deck for our 20 minute photo session.

Now complete, we went back inside to the bar as guests started arriving. I ask a few of my groomsmen to usher guests to their seats and hang out with my best man, Brent Selman, in the bar and finish our beers. As the last of our guests are seated Sheri, our incredible wedding coordinator (high recommendations all around for her), herds me and the guys to the front of the Club. There, I see my mom and Alan grabs us for a quick mother-son photo opp along with a couple of me just leaning against a wooden column looking out over the gondola. The bridesmaids arrive and everyone lines up to headed to the Wedding deck for the ceremony. Michael, our Officiant, and I walk first and the rest of the wedding party followed coming down the steps and taking their place respectively. Michael and I stand there and watch each pair come down and converse with some small chat. Basically, I tell him that as Katherine makes her way to the bottom of the stairs, I will go over and take her hand, turn, and bring her back where will be stand to be married in front of all our guests.

As the last couple, Carrie and Ryan were making their way down to the deck, in my peripheral vision I notice Katherine coming out and stopping behind a large evergreen tree to conceal her from view. “It’s time,” I think to myself and just at that second Katherine comes walking out from behind that tree and I see her for the first time. She looks unbelievable! I expected her to look good BUT honestly, she was radiant; just stunning! I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes. I fought hard to hold them back! The only thing I could think of at that moment was I had better not lose it since I still had vows to make it though! Katherine took her time and slowly walked to me on the wedding deck as our guests stood to admire and snap photos. Once our eyes met we were locked on one another. It was absolutely amazing! As my bride approached the last step I walked over to her, took her hand, told her see looked incredible, and we returned to Michael taking our place in front of him.

Our 20 minute ceremony included a Cherokee reading, a poem by George Eliot, our intentions for marriage, vows, exchange of rings, and the pouring of our Unity sand. We are pronounced “Husband & Wife” and I kiss my beautiful bride. We walk back towards the Club and stop to allow guests to head into the Club for drinks and hors d’ouerves. Alan does his thing for the next 30 minutes photographing Katherine and I with family and the wedding party. After a few last minute photos of her and I, we stroll hand in hand up to the Club for our formal introduction as a married couple. Let the PARTY begin!

Our master of ceremonies, Mike Leopold, did an awesome job at dinner keeping things moving and interesting with speeches from the wedding party, our families, and a few friends. From the time I arrived at the top of mountain, the day had just been perfect! Even during the ceremony there was a little bit of rain and then the sun beamed back down upon us. Honestly, the only worry I had was the weather and I’m so thankful that it held off during the ceremony. I don’t think you can ever predict the weather in the mountains but the day was great; despite the hour long shower we received earlier in the day around 2pm. Dinner was spectacular as we ate grilled Elk Loin and a crusted Ruby Trout. Dancing, cake cutting, and plenty of drinking ensued and everyone looked like they were really having a great time. The Little Nell was even so kind to allow everyone to continue dancing and having fun 30 minutes after our original gondola departure time of 10:30pm.

With the evening winding down, Sheri gathered up all of our bags, gifts, champagne flutes, etc that Katherine and I had and as one of the last people on the mountain, we jumped in a gondola for our 18 minute ride down the mountain. Wow…we finally had some time to ourselves, completely alone in the dark of night. We reflected on a lot of what happened during the ceremony, dinner, and reception. What an amazing day! It really couldn’t have been more perfect!

We partied with most of our guests a bit more in the bridesmaids’ condo before retiring for the remainder of the evening to our quiet “Town Suite” at the Little Nell.

Saturday, August 30…

Today was a day that people could explore the town of Aspen and do whatever they like; white-water rafting, a Jeep tour, mountain biking, paragliding, you name it. I elected to sleep in since I had quite a few beers last night. It was a good night of sleep for me. Katherine had to get up for a 9:30am manicure/pedicure appointment with her bride’s maids. I’m glad I didn’t have to get up that early. My day was filled with running small errands – getting the power cord to our laptop from Ryan, finding a card to go with my gift to Katherine, and go for a quick hike to some ice caves. Yep, an action packed day if you ask me! What seemed to be a simple day didn’t quite turn out that way.

First off, I was running into all our guests that I hadn’t seen yet. I stopped off for coffee and a muffin at Ink and ran into Gary Selman & Ken Abrams on the bench outside of the “Under Amour” store waiting for their wives to return from shopping. I had a 30 minute conversation with them and then onto Ryan’s room. Another 20 min conversation with him and Andrea and I was quickly falling behind my preset (albeit miniscule) schedule. Eventually I arrived back at our condo and my brother, his wife Nikki, and my 3 month old nephew Patrick stopped by. Patrick was hungry and Nikki was lunch! While they fed Patrick I decided to run out for a wedding card for Katherine. Big mistake. Figuring the easiest thing to do was to ask a shop vendor from one of the stores where I could find some greeting cards. They sent me across town to the market. I get to the market and look high and low for the card section; it’s non-existent. When I ask a clerk about cards she informs me that they do not sell them and send me up the street to Sandie’s Supply store. No problem, it’s 1.5 blocks away. Great…I’m here BUT…she’s is closed for the long holiday weekend (Labor Day). Son of a b—-! And, yet again, I’m asking a store vendor where to buy cards. They tell me to go to Carl’s Pharmacy which is clear across town in the opposite direction of where I am and where our condo is. So I hike once again across town to Carl’s. I find the card I want and head back. At this point, my brother is probably wondering where I have been. He notices I’m out of breath and goes to ask me when I cut him off and say, “It’s a long story.”

I decided to get things ready for the rehearsal dinner which was held at the Snowmass Club in Snowmass, CO (5 miles from Aspen). The rehearsal and dinner went off without a problem. Once we completed the rehearsal, Katherine and I gave our wedding party gifts for our appreciation of them standing up with us. The bridesmaids received all kinds of goodies: hand-made bath soaps, vanilla lotions, chocolate bubble bath, and much more all tissue-paper wrapped in a gift bag. I bought the guys these very cool hockey stick putters. All the guys (except me) got Toronto Maple Leaf putters and I off course bought a Detroit Red Wings putter. I told all the guys they had to bring their putter tomorrow to golf and use them. The one exception was my brother, who is not a regular golfer although a trooper today with us (and he did very well), whom I bought a PSP with the GTA Vice City game. Both he and I have been video game people since the invention of the Atari 2600. I actually still have one of those that I have pulled out a couple of times and play. They still go for pretty big money on eBay. Then we had dinner with the wedding party and family and finally the “Welcome Reception” for all guests to attend. What a great time! And, it was so nice to see and talk with all our guests before our big day!

Friday, August 29…
Pretty much all our guests arrived today. Later in the afternoon, we headed out for a hike at the ice caves. Neat place although there was no ice in the middle of August. We took pictures anyway and get back to our condo in a couple of hours. Shower time!

We ran into most although not all but managed to have dinner at Mezzaluna with Katherine’s side of the family; aunt Delia, aunt Joyce, cousin Shara and her husband Kevin, along with a few of the bride’s maids. Dinner was fabulous. It was now time for the girls to get together for an evening with Katherine. The guys and I gathered at Bentley’s Irish Pub to have a few pints (or so). I saw quite a few people that I had not yet run into on the street. With some 80’s hair-band music playing in the background, the cold beer flowed and good times were had by all. Don Dole and I proceeded to close the pub as they pushed us out the door at 2am. We walked back to Don’s place for yet another beer that I’m sure I didn’t need. It was now 3am and I needed to head back to the condo. Shortly after my arrival home, Katherine and her aunt Delia appeared in the courtyard where we had one last drink, chatted, and then called it a night.