Overjoyed....

With all of the June gloom happening lately, it was fate that the week leading up to the wedding was sunny and sunnier. The day before the wedding was so exciting, the girls (Sofia, Ava, Jenn, KC and I) met up for a mani/pedi date and coffee. Later that evening was the rehearsal. It was great meeting all of the family and friends on the other side as well as seeing relatives and Jennifer's friends that I had not seen in awhile. The rehearsal at Immaculata was easy breezy thanks to Jennifer's wedding coordinator who was flawless. Afterwards we had a wonderful dinner at Peohe's in Coronado.

The morning of the wedding, we woke up extra early and grabbed Starbucks and met up with Marnie so she could do our make-up. The girls loved it, especially Ava.

After that, we met the rest of the gang at the Hilton for hair and finishing touches. When we got to the hotel, the hair dressers were done with most of the bridesmaids, Jennifer was being worked on. She was breathtaking from the moment I saw her. Luckily the group is very laid back, so the mood inside the room was just fun. We were eating cheese balls from the Filipino bakery and when it was time to get going, it was just so easy. The photographer was doing the "getting ready" photos, and he asked Jenn to take a picture looking into the full-length mirror, when she saw herself, she was so overcome with emotion that she started to cry...she really was stunning.
The ceremony was perfect. Sofia and Ava were great coming down the aisle. Ram was very emotional watching Jenn come down the aisle. She was so statuesque and perfect. Ava was so lovey dovey during the ceremony. She kept kissing me throughout; it was so sweet. I was smiling the entire time, the only time I cried was during the offering to Mary. Afterwards was the usual picture taking then off to the reception just a few miles away at the Serra Museum.
It was a beautiful afternoon sitting on top of the world. At times it got pretty windy, but overall it was very pleasant, considering it was an outside venue. The wedding party was introduced; I was so happy to be walking out with my girls. Jenn and Ram's first dance was to Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed." Afterwards was the toast. Alf, Ram's best friend, did a great job. I was a bit nervous especially when Alf's last line of his speech was EXACTLY what I planned for my last line...how funny is that?!!! The line was "To love, laughter and happily ever after." Ironically, the day before Michael Jackson died, we were at Jenn & Ram's place and I was admiring Ram's collection of records and MJ's Thriller was at the top of the pile. So when we found out about his death, Jenn called the DJ right away to make sure he brought a bunch of MJ to play. During dinner one of the first songs he played was "Human Nature" and all through the night we danced to all of the best MJ songs. Speaking of music, it was so fun when Jennifer did her bouquet toss to "Single Ladies"...she was so cute doing the dance...and she and my Dad choreographed a wonderful Father/Daughter dance to "Just the way you are" (one of my Mom's favorite songs). We laughed a lot, cried a bit, and danced the night away. Jenn was so happy. On the program it said that at 9:50pm there was a surprise. It was a perfect end to the evening...fireworks from Sea World and in the background was Journey's "Don't stop believing" It was a great moment. And the last song of the evening was Prince's "Take me with you"....After listing all of these songs, I am totally motivated to make a soundtrack from her special day.


The next day this was the announcement that appeared in the paper. Monday: Honeymoon...their itinerary includes London, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Naples/Capri, Rome, Florence, Nice. Nice!