Part 1 – Week before the wedding festivities…

First of all, planning a wedding in Southern California while living 3000 miles away sounds like quite a feat, but it really wasn’t…It was a tad more expensive primarily due to flights but overall not that bad. Plus, I have a rock star wife that was stupid organized and have family (new and existing) that pulled so much together so we didn’t have to worry about it…

All being said, we went to So Cal a full week early, not for planning purposes, but to hang with the family/friends as well as do the taping for the show…

We originally bought our tickets for the Tuesday before but had to change those up to Sat. instead. I had called Delta a few weeks prior to see if we could change and the lady said that we could fly same day confirmed for only a $75 upcharge…SWEET!!! We got killer deals on our tickets so a few more bucks to get our there three days earlier sounded great…So after our manicures and pedicures (did I say that out loud) we had in Atlanta we started calling Delta to see if they had seats available…This is where the story gets somewhat lame…Apparently, when talking with the lady a few weeks prior, I didn’t catch that we could fly only same day as our ticket…Not a few days earlier…This deserve a big giant boo bears…So dumb Burns…Needless to say, we had to totally rebook our tickets…That certainly wasn’t cheap but it had to be done since we had a full day scheduled for Monday and Tuesday…Once again, boo bears…

Nonetheless, we arrived into LA safely…As usual, the weather was perfect and seeing the parentals, Shan and the dogs is always awesome…We pretty much just chilled through the weekend…We did however eat Del Taco and In N Out a few times…Please move to the ATL guys…Amanda and I alone with the help of Mac will keep you in business…I promise…

Monday began the taping, which I get more into later as well as the arrival of Mac and wee little rye rye…

Tuesday was a lot of taping for the show and the beginning of our rehearsals…This was also the time that we told some of our wedding party that they were going to be in the dance…Long day…Ended at Sushi where my dad must have dropped a his 401 (k) buying everyone in the place some raw fish and Sake…Great night…

Wednesday was more taping and then it was on…Brownman arrived from his first ever leave the Eastern time zone flight from the ATL. The boys, consisting of wee little rye rye, Robby, Shags, Mac, Brownman and myself headed downtown HB…We then hooked up with my buddy Mike and his wife who has just arrived from Southern Louisiana. Rob introduced my buddies to “Rainbows” at Aloha Grill where we proceeded to drink more than one. In fact, Brownman and Mac had several. My bro Dave showed up from Vegas and met us there and then Amanda, her mom, Amanda’s sis and Schumann showed up…The party was getting expensive so we made the decision this show need to be taken back to the Burnsarosa…

This is why I love home…Within an hour, we had over 30 people at the house having a great time BBQing out…No plans, it just happened…

During the deal, Rob and my mom pulled out the 1998 High School Grad video of Rob, Shags, Blainer and I doing Madonna’s Vogue…Wow is all I have to say…Everyone was on the floor laughing at this debacle…Great stuff though…

Thursday brought some actual wedding stuff. Amanda and I went down to the court house to make things almost more official and got our wedding license. For 61 bucks, we were in...From there, a few of the boys headed to Mens Warehouse to get our tuxes. After that, my small group homies (Jeremy, Jim and Charlie) showed up and we were off again. A huge mob of us headed to downtown HB and rented beach cruisers. From there it was off to Newport. This turned out to be one of the funnest parts of the week. We ended up at Sharkeez in Newport and met a few more peeps there and had a blast. When Amanda and I got engaged, this was one of the first things we planned. A lot of our friends were somewhat skeptical of the whole deal because they thought that it was going to be Tour de So Cal…We didn’t let them down…

After a few hours in Newport, we headed back to HB and met another huge mob of folks at Freds. We must have had 80 people in our group there…Another buddy of mine from the ATL was in town for the wedding and he was having his B-Day celebration there as well. Great freakin’ time is all I have to say…It was such a diverse group of people that was have an awesome time. We took it deep that night…A few romances were started that night which I won’t get into…

So, that’s five cent tour of the week prior to the wedding…Here’s several pics to enjoy…

Next post…Friday’s Rehearsal Drama (kind of) and Dinner

Sushi-san!

Slurricanes with the homeboys...Lil' Mike with his Bride and his Gene Simmons tongue

Burnsarosa Backyard BBQing...
Everybody in the living room watching Jeremy, Rob, Shags and I making fools of ourselves from Grad Night 98'...
61 bucks for a piece of paper saying we can be married in the great state of California...
Sharkeez - Newport Beach...
The Ladies at Freds after the bike ride...

I'll get all the pics up soon to a public gallery...