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Halloween Beach Wedding Part 4: Traditions and Getting Ready

Posted on December 1st, 2010 by Derek. 1 Comment

Derek
Wedding Date: October 16, 2010
Bio: I’m a former actor/singer turned Baker from San Francisco. I’m an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, While I was living and studying in NYC In 2005 I met the love of my life randomly through an accidental myspace mishap. Now we live in Las Vegas, NV

The Coin

After the chaos that had been setting up and my emotional breakdown I was raw, but getting ready ended up being the fun that it should have been. My crew snacked on leftover cupcakes from the bachelor party and listened to ridiculous pop music (I cant remember who by but the lyrics were raunchy). My experience definitely wasn’t one of more relaxed prewedding stories, I ran all over the hotel making sure various things were getting done, which again in hindsight was silly. Still, it was nice to have a slightly less stressful period of time before things kicked off. One of the more awesome moments came when my cousin Michelle gave me two coins, one was a dime for Joey to put in his shoe (a coin in your shoe on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck), the other was a coin that was my great grandmothers and had been worn by many Noel Family Brides in their shoes. It was the most incredible something old, and I was deeply moved by the gesture.

My Wedding Traditions

Something Old: The aforementioned coin

Something New: My Neon Orange Chuck Taylor All Star Converse

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Halloween Beach Wedding Part 3: Setting Up, Wedding Gift and My Wedding Breakdown

Posted on November 23rd, 2010 by Derek. 3 Comments

Derek
Wedding Date: October 16, 2010
Bio: I’m a former actor/singer turned Baker from San Francisco. I’m an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, While I was living and studying in NYC In 2005 I met the love of my life randomly through an accidental myspace mishap. Now we live in Las Vegas, NV

So me and my crew woke up (stupidly) early on Sunday morning and helped load up the cars with all of the decorations and flowers for the reception site and headed over to hall to set up. Joey and I were still doing the whole “I cant see you till you walk down the aisle thing” so he and his crew slept in late. I did however drop by their room to drop of my wedding gift for Joey.

When Joey and I first started courting each other (not even dating) we did as so many socially awkward people do, through mix tapes. My first mix for Joey was actually a concept album with a back story that flowed from song to song, and I called it “Songs for My Socialite”. Throughout our relationship Ive released sequels on various milestones, but it had been awhile since I had done one. Since Joey and I had our eyes on frugality we made a no wedding gifts to each other rule, unless it didn’t cost us anything to make. So I suprised Joey with “Songs for My Socialite Spouse”, which featured covers of songs about weddings, autumn, New York, and general lovey dovey stuff. I also designed cover art which featured two mummies cuddling.

As I was leaving for the reception hall to set up one of my in-laws stopped me in the hallway to say “You know its supposed to rain today…”. I actually did know, as you can see in my past recaps everybody kind of knew but the forecast predicted no rain till late that evening. So I put on my bravery shorts and pressed on. FYI Readers, That sentence could be considered foreshadowing…

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Halloween Beach Wedding Part 2: Taco Party Rehearsal Dinner and Bachelor Parties

Posted on November 18th, 2010 by Derek. 4 Comments

Derek
Wedding Date: October 16, 2010
Bio: I’m a former actor/singer turned Baker from San Francisco. I’m an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, While I was living and studying in NYC In 2005 I met the love of my life randomly through an accidental myspace mishap. Now we live in Las Vegas, NV

Friends and Family around the Fire Pit (Photo by Ashley Janne Photography)

After the rehearsal everybody went back to their rooms and threw on their warmest duds and we headed over to the hotel’s pool and barbecue area which we had rented out for the evening. It was forecast to rain but we got lucky and there was merely a light mist but we had plenty of blankets and a fire pit on hand for those who were chilly. My cousin Michelle, her wife Jennifer (the same ladies who played a large roll in throwing our Vintage Wedding Shower) and my dad had prepared an awesome Mexican taco bar, with great beer and badass margaritas.

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Halloween Beach Wedding Part 1: Getting There, Rain and Rehearsal

Posted on November 10th, 2010 by Derek. 2 Comments

Derek
Wedding Date: October 16, 2010
Bio: I’m a former actor/singer turned Baker from San Francisco. I’m an alumni of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, While I was living and studying in NYC In 2005 I met the love of my life randomly through an accidental myspace mishap. Now we live in Las Vegas, NV

Takin control like a PRO at Rehearsal... or a stressed crazy person. Its a fine line. (Photo by Brooke Jensen)

So it had originally been the plan to do a big caravan type situation to drive down to California but the variety of problems that arose from trying to make that happen were to say the least, epic. So Joey and I ended up driving down in a separate cars with my parents. This was actually kind of nice because it meant I got to have a little bit of bonding time with my mom on the drive down. Also, Joey and I had been planning on spending one night apart before our wedding and this way way we would actually have 3 apart, which means all the more swoony and romantic we would be when finally were united. This was actually a bad idea, because as the weekend went on and things got more stressful, we didn’t have each other for direct support line unless it was by phone. So friends out there in blog world… don’t do that. Haha.

You may be asking yourself what was so stressful, well there were a number (a large number) of various issues that arose that weekend, all of which in hindsight were easily solvable and unimportant, except for one which was weighing heavily on everybody (except Joey, that cool cucumber). The Weather. This entire weekend was planned outside, and up to that weekend I had been sort of nonchalant about rain. I actually love the rain, and prefer an overcast day to a sunny one. I kept saying that if it rained we’d all use umbrellas, and we’d still have a great time. But when faced with the actual prospect of it on multiple occasions, with low sleep and blood sugar levels, it ended up being a major issue. However I saved my big rain freak out for later (stay tuned!)

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