OUTpouring of Love.

Photo by Brian Kemm

Remember when I mentioned this yesterday? It's totally true.

Overwhelmingly so.

Not only did our inboxes flood with emails from our wonderful friends, but a couple of blog posts showed up. All of this love has really taken our collective breath away, and in some instances, made us tear up.

Our friend Sarah Flynn posted this bit of lovely on her Tumblr (flynnwaslike.tumblr.com), which made our heart swell like a puffer fish.

And the bride's Uncle Mitch put this guy on his food blog (tastytravails.blogspot.com). Talk about breaking the curmudgeon down! He'll try to fool you, but he's really a big softy.

We're blown away guys. For real. No words.

And We're Off!

As of this morning, the week begins. You may notice this post will go up in the 5 o'clock hour. AM.

Those that know me know that I don't see this hour. At least not in the morning. A late night, sure... But yeah, my only explanation is an inability to sleep because I'm too damn excited.

Like a kid before Christmas. Except I know what the present is, which makes me only more excited.

I've got plenty of time to sleep, but now is the time to get another shot at this. And do it right this time.

I can't even explain how right this feels. Maybe I can get close by posing a question Rebecca and I have both been asked repeatedly for the past month:

"Are you nervous?" Pff! Are you effing kidding? I'm psyched!

Taken a few months into this thing.

Good talk, see you out there.

The Groom

I think this is a really great time to talk about this guy:


In 2.2 weeks, I will have the honor of getting married to this mook. There are so many reasons why this is awesome. Let me tell you what some of them are.


He's really good at lawn games.


He's one of the funniest people I know - and also one of the kindest. He takes excellent care of me when I am sick. Also when I am grumpy. Also when I am neither sick nor grumpy. And sometimes he comes up behind me while I'm making dinner and says something so funny that I have to sit down on the floor for a few minutes to recover.


My dad LOVED him. This is criteria not to be taken lightly. While incredibly loving and overwhelmingly supportive, my father was not a man who just ran around handing out compliments like handshakes. If Marc Orchant said he loved you, it meant he would walk over hot coals for you. EAT hot coals for you, maybe - if for some reason that was actually something anyone would ever have to do for someone else. My dad also liked to mention that I am prone to hyperbole.


He loves his brothers.


He really loves his brothers.


He really, REALLY loves his brothers.


The man makes one hell of a cocktail. He also writes what I will hyperbolically call the greatest birthday card messages of all time.


He loves funk music, 80's action movies, 80's action heroes with mustaches, thrift store t-shirts, tortellini en brodo, swimming in the ocean, Buffalo Trace bourbon, key lime pie, having the books organized on the bookshelf and most happily and luckily me. This guy, in all his sweet silliness loves me.


I could not be more excited. Because, as it happens, I love him.

Holy Crap!

Guys! Did you notice, August is here! How and when did that happen?

We spend the past weekend in Cape Cod, closing out some final details for the wedding. But don't worry, they were all fun.

Lawn games were purchased. And yeesh, ladderball is so on! That game was fun enough that we didn't play bocce one time. It's serious, dudes.

Interesting tidbit: I was told by my aunt, who lives in Florida, that this game is affectionately known as Redneck Horseshoes. However, when I did a Google search for such term, I was met with this rather disturbing photo:

So clearly there are some terminology discrepancies regarding this game. Toilet seat horseshoes, however, hmm...

Oh, by the way, I also came up with Testicle Toss as another term for ladderball. Adorable.

And now, back to this blog post.

Details were finalized. By that we mean we bought some stuff. Should I tell you what it was? It's not particularly exciting, but all part of the day, so I'll hold off.

Wine was imbibed. For real. We had a family wine tasting, several of each white, sparkling and red. I think we decided on quality stuff, but we were pretty buzzed by the end of it and ladderball was calling our names, so hopefully they were wise decisions.

Finally, we met with the Officiant. And discussed the ceremony. Which is gonna be amazeballs. And pretty quick, we promise. No one wants to sit through an hour-long thing, let's get to the food and booze already, #amiright?

Oh, and speaking of food. Here's a hint.

Word.

Pickle Poll.

UPDATE:

The Pickle Poll closed. And the winner is...

Spicy Sour runs away with it. 14 votes. Good thing, because they'll be making an appearance at the shindig.

Second place, and the recipient of a last minute rash of votes, was the Half Sour. 8 votes, but not good enough, little guy.

Full Sour takes third with a decent 4 votes.

Bread and Butter (really guys?) takes home 2 votes.

And in a surprising twist, New Pickle takes home just 1. I happen to agree, I think New Pickles are gross, and I'll eat almost anything.

Thanks for voting in our most popular poll to date. There's a new one up now, but all the polls with serious questions (if they can even be called that) are pretty much out of the way.

We're only a few days away from the close of the pickle poll and I felt the need to say something.

Currently, this poll is off the charts with responses. About a third of people that have RSVP'ed for this wedding have posted an opinion on the matter. Which means one of two things:

a. Some of you freaks are voting twice.
b. You freaks really love pickles.

Either way, word. There will be pickles. From NYC. We'll be bringing our favorites with us and eating more pickles than is recommended or, frankly, healthy. One trip on this pickle filled merry-go-round, that's what I say! Actually, a pickled merry-go-round sounds amazing. Does anyone have one? No? We'll just settle for this:

Anyway, if you haven't voted on this one, do it now, only a few days remain. Not as though we trust you. After all, you all decided that I couldn't beat up an infant. Ridiculous.

Meet the Officiant

When Sean and I decided that we were really going to do this thing, we knew we needed someone to make it official. We had a few criteria:

• This person needed to be very special to us.
  
• This person needed to know a little bit about Jewish weddings.
• This person needed to be able to make jokes during very important times while also remaining disarmingly tender.
• This person needed to be able to string a sentence together, for God's sake.
• This person needed to look like a total badass doing it.
  

I'm happy to say, we knew just who to turn to:


This is Elizabeth A. Manchester, known frequently as Beth, Uncle Bethy, Love Touch, BManch, Grandma Slice and to us, Dr. Booze. While Beth has only been in our lives for a short time, she's made an indelible mark.

She's been known to crack an inside joke here and there. She's been known to shout, "OOPS" when throwing an errant bocce ball. She's been known to bring excellent cured meats to dinner parties. She's been known to insist that we co-host a Seder. She's been known to move furniture while intoxicated. She's been known to turn her nose up at Veuve Clicquot. She's also been known to be quietly and immensely thoughtful when you least expect it, to only hand out compliments when she really means it and to always, ALWAYS, tell you exactly what she thinks.


Beth lives her life by the same code under which she plays bocce, "Follow your heart and bank the fuck out of everything." She is currently attending some school you've probably never heard of in Boston (Harvard?). She once attempted to climb into a KFC drive-thru window with me at 4am. That KFC was not open for business. She has a dog named Charles and whenever she sees another dog anywhere, of ANY breed, she always says, "Oh! That dog looks like Charles!" She loves to call the Gardner brothers by their first and last names. Sometimes she says things like, "My tasting menus do not pay for themselves!"


These are all things we love about her, things that have endeared her to us and made us friends. We think you're going to love her. We certainly do.

Flash Forward.

Imagine yourself one month from today.

You spend the day traveling.
Or hanging out on the beach.
Or antiquing.
Or sailing.
Or eating fried seafood.
Or chowder.
Or lobster rolls.
Or roaming the streets of P'Town.
Or combos of the above.

As that day winds to a close, you swing by 3 Edgewood Way.

Find yourself at a relaxed BBQ in the backyard.
Rehearsal dinner.

They'll be people there.
People you recognize.
People you don't.

Drinking.
Eating.
Listening to music.
Dressed casually.
Enjoying the late summer sun.

This continues into the evening.

You meet new people.
Chat with old friends.
Play some lawn games.
Eat too much.
Drink too much.
Drink too little.
Sit around on picnic blankets.

When it's all winding down, you go to wherever you're staying.
Think about what beach to hit in the morning.
Whether surfing is a good decision.
Or if you should just look for the best salt water taffy instead.

Get some rest.
Tomorrow night, it starts again.
Same thing all over, only this time, we're getting effing hitched.

See you then.

The Bride.

I've recently taken up photography again. I have a favorite subject.

My favorites are those where I can tell she loves me.

Seven Weeks...

And things are rolling right along. Some of you have discussed the details of the wedding with us. However, what many of you might not know is just how collaborative an event this is.

You know by now that Marcy Gallegos was the mastermind behind the invites.

But did you know that our friend Alex Bliss is baking the cake?

Or that Lauren Gardner (no relation, oddly, or is there?) is in charge of the photos? With some assistance from Jim Flood, no less.

Also, we're proud to announce that none other than Beth Manchester will be in charge of the officiating. This could be the beginning of a long, successful career as an officiant. Or it could just be a once off. Either way, it's gonna be sweetness.

Marc Balgavy and Erik Courson are masterminding a custom-made cornhole set. Marc has also expressed interest in honing his flower arranging skills. We'll be taking him up on this offer.

Dan Raphael, Sujan Hong-Raphael, Luke Tucker and Jennifer Suh are providing assistance with pickles and flowers, not to mention D&S have provided us with the ringbearers in the form of their offspring, Sam & Otis (see STD post for photographic evidence). Also, Luke will likely show us funny Werner Herzog videos during the lead-up.

And we're sure this won't be all the help that'll be provided by friends. There are many others that will be hanging during the week, assisting us with drinking, lawn and board games, going to the beach and listening to copious amounts of music.

Our friends rule.

*Photos by Sean. Except the one with him in it. Not sure who took that, someone in the Cape.

And We're Off!

Right. So there she is.

This little invite here has started some chatter. We're glad people like/love/are confused by them. We've heard that they are:

"The most unique wedding invite I've ever seen!" 

"Only you guys would announce your wedding from inside a pickle jar." 

"What?"

"Adorable!"

"This looks like a fake wedding." 

"So un-freaking-believably amazing!" 

Thanks. For all of it. Seriously.

Pickles and myself have been having chats lately about our outlook on things wedding related, which really reflect how we look at our lives. During a convo with a friend, Pickles summed it up nicely:

"I think that people feel like you're not allowed to have a sense of humor and get married at the same time. It's not a solemn occasion. Just because it's something to take seriously doesn't mean it shouldn't be more fun than anything ever has been."

Yep.

Also, shout out to Marcelo Gallegos again! Amazing work, my friend.

Poll Results.

So apparently no one believes that the groom can beat up a baby. Whatever.

Otis wins, by a relative landslide with 4 votes. His brother Sam comes in with a poor showing, tying the Pickle with 1 vote each. Henry with His Legs Tied Together pulled out a draw with the groom, sharing 2 votes each.

We'll see if your predictions come true at the wedding. Post-ceremony baby (and groom) fights are GO.

Summer.

It's official. This is the season.

Two months from now we'll be in the Cape.
A week after that, effing hitched.

I'm excited.
We're excited.
To see you.
To hang.
To dance.
To eat.
To drink.
Perhaps you're excited too.

We hope you are.

Future Wife.

I took this photo two summers ago. For a number of reasons, mostly me being a lazy jerk, I just got the roll developed. This was on it.

I can't believe I get to marry her.

Photo by Sean Gardner