Saturday, July 27, 2002
Pre-breakfast with Patrick at Bruegger's Bagels. Watched Tina and Champagne and other women in the bridal party get their hair done by Basil. We see the Pride Parade from Corinna's place. Domenica picks us up at Rite Aid. champagne and Anthony's wedding at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (2540 San Diego Av). The wedding is short and simple—my favorite kind. Afterwards, everyone took photos in the courtyard to the side of the church. Then we drove to the reception at Tina's aunt's house on Overlake Drive. The aunt is a successful businesswoman, and her "house" is huge—a mansion. A black grand piano sits in a comfortable and tastefully decorated living room with panoramic views of the city. Another room with similar views has a karaoke setup with a dance floor and a large kitchen. Another two rooms are for their son—he has his own mini pool table and video game station and big screen TV. The ostentation ended with the richness of the objects, however—her aunt's family were very gracious, welcoming, and humble, and that impressed me more than the house itself. Guests snacked on appetizers and drinks by the pool and strolled the hillside gardens while awaiting the sit-down tennis court buffet dinner for perhaps 300 or 400. Patrick and I sat with Tina Luu, Domenica Genovese, Tammy Haughey, Marilyn Golden, Dwayne Grishcow and two others I can't remember now. The catering staff we noticed was small but extremely dedicated—we were taken with their desire to accommodate every small request. As far as we could tell, they performed impeccably. Patrick had the hots for one of the catering staff—a young man with blond curls who looked like a 1970's porn star. After the dinner, we danced on the deck to DJ Ratty, who spins at a San Diego nightclub called Bar Dynamite. The champagne toast and cake cutting was held in the small hillside garden. Tina made the three-tiered cake. The bottom layer was an opera style cake called Chocolate Millennium—sponge cake layered with a chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache. The second layer was strawberry chiffon cake with whipped cream. Both cakes were covered with white chocolate and shavings. The top tier was the croquembouche, a tower of profiteroles dipped in caramel and arranged together in a cone shape. Profiteroles also surrounded the bottom tier. She decorated the cake with flowers from the bouquets. Later we retired to the son's game room to sing along with karaoke discs.