I agree with Bob, the wedding season has begun. We spent this past weekend celebrating the marriage of Matt and Amanda, two very awesome people that are perfect for each other.

To begin, we went out to dinner Thursday night to Barcelona for some tapas. Now, we had reservations at 9:00pm but did not get seated until 9:45. Okay, I guess I could understand, it was pretty hoppin’ that night. Once we were seated, though, no one attended to us for 20 minutes. That sucked. Finally, Bob flagged down someone and we finally got our orders in. At least the food came out quickly, I guess that’s a plus. But then we had to wait FOREVER for the check. Not so good. It was great food but such terrible service.

Friday night was the rehearsal. It went off without a hitch. Everyone knew what was going on, people knew where to sit, stand, etc. We were all on the ball. Even the ringbearer and flower girl nailed it. Now, this is how cool Matt and Amanda are: they had their rehearsal dinner at Growlers! That is so the perfect place for them. They both are laid-backed, down-to-earth, unpretentious and it doesn’t hurt that they both enjoy beer. After good food, good beer, good company and Michael Jackson jokes, we all went our separate ways. The boys headed over to Gameday for darts, shuffleboard, and drinks, while I went and picked up a garter for Amanda. I even got to spend some girl time with the bride and bridesmaids and enjoyed a spa treatment:

Saturday was one busy, long day. Bob started his groomsman duties at 9 AM while I ran a couple of last minute errands for the wedding. I had to stop and get a Slurpee because it was:

Yep, you read that right, it got up to 102 degrees that day AND they were taking pictures at Forest Park. At least the wedding was indoors, though. Matt and Amanda got married at Florissant Presbyterian, where we got married and I thought I would tear up, but I managed to not ruin my makeup. Phew!

As far as the ceremony itself was concerned, it was a typical non-Catholic affair. One thing we hadn’t seen before was a sand ceremony, where Matt and Amanda combine vials of sand instead of a unity candle. Awesome! In the end, the wedding produced what all weddings produce: a happy and relieved couple:

Next, was picture time! The wedding party piled onto the limo-bus (including significant others, because Matt and Amanda are just that cool) so I came along to take some pictures of the wedding party at Forest Park.

Even the significant others got in on the picture action:

I took some awesome pictures if I do say so myself, and if you want a copy, it won’t cost you a penny.

We headed back onto the bus to get out of the heat, and motored on to Wash U for more pics, and then back to the reception. The wedding party was introduced by Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night”, wearing their sunglasses, of course. Toasts were given by Amanda’s dad (heartfelt and emotional), Andrew (sincere, yet funny — he mentioned Matt’s swimming adventure in Camden Cove), and Lauren (sweet and emotional, yet still humorous, mentioning Amanda’s lazy eye). Once the toasts, cake cutting, and dinner were out of the way, then the party begun:

Matt and Amanda even extended the reception an extra half hour in order to keep the good times rolling. And to roll it even further, a bunch of us headed to Trainwreck for a nightcap!

Naturally, the bride and groom found their way onto the stage:

Finally, Trainwreck kicked us all out, and we headed home. Weary, happy, and partied out.

To Matt and Amanda, thanks for the awesome party! May each day be more fun than the last.

If you want to see more of pictures, click here.

It’s wedding season! Last weekend, Ode (a former coworker at AssistGuide) and Adrienne got married at the Botanical Gardens. We were concerned that it was going to be super hot, and while it was warm, our tolerance for such discomfort was enhanced due to the occasion at hand.

Ode and Adrienne are a pretty casual, fun-loving couple, and that could not be more evident by the choice of the recessional music: The Theme From Rocky.

The reception was pretty rockin’ too.

From one old AssistGuider to another, Ode, Congrats!

Click here to see all the pictures

Grime: Rolling in dead things.
Punishment: 15 minute bath.
Rehabilitated (y/n): That would probably be a no.

SUCH A HOT DAY! MUST HAVE SUMMER DISHES!

Appetizer: Annie’s Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips. OMG! So unbelievably good! You guys have to make this appetizer/dessert. Hell, you don’t even have to make the salsa if you don’t want to, the cinnamon chips are amazing by itself! It is a PERFECT summertime dish! I used Fuji apples and raspberry preserves. Reviews said that you can cut the sugar in half if you want, I may do that next time, just to cut some calories. It does come out very juicy, so be careful of that.

Entree: Chili Rubbed Pork Chops with Corn Salsa. Grilled meats and corn, perfect for any summer day. The pork chops were full of flavor and tender, the juices smooshed out when you cut into it. And when you mix in the corn salsa, MWAH! That is one delicious pork chop. Oh, by the way, you can eat the corn salsa on its own too.

Side Dishes: Bacon and Cheddar Mashed Potatoes and Busted Bruschetta Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing. You really cannot go wrong with bacon and cheddar in mashed potatoes. I have nothing negative to say about that. It was a good mashed potato recipe. Regarding the Bruschetta Salad: “That is one tasty, weird little salad.” – Bob. That pretty much sums that dish up. Way to go Bob.

Dessert: Coconut Cupcakes with Lime Buttercream Frosting. “Put the lime in the coconut, you drank them both up.” I’m hoping that’s going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day (I’m evil). The cupcake was a bit dense and unremarkable but the frosting was fantastic. It had that sweet and tart flavor combination that I love, hence why I love key lime pie. Mmm, key lime pie.

OK, so I’ve got a policy about the internet. I don’t have time to look at everything that rolls across my feed reader or the twitter, so a lot of stuff gets ignored. But if something comes across 5 or 6 or a billion times, sooner or later, it’ll get clicked on. Auto-Tune The News is one of those things. I saw it a billion times, and each time I saw it, I thought I understood the joke. So, on the billionth and first time today, I clicked on it, and found out that the whole time, the joke was on me.

Auto-Tune The News is easily the most brilliant new thing I’ve seen on the internet since The Show by Ze Frank. Although only five episodes in, ATTN (which cleverly acronyms into ATTENTION!) is hilarious, subversive genius.

Here is the episode that removed the scales from my eyes:

It’s the smooeooeoooeooke! The smoooooeooooeooooke!