The New Johnson's Wedding Weekend - February 21, 2009

Friday Night Dinner

The festivities began on Friday night with the out of town family joining us for some grub at Mom and Dad's (AKA The Old Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, hee hee). It was great to see Aunt Karen, her husband Mark and cousins Ryan and Kyle. Lynette graciously made us an awesome Spaghetti dinner. It was nice to get caught up on each other's lives along with the joking and laughing that always ensues when families get together. Learning about Ryan and Kyle's band (7 Horns 7 Eyes) was good fun, they are quite talented. We even watched one of the promo videos for the band and listened to a yet unpublished song that sounds amazing. Since Saturday was going to be a special day, we didn't stay up too late so off to slumberland we went.

The Wedding Day

The Special Saturday began pretty early for me (Jessica) as I got my hair done and then got my makeup done with Mom and Jacquelyn. After finishing our "preparation" Jacquelyn and I headed over to Angelica's parents house to meet up with the rest of the bridal party. Upon our arrival we quickly noticed the hustle and bustle of all the girls doing their make-up and hair. The sound in the air was filled with excited chatter about the wonderful event to take place that day. In the midst of the girly chaos there was Angelica sitting for the make-up artist. She was as calm as could be except for the huge smile and gleam in her eye as she waited paitiently to marry the man of her dreams. Our departure time arrived and we all climbed into the cream colored limo and rode our chariot to the ceremony site.

Mark made sure that he had all of his rented clothes and met over at Lynette's house for the testosterone gathering of the men's pre-wedding festivities. The traditional wedding day lunch at In N' Out was a lot of fun. (Thanks Don) With the secondary photographer tagging along we got a lot of pictures, some of which can be seen at http://www.parris-studios.com/, filled our bellies, and had a lot of laughs. Next we went back to the house to try and dress ourselves. With a little help from our friends, we all eventually got fully dressed and took a couple more pictures before creating a caravan off to the wedding sight, The Muckenthaler Mansion in Fullerton.

When the boys arrived at the mansion they were not allowed inside or anywhere near the mansion so they walked the grounds taking more fun and cool pictures. One set of pictures was a little frightening for the boys as they stood on a rail 20 feet above the ground. Happily, the day was without incident and the Wedding began joyfully. Both Mark and Jessica were in the Wedding party so we had the priviledge to see the ceremony from a unique perspective. Both the Bride and Groom looked fantastic, and they looked even better together. Truly they are a spellbinding pair. After some emotional moments they finally were able to kiss as Husband and Wife and they exited triumphantly. Once we all exited, the first thing Mark heard Angelica say was "Where are the Flasks?" They each took a drink from the flasks to take a little of the exciting edge off. We took some more pictures with Ryel, the Fabulous photographer, of which photos of the wedding can be seen at http://blog.ryelj.com/. We entered the reception to give some toasts and get the party started. Once we got in for dinner, there wasn't much eating but there was a lot of catching up with friends and family. The next segment of the party was the dancing. Since Jessica is pregnant, there wasn't much of the dancing she could take part in. But she still enjoyed herself very much, and the music was great. Everyone appeared to have an excellent time. Josh and Angelica danced for much of the night and seemed as if they were having a blast enjoying all their friends, but alas they remembered that their night still held a lot for them. They left in a Limo for their Hotel and a surely unforgettable night. As for the rest of us, we were planning the continuing of the evening.

After Party at the Auld Dubliner

Jessica, Mark, Jacquelyn, Steve, Ryan, Kyle, Jim, Jim Farmer's Date (Becky), Dayle and Ryel gathered for another bite to eat and a drink or 2. Sadly, it didn't begin as planned since Don and Lynette could not attend since there was a matter of Josh not having his camera. (Kyle had it, oops!) And Ryel had left her ID in her car in Mission Viejo, so Dayle and Ryel had to pick it up to get in the Bar. We had a great time talking about the fun times at the wedding and maybe having a drink or 3 spilled. We left before it got too late as a pregnant woman and growing baby need all the rest they can get.

Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure

We began the morning after getting ready and gathering at Lynette's house to leave for the Disneyland resort. J & M, Jacquelyn, Steve, Ryan, Lynette, Aunt Karen and her husband Mark met up with Jim Farmer who graciously helped us out with some of the cost for the day. We spent 15 minutes deliberating on how to get to the front gates since there was apparently a scare and the Trams were down. We had been told that the park might not even open that day, and Karen and Mark were praying that would not be the case. We started off at DCA and went straight to the Toy Story ride before the line got too long. The ride was a hit with young and less young. All left the ride with a smile on their face. Next, we hit California Screamin', which Jessica and Lynette did not ride. They were able to get a great picture of the rest of the crew on the ride though. After the ride we took a tour of the Mission Tortilla Factory to get a free Tortilla (yum) before we headed over to the Tower of Terror. The lines were pretty short for a Sunday. On this ride we escaped from Lynette and Jessica again. When they found us again Lynette was in a wheelchair. (What?!?) Have no fear, she was fine, it was a valuable tool for resting. The final event in DCA was California Soarin' and we enjoyed our hang-glide experience. Next we headed over to Disneyland and all agreed on Mexican lunch. With full bellies we decided to hit all the greats of Disneyland Pirates of the Carribean with all of the movie inspired improvements, Big Thunder Railroad, and Space Mountain. Unfortunately the lines for the Haunted Mansion and the Matterhorn were way too long. Jessica, Mark and Lynette skipped out on Space Mountain only to watch Mark fail embarassingly at jumping rope game in the arcade. Karen and her husband Mark wanted to go on Star Tours and the rest of us decided to take a break on that one...soon after their return they realized that there was a reason why we all didn't go on with them. (technology a bit outdated) At this point most of the group was ready to go home, so we split from Karen and Mark (who were determined to spend ALL day at the parks) and we hit some Ice Cream before we returned the wheelchair and left the Happiest Place on Earth.

From begining to end the weekend was absolutely wonderful. Congrats again to the new Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and our apologies for writing about it almost two months late, oops! We wish you all the best!!

If you'd like to see more pictures of this event, follow this link: http://gallery.me.com/live.laugh.love#100013