The Real OC: Craig & Kai Get Hitched

July 30, 2007

THURSDAY

On Thursday night, Will and I hopped on a plane to Santa Ana (John Wayne) airport for a weekend of wedding activities for our friends, Craig and Kai.

With fantastic timing, Will and I walked off the plane and were greeted by Ath and Kristi, who flew into LAX, rented a Prius and picked us up. Awesome.

We checked into the hotel and waited (forever) for a cab to meet the wedding crew at a bar called Muldoon's Irish Pub in the Fashion Island district of Newport Beach. It turns out that it's not easy to travel by cab in the OC. I guess that's why everyone needs a car and starlets get caught driving under the influence. Everything is really far away from everything else, quite the urban sprawl.

We finally got to Muldoon's and the socializing was in full swing, with a little help from a few Irish car bombs and plenty o' beer and cider.

It was great to see the folks who went to McGill with Will again, I had met most of them last year in Calgary at Ath and Kristi's wedding. Good times.

FRIDAY

On Friday morning, there was some major sleeping in. It may or may not have been induced by a few ciders on my part.

We took the golden Prius over to a brekkie joint in Newport Beach called Haute Cakes. It was glorious to sit outside in the SoCal sun, gulp some great coffee and see everyone in the daylight.

From brunch, we headed over to Newport Beach, close to where Craig used to live. We strolled down the boardwalk in the heat and admired all the bike cruisers passing us by.
After a while, we were tempted to get our own wheels to roll down the boardwalk. We needed two. They were called Surreys.




For an hour, we cruised up and down the boardwalk, had some refreshing lemonades, and thankfully, didn't crash the Surreys as we raced eachother.
After hanging out in Newport Beach in the early afternoon, the out-of-towners headed back to the wedding hotel, the Hyatt Regency Irvine, to decompress. I had to work, so that was fun.

Much later in the evening, we congregated in Ian and Amanda's room for some pre-dinner drinks prior to catching a cab to Laguna Beach for dinner. Yes, we went the cab route again, and yes, it's such a pain in the OC. But at least we didn't have to worry about driving.

For dinner, we headed to a tropical-themed restaurant called Cabana, which Amanda chose. It was fun, had great girly drinks, and good food. And, it was only a block down from where the wedding crew was having drinks that night. Score!

I had the Seared Rare Sesame Ahi (with wasabi aioli, island rice and sauteed fresh spinach). The aioli was amazingly creamy and not spicy at all, there must've been a lotta butter in that sauce because it was tasty!
From dinner, we strolled down the street to the White House, a restaurant turned bar at night. It was quite the people-watching scene, Laguna in the house!
The soon-to-be newlyweds, Kai and Craig...

SATURDAY

On the day of the wedding, there was sleeping-in and brunching in the morning, followed by a trip to the fancy schmancy Hyatt gym (great cardio machines, I watched the Deadliest Catch while logging in 5 miles on the elliptical machine), and then the getting-ready-for-the-wedding preparations.

I love seeing everyone get all gussied up, it's so much fun. Everyone looked awesome...

We boarded the shuttled at 4:30 pm and were driven over too the Oak Creek Golf Club in Irvine, where all the festivities were happening.

I also love when you first show up at a wedding and they shove a flute of champagne in your hand. Ah yes, a nice beginning...

For the wedding, I got an aisle seat to document the action, check it out:

After the ceremony, we all socialized, snacked on some great appies, and partook in the open bar while the wedding party took pictures. We took quite a few of our own, but here's a smattering:




Will and I were seated at Table 4 with most of the McGill crew. Kai and Craig had a great idea that in lieu of favors, they made a charitable donation for the guests to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation (awesome idea!).
The evening's menu started with a Cold Tomato Soup Shooter with Parmesan Crisp. That crisp was really good.







Second course was a Spring Romance Salad with spinach, endive, mandarin oranges, strawberries and tossed walnuts with a caramel citrus vinaigrette.



And the piece de resistance was the entree of herb-roasted beef tenderloin with a Maine Lobster tail served with gorgonzola demi-glace, custard potatoes and vegetables. Two of my favorite things on one plate!?!? Oy!










There was a lot of dancing, drinking, dancing with no heels, drinking with no heels, and good times. We may or may not have continued the party in the Hyatt hotel bar...

SUNDAY

On Sunday morning, there was definitely some sleeping in, followed by some eggs benny at brunch. Will and I checked out of the hotel and went with Ath and Kristi to Huntington Beach to meet up with the wedding crew for the last social event, a beach day and picnic.

It was a bit of a debacle getting the right place, as apparently, there's a Huntington State Beach and a Huntington City Beach. There was some confusion, followed by a lot of walking along the boardwalk to the right lifeguard tower, while carrying a bunch of food. Good workout!

We finally found the spot, where there was a great tent with tables and more food set up. Glorious!

Turns out that Huntington Beach was also hosting the US Surfing Open, so we got to catch a little bit of the action.

Disclaimer: The following are some "beach" shots of the McGill crew. If pale Canadian skin results in you being feint of heart, look away now...

Will and I had to take off in the middle of the afternoon to head back to John Wayne airport and catch our flight.

Congratulations to Kai and Craig, it was a beautiful wedding and a fantastic weekend!