After I'd brought my friend Nick to a wedding with me this summer it was time to repay the favor and go to one with him. Let me say this, rich people = open bar :)
The ceremony was at the Celebration Pavilion in Queen Elizabeth Park. It was a little difficult to know where to park and where the pavilion was... hello, Vancouver Parks Board... some signage please!
The Pavilion was pretty cool. It's a circular building with a wood roof, and yellow stained glass sides, and the back opens up to the outside. Everything was decorated with flowers and there was someone playing a grand piano. It's pretty small, it was a hot day, and we were packed in there like sardines, but the wedding was short and sweet. The pastor performing it had a good personality and kept it light.
Between the ceremony and reception we decided to keep it classy and head to the Fairmont Pacific Rim for some pricy appies and drinks. One of my friends works there so I know the food is good... mmm sushi. We enjoyed our martinis and our server was amazing, but the food was taking forever. A manager came over to apologize and I told her that plying us with free shooters would definitely do the trick... so they did. I forget what the shooter was but it was green, with brown on the bottom, sorta herby tasting and delicious. It paid off for the hotel also, because as the server walked across the room with them all the other tables wanted one too.
Fully lubricated we walked to the Terminal City Club, where the reception was being held. Took us a while to find it even though we had an idea of what corner it was on. Oh, day drunk! We sat down with my friend's parents and then went up to grab a drink. His parents were a lot of fun... and loved me! His new girlfriend was to meet them in a couple days and I feel sorry for her having to live up to how much they loved me. Insert evil laugh here.
For wedding favors we got little strawberry jams that the bride had made... super cute and tasty. Dinner was pretty good. It was three courses, not a buffet. We had tomato bocconcini salad, little puff pastries with greens and then it was the main course. Nick, being a boy, had never asked me my preference in dinners, so I got a big steak. Not that I don't like steak, but they were cooked to rare/medium rare, which is a bit underdone to my taste. I ate the outside and gave the too-pink part to Nick.
After dinner we went out to the balcony to chill for a bit. There is an amazing view from their huge patio. While we were out there they started the speeches and the door to get back in was right beside the head table so we were stuck out there for the duration. Luckily it was a beautiful night for some patio drinking.
We stayed for a few dances, but Nick had to be at the ferry at a ridiculously early hour so we headed back into town. What a fun night... I'm thinking I need some more rich friends to attend some more fancy weddings!
