The Wog - our Wedding blog

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23 September

Well, just a quick not to update you all. I don't have all the photos yet but you can see some of them on Tina's website.

On Friday night we all gathered at Donegal's pub for some drinks and dinner, as people flew in, they dropped by as well as some locals came by. It was very relaxing and close to the train station. At midnight it was still going strong but I left to pick up Christy and Fabienne who were flying in on the same flight.

Saturday, we got up and did a bit of running around, picking up flowers and doing some last minuet shopping. Back to the apartment with Luca's friends Sandra and Rodrigo from Spain plus Dennis and Allen and Christy for a pizza snack. Everyone was ready by 3:30 so we headed out to Ostia.

People started to arrive around 5:00 and the fabulous drink makers, Jesse and Romolo started to crank out Mango Margaritas, Capirinhas and gin and tonics. We had a beautiful evening on the beach visiting with friends and enjoying the breeze and sunshine.

At about 6:30 Brigitte our Mistress of Ceremony, guided us down to a gazebo area on the beach where the ceremony would take place. Guests were welcomed by Brigitte and Bronte shared the importance of community for a couple. Fabienne, Valentina and Marco read poems and then Daniel passed out incense which perfumed the air. Luca and I shared our vows and spoke of our love for each other as the sun began to set and colored the sky orange, pink and violet. It was a wonderful experience to be in such a beautiful setting sharing our emotions and deepest thoughts with our friends and family. Christy and Ennio welcomed us into our respective "new" families and we ended with everyone gathering on the deck with a glass of Prosseco and giving us a toast.

The Mediterranea Restaurant laid out a fantastic spread and we snacked with our drinks from "wedding cones" displaying pictures of us in Victoria. We were sat down by Mika and Vale and the meal was served, we ate a wonderful anti-pasta, followed by risotto, pasta and bacon wrapped chicken with rughetta salad. Ellie had baked and decorated the main cake with other cakes provided by Kristin and Brigitte. Another toast and the music came on with our DJ, David.

We danced the night away until the wee hours of the morning and ended by frolicking in the waves of the Mediterranean sea. Finally we all headed home at 4:00 am!!

Sunday had everyone gather at our place for pancakes, eggs and bacon. About 30 guests joined us and we sat around visiting until we insisted on a nap.

The party could not stop so we had about 14 people over Sunday night we here Luca made Spaghetti alla vongole, with brushetta and more of the endless cakes. The cherry on top was listening to the " Dooby dooby do" song for the 25th time and joining hands and dancing around the table. It was so much fun and so memorable. Christy, Ennio and Dennis stayed up again until 3:30 am and I woke Christy and Ennio up at 4:15 am to catch their taxi to the plane, they barely made it.

We took off to Rocca Secca for a couple of days of quiet and rest and now we are back in Rome, ready to face a work day tomorrow.

Take care everyone one. Brent (and Luca)

15 September

Please check the Italian celebration page and let us know if you are coming to:

1. pre-wedding gathering at Donegal on Friday 19th ~6:30 pm
   
2. wedding party on Saturday 20th ~5:30 pm
   
3. good bye breakfast on Sunday 21st ~11:00 am
   

Don't forget to write Tina about your lift/car situation (see the 14 September blog post below).

B+L

2 September

Hi everyone, well Luca and I have been very busy since we got back from Canada. I was away for a week in Sweden and now a week in Zambia. Luca was in Belgium for a week but he is back in Rome and making all the arrangements for the Roman celebration.

We had such a good time in Canada and we thank all of our friends for making it such a good time, especially we thank the hosts of the events, Dennis and Allan for putting us all up for the week, Eric, Karen, Rachel and Nora for the wonderful pizza night and to Shane, Elaine, Eric and Graham for the all day brunch.

On our way back we lost a suitcase with all of our wedding clothes in it. It was lost!! BA had no idea where it was. After 10 days it showed up and we both were so happy we would not have to go shopping. So we have our clothes.

The plans for the celebration in Rome are going well with Luca at the helm. We do hope some of you can join us for the Friday drinks and Sunday good bye breakfast, we found these were great times for everyone to get to know each other and make the celebration last.

I will stay on in Zambia for the next few days to see a bit of the surrounding area. I look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks.

B

14 August

Well our honeymoon is coming to a close. We return tomorrow morning to Victoria. Tofino has been very relaxing and restful for us. We have combiined activity with lots of sleep and rest. (Never enough sleep for Luca but he seems relaxed)

We arrived in Tofino late on Monday night and had pineapple and ham pizza in our own private jacuzzi on the deck of our room. The deck overlooks a small cove called "Cable Cove" and we can hear the waves lapping the shoreline from our room. We had a much needed long sleep and woke up very late on Tuesday morning. Of course we have a hot tub morning, noon and night. It is a great way to start and end the day, especially if it is raining.

Tuesday we borrowed bikes and headed down to the botanical gardens where we wandered around in the rain and had our lunch in the little cafe. Warm hearty clam chowder and frittata filled us up and we ended the meal with coffee and pecan pie. We headed back to our hotel in the rain and took another hot tub. That evening we had booked into a private two person resturant overlooking the cove. We had a five course meal which was prepared by a guest chief. We finished off a bottle of white wine while we dined on smoked salmon on a bed of cappers and creme fraiche, braised lamb chops, fennel and orange salad topped with a citrus vanilla bean dressing, local spotted shrimp and halibut with pesto and summer vegetables and finally a strawberry shortcake and black forest cake that we both shared while we sipped our coffee and watched for bears (one had visited the resturant the night before!!). Again to the hot tub on our way to bed.

Each morning we had coffee and orange juice deliver to our room,  Luca  then treked to the bakery ( 2 blocks away) and brought us fresh baked goods for our breakfast. On Wednesday morning I had a massage and then we took off to explore the Pacific Rim National Park. We hiked several trails and walked along the ocean beach. The fog drifted in from the sea and the waves sprayed us with their mist as we strolled along the shoreline. It was so relaxing and rejuivinating. We headed down to the village south of us, Ucluelet, to check it out and had some good old fashioned fish and chips for dinner. On our way home, we stopped for the campfire talk on sea otters and then home for another hot tub.

This morning we got up early and took a traditional dugout canoe to Meares Island to see the old growth forest. Our guide, Joe, was from the local first nations tribe and he told us many things about the traditional way of life and he also told us many stories, we even found out the origins of the mosquito. We stopped on our way home to pick up some salmon and shrimp that we cooked for lunch and then as usual, Luca had a nap. I headed down to fisherman's wharf and bargained for some crab that we will cook for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we will be off to Victoria and our friend's Suzanne, Tom and Emma have invited us for dinner. Saturday morning we start our journey back to Italy. We will take the bus, ferry, and plane to arrive home in Rome Sunday afternoon, so this will be the last update from Canada.

We have both had a fantastic holiday and feel recreated. Our wedding celebrations were perfect. Thank yous go to everyone.

B+L + lots of love

11 August

Well it is the Monday after and we are taking off for our honey moon but everything has gone wonderfully. On Thursday we did the whale watching and saw 7 Orcas and had a hoot on the boat. We hit every wave and were soaked through and through. We ended the evening on a pub patio and chatted and talked until late in the evening. The young guests headed out to dance the night away and the rest went to bed.

Friday was a lazy day and then Luca and I did the legal side of the marriage and then celebrated with a bottle of champagne in the Bengal room at the Empress. You can see some of the photos in the album. Jennifer and Richard prepared a wonderful dinner with baked oysters, mussels, BBQed salmon and beef. We sat out on the deck all snuggled in blankets, it was so cold but the view so wonderful, with several cruise ships docked in the harbour opposite the apartment.

Saturday we got up early and had coffee on the balconcy and then Luca and I went to Tom and Susanne's place. Tom drove us to the Maria where Luca and I got into kayaks to paddle to the wedding site. We started off with a splash as I tipped my kayak as I was adjusting my seat and of course was soaked, but hey, what can you do so we paddled on to our ceremony. Luckly the sun was out in full force to get me almost dry before we got to shore. We were welcomed a shore by a lively rendition of "Row, row, row your boate" sung in 3 rounds.  After putting on our dress clothes my brother officiated at our cermony which was wonderful. Luca stole the show with his wonderful accent, sweet words and we had to fill in the spaces (while he re-composed himselft) with Row, row, row your boat, which got everyone laughing again. Ennio and Christy welcomed us into the respective families and others shared some thoughts. At the close of the cermony clouds slowly covered the sky and we had to run the last 200 meters to the pavillion in the rain.

We had a wonderful meal, with toasts and advice given to us on how to live our married life. Of course we had to teach everyone Italian hand gestures to communicate better. It was a wonderful and touching event which ended in us consumming all of our layered chocolate wedding cake.

The festivities did not stop. We all gathered in Eric and Karen's back yard for a night of conversation, games and pizzas. 72 wood oven fired pizzas consumbed. Late in the night we reluctanly went to bed.  Sunday monring we all gathered at Shane and Elaine's for a fantastic pancake breakfast. We all sat around in the sunshine, visiting and drinking coffee. We played all sorts of games and the brunch turned into an all day event. It was sad as people started to depart.

Kirstin made us all hamburgers and apple crisp that evening, where we again had great visits and again said farewells to more.

This morning we said farewell to Luca's sister and then came back to breakfast prepared by Scott and Robert. We will now say our good byes and head up to Tofino to the Cable Cove Inn for our honeymoon.

More at the end of the week.

B

Ci scusiamo se non abbiamo aggiornato il blog per un paio di giorni ma siamo stati veramente impegnati. Vi scrivo prima di partire per Tofino, che e' la destinazione del nostro viaggio di nozze.

Io e Brent ci siamo sposati l' 08/08/08 (venerdi') alla presenza del Marriage Commisioner, Terence Robinson, mio fratello Ennio (il mio testimone), mia sorella Maria Chiara, Mike Wood (il testimone di Brent) e la sua ragazza Katy. E' stata una cerimonia per pochi intimi ma non per questo priva di significato. Ci siamo sposati nel giardino del comune e la cerimonia e' durata all'incirca un'ora. Abbiamo firmato i documenti ufficiali appoggiati al portabagagli della macchina del Sig. Robinson.

Siamo quindi andati a festeggiare all' Impress Hotel, che e' uno degli hotel piu' belli della citta'. Nel frattempo mio fratello ha fermato un gruppo di ragazze giapponesi ed ha fatto finta di essere Jude Law: le ragazze sono impazzite ed hanno cominciato a fargli foto e a dargli baci.

La sera c'e' stata un'altra festa a casa di Dennis e Allan ma nessuno sapeva che ci eravamo sposati. Jennifer, Richard e Wayne hanno cucinato la carne ed il salmone al barbecue. Siamo stati alzati fino a mezzanotte.

L

Luca, Ennio and Maria Chiara went shopping and came back loaded with goods. They quickly took over the kitchen and loud shouts of Italian were heard as they started their preparations. We all gathered to watch the event and any one near was recruited to help. We had bruschetta, spaghetti with scampi, fresh fish halibut and fruit kababs. Half the fun was watching the preparation. The food was also wonderful and we ate and drank wine until late in the evening.

Christy, my niece and Kathy, Mike's girlfriend arrived late and we all sat around with gin and tonics recapping the day.
 
B

5 August

We had an uneventful trip to Victoira. We checked out the wedding site and the venue for the lunch and arrivied at Dennis and Allan's just in time to see the snowbird show. We had pretty good seats to view it as the planes came right over their condo for most of the fly bys. We walked around the legislative buidling and had dinner in a pub that played great old time music.

We got up Tuesday morning and Luca and I hit the town to finalize the wedding arrangements. We now are in possession of a marriage licience and just about in possession of a liquor licience, the latter taking about 10 times more effort to get than the marriage licence. So the venue is booked, the caterers confirmed, flowers arranged, wine bought, etc..... so all sytems are a go.

Jenifer and Richard arrived with Teddy (Dog) in town. Dennis and Richard grilled steaks on the BBQ and we sat on the deck of and chatted and then I went to pick up Mike Wood from the airport.

B+L

The evening we ate at Patrick's. He has a very nice studio house downtown. We then went to the beach to see the fireworks. That was the 'Grand Finale' of the fireworks competition. Canada, US and China were competing. Canada won. The show was just fantastic. The beach was packed of people.

Today, sunday, we saw the suspension bridge and have a walk in the park. We then saw Chinatown thanks to our guide, Patrick Kwong. He took us to a market - restaurant and we ate real Honk-Kong food. And we drunk the bubble tea. Not a very nice experience (I am talking about the drink).

Now having dinner at Remi's place.

Tomorrow going to Victoria, the city of the wedding. Dennis and Allan will host us. My brother will come on the 6th.

We miss everyone from Rome. But we will come back soon. Jesse and Carlos, do not make too much party home (especially you, Jesse!!!!).And thanks for watering the plants.

L

24 luglio

Dopo 4 giorni nel parco nazionale, 4 orsi, un paio di capre delle nevi, scoiattoli, coyote in lontananza, daini (non ho visto purtroppo nessun coguaro e grizzly) ritorniamo ad Innisfail (dove vivono Gordon e Gladys, i genitori di Brent). Mangiamo da A&W dove, secondo Brent, fanno i migliori Burger e milk shake. Non ha tutti i torti in effetti.

Carichiamo i genitori di Brent  partiamo per Edmonton. I genitori andranno da un loro parente, noi da Wayne, un caro amico di Brent. Il padre di Brent non sta zitto un secondo nelle tre ore di viaggio e racconta pezzi della sua vita di ottuagenario. Quando viveva a Panoka, quando insegnava agli indiani, quando era predicatore in chiesa, quando si sono trasferiti a Edmonton per far studiare all' universita' Darryl, il figlio maggiore.

Wayne ha una casa piccola ed un giardino bello e selvaggio con salvia, rosmarino, basilico, prezzemolo. Una amica della sua vicina di casa non so come si e' ritrovata nella cucina di Wayne a cucinare per noi (neanche lei se lo riesce a spiegare). Prepara la trota salmonata al barbecue. Poi ci sono molte altre cose e la cena finisce a mezzanotte passata.

Il giorno dopo vado a Little Italy con Brent a bere un cappuccino e mi rallegra il solo fatto di sentire qualcuno che parla italiano (anche se in dialetto).

Ora devo andare a correre per smaltire i 3 4 kili che ho messo su a forza di burgers.

L

22 luglio

Abbiamo cucinato le uova e la pancetta sul fornelletto da campo. Niente e' cos'i buono come le uova e la pancetta di prima mattina in un campeggio con 10 gradi e la vista sul lago. Il fatto che mangi in un piatto di plastica (non lo facevo da quando ero all'universita') e che hai la schiena distrutta per il fatto che hai dormito per terra passa in secondo piano. E poi ci sono gli scoiattoli che ti osservano e gli uccelli che saltano fuori e ti rubano la roba sul tavolino.

In giornata siamo entrati nel parco nazionale di Jasper. Ci siamo fermati in un altro campeggio verso le 4. Io dovevo assolutemente dormire perche' ero distrutto, come al solito. Prima di cena, abbiamo visto il nostro primo orso bruno (alla fine aro' visto 4 orsi in tutti).

Abbiamo conosciuto un tipo neo zelandese che da solo voleva attraversare Canada, USA ed arrivare in Messico pedalando la sua bicicletta. In tutto 90 giorni di pedalate con il vento, la pioggia, la pasta deidratata ed un fornelletto da campo.

L

20 July

Questa e' la mia versione dei fatti. La giornata di sabato, il giorno dell'anniversario, faceva un caldo da morire. Brent mi ha presentato ad un centinaio di persone ed almeno un' ottantina erano sue zie che si somigliavano tutte: capelli grigi e ricci (appena bigodinati per intenderci). Il pranzo era cosi' e cosi'.

La parte piu' interessante e' quando siamo andati a giocare a baseball. Qui sembra una cosa normale praticare qualche sport dopo il pranzo. Tutti erano attrezzati per giocare ed in un lampo si sono levati i vesititi da cerimonia e si sono messi i calzoncini. Io ho giocato abbastanza bene tenuto conto che era la prima volta. Poi ero pure emozionato per perche' i enitori di Brent erano in tribuna d' onore e sapevo che mi stavano guardando.

La sera abbiamo mangiato il panino con i wurstel con ketchup, maionese e mostarda (e come ti sbagli!!!). Abbiamo accesso le 60 lanterne che Brent ha comprati in Thailandia e per un po' non bruciavamo un albero e i fili elettrici della luce. Lo spettacolo e' stato pero' bellissimo. Alla fine il nipote di Brent, che era ubriaco e senza maglietta (in realta' io non l' ho mai visto con la maglietta addosso), ha urlato che dovevamo smettere perche' altrimenti la casa prendeva fuoco.

Verso mezzanotte abbiamo cominciato a giocare a "kick the can" che e' una specie di nascondino. All' inizio non avevo capito le regole ed infatti mi tanavano subito. C' e' da dire che giocavo con una decina di selvaggi che si nascondevano in mezzo agli alberi, dentro i cespugli, ed era praticamente impossibile trovarli. Siamo andati avanti per 3 ore ed alla fine ho finito con lo stirarmi un muscolo (mentre correvo per fare tana) e con la spalla sbucciata perche' il nipote di Brent mi ha spinto contro la siepe mentre correvamo. E' stato troppo divertente. 

L

Well we had a full weekend of 60^th wedding anniversary celebrations for my parents. We woke up Saturday to a bright blue clear sky. About 130 people showed up and we had endless visiting with old friends and relatives, I sure Luca was exhausted but he did remember a lot of names. We played games, ate and enjoyed the hot summer sun. In the traditional Larson fashion, we had a ball game, Luca’s first, and Luca impressed everyone with hitting a couple of balls and making several scores for his team. At around 11:00 pm we had 60 Thai lanterns that we let and they floated up into the sky, the wind picked up and sent a couple of lanterns into the trees and towards the house so we did not get them all up but there where over 40 floating in the sky at once, it was spectacular!

After we had finished with the lanterns, we decided to play a game of kick the can, my nieces and nephews and an assortment of cousins plus Luca and me played until 3:00 am. It was fantastic to play around in the shadows and there were so many places to hid. We hit the hay late that night but it did not stop us from getting up to make pancakes and sausages on the griddle. The rest of the day was just sitting around, chatting and napping.

Today is Monday and we are sore from horseback riding, football, baseball and kick the can but we had a great weekend. Now we are off to the mountains for some camping.

B

18 July

We spent the day getting ready for my parent's 60th wedding anniversary.  After our bacon and egg breakfast cooked by my nephew Tyler we headed off to buy party supplies at Costco, a real new experience for Luca. Luca loved his new cowboy hat so much he wore it all day, even to Costco.

For the afternoon meal we had good olde chilie-con-carne, kubasa sausage roasted on the fire and we even finished off with Smoores (graham waffers, chocolate and roasted marshmellows). Luca, Christ and Paula made us vodka watermelon to finish off the day.

Of course we had to play football which as always ended up with someone needing medical attention and having to spend the rest of the evening limping around with ice-packs. We enjoyed the campfire and tested out a couple of the Thai laterns that we will light tomorrow evening.

Luca got to meet almost all of my immediate family and some relavtives, he only has 120 more to meet tomorrow.

B

La famiglia canadese di Brent e' molto diversa da quello che mi aspettavo. Sono molto rilassati, molto accoglienti, mangiano sempre e tutto quello che mangiano ha Ketchup o mostarda. A parte un paio di kili che ho messo su in tre giorni, mi sto divertendo molto.

Ancora non ho giocato a football americano con i parenti di Brent. Non penso che mai lo faro' visto che la maggiorparte di loro sono almeno tre volte me (di peso, statura e muscoli) e non vorrei rompermi qualcosa.

I genitori di Brent sono molto eccitati per la festa di oggi. Il padre ha detto che vuole fare un discorso  ma non vuole limiti di tempo. Vuole parlare tutto il tempo che vuole perche' questa e' la sua festa (questo e' quello che ho capito io, poi vai a sapere se e' quello che ha detto veramente).

Io nel frattempo ho ancora la schiena rotta a causa della passeggiata a cavallo. Del cow boy ho solo il cappello, purtroppo.

L

11 July

Thanks Christy for the comment, you were right, the date for the Wednesday before the ceremony was wrong, it should have read Wednesday 6 August, it has been corrected.

It is my last big day of work before we head back to Canada and Luca is running around like a mad man with work, academia and apartment renovations. We still have to buy our wedding clothes and say goodbye to friends in Rome.  I told Luca that we can only sleep when we are on the plane.

B+L

1 July

Happy Canada Day everyone!!! Well it looks like we found a caterer for the Victoria lunch, I was worried. Things seem to be coming together well, it is only 2 weeks till we head to Canada.

Remember that 9 July is the deadline for booking kayaking and whale watching, check out the itineraries to see who is coming. They are almost full.

We have had some more fun with our web site, some minor adjustments and we have set up another photo album. Make sure to send us some pictures.

Rome has been very hot, our bedroom is always 30 o C everynight. Looking forward to reconnecting with you all.

B+L

26 June

Well, we sent out the information on kayaking and whale watching in Victoria and are now half full. Get your replies in early as if there is a lot of interest I might be able to book another group of 12.

We also got thinking about the pizza party in Eric & Karen's backyard (Victoria) and thought it would be great for those who play an instrument to bring it along so we can have a good olde downhome shindig!!

So the venue is booked, application in for a liquor permit and the park is now reserved. Getting excited to see you all.

B+L

23 June

Many thanks to our friend Romolo for building this great website. We need pictures of us and our friends so send us your best photos of you and/or you and us and we will post them in our gallery.

Thanks also to all those who have been helping organize the events, special thanks to Suzanne. 

B+L

20 June

Our website goes live for testing.

B+L