Ok, here it goes.  Dusting off this blog I’ve had for 7 years now. I’m going to start blogging again…in my spare time of course.  Ha! I still need to tweak some things on here.

Starting with my parents 40th Anniversary party.  It’s way too long to fit in one post so I’m breaking it up into three.  Part One – The Destination, Catalina Island.

Just after my parents 39th anniversary in 2013, my dad had this idea that he really wanted to do something special for their 40th anniversary.  He said he wanted to renew vows, he wanted it super private and he wanted his kids and grand kids to attend.  He mentioned that my mom really loves Catalina Island and asked if me and my niece and I could figure something out.  SURE!

So we started our search for places to hold this shindig.  We looked (online) at EVERY single hotel and house on the island.  Seriously, it was a daunting task because some places would be perfect for sleeping but didn’t have anywhere for a private party or they were perched on top of a hill with 3, 420 steps up to it.  After months and months of searching we finally found the perfect place.  The Hotel Metropole.  I had some difficulty actually making the reservations and getting people to call me back but once we arrived at the hotel the staff were very attentive.

We rented “The Beach House”, which is an 1800 square foot house with a huge deck that overlooks Crescent & Metropole Avenues and accommodates up to 50 people.  The Beach House is part of the hotel so we were able to get everyone else rooms nearby.  This is the deck.  Perfect for lounging any time of day.  We played games around the table at night with the heaters on.  Fun times!

View from deck.  There’s Olaf’s Ice Cream across the street.  We spent a lot of money in that place over the course of 4 days.  There was also this place called Coney Island West which was right below us.  It’s the closest thing to fast food on Catalina and was delicious.

The hotel also has a restaurant called the M Restaurant by Zest Catering and Events.  We had our party catered  by them and that was also another decision that was well made.  The food was amazingly delicious! The hotel took all the patio furniture off the deck and replaced it with big round tables for the catered dinner and we had servers so we didn’t have to do a thing.

Side Note:  There was a lot of construction going on right next to the hotel, which was kind of a bummer.  An enormous hole in the ground with all kinds of construction fences around it.  On the morning of my parents ceremony we noticed a group of people gathering inside the construction fences.  They were performing some kind of ritual.  Lots of chanting and banging of things.  This went on for hours and since our deck was right there, we were all watching from above.  I don’t think they liked us very much but it was intriguing.   Apparently, when they were digging up the street and some bones were found so they had to call in “the Professionals” (no idea what to call them)  to bless them and re-bury them.  It was our entertainment for the morning.

I would like to point out that everything we planned on making for decorations had to fit into our suitcases and/or be assembled when we got there.  We did this because Catalina Expresses Do’s and Dont’s about baggage had a laundry list of things you could not bring.  Human corpses was one of them 🙂  Little did we know that they don’t even check your luggage and we could have carried cases of beer and trash bags full of crap on board without being questioned, so arts and crafts were really no biggie.  I really wish I could have found something online about this before we went over. So here it is for anyone else planning a wedding or large gathering on Catalina Island – you really can bring food, alcohol, flowers, glass and pretty much anything you can carry on board…except for dead bodies.

I would also like to give huge praises to the only florist on the island Bloom Floral.  My parents had dyed blue carnations at their wedding so we really wanted to incorporate those into the ceremony.  She got them for us so we didn’t have to lug a huge bunch over on the boat, although we totally could have.

That’s it for now.  In a few days I will post about the decorations.

Chere