Catalina Island: The Wedding

You may recall I had a fantastic visit to Catalina Island earlier this month! SCUBA diving and running were just bonus activities; the real reason for the mini vacation was for my cousin's destination wedding.

The wedding was a Great Gatsby theme, and we had a lot of fun getting all dressed up in 1920s fashion.

Posing outside the casino

Where do you have a 1920s-themed wedding? The Catalina Island Casino, of course. The ceremony was held in the Theater on the lower level.

A few pics from inside the theater

They asked us not to take pictures during the ceremony, so I don't have any pictures of the actual ceremony. It was kind of long, but it was really enjoyable and didn't really seem long at all.

The grooms entered the Theater from the back to All of Me by John Legend and met on the stage with the officiant, who was one of their good friends. She did such a great job.

They kept it light by stopping in the middle to But first, let me take a selfie. It was cute. And at the end, right before pronouncing them husbands, they changed their relationship status on Facebook. You know, to make it Facebook-official. It definitely made us all smile.

The candle lighting ceremony in the middle was spectacular. After lighting the unity candle, someone went row by row to light the candles held by all of the guests. We were seated in the front, but it was an amazing sight to turn around and see all of the lit candles burning in support of their marriage. It was a beautiful sight and a beautiful gesture. I really wish I had a picture.

The grooms left the theater, hand-in-hand, to Pharrell William's Happy.

After the ceremony, we all headed upstairs to the Grand Ballroom for the reception. The grooms wanted a picture with all of the guests, so it took awhile to get to the top floor. We were all served Cosmopolitans as we waited, so it wasn't so bad.

We took a couple of pictures with the grooms and upon entering the ballroom were offered a glass of wine.

Before dinner, there was the couple's first dance.



Each groom also had a dance with his mom.

Dinner was delicious! You really should click on the picture and read the menu. It was really sweet how they described why they chose the different menu items.

Didn't my aunt do a nice job on the cake?

The whole reception was super fun - filled with hanging out with two of my aunts and my cousin and her family.

It kind of looks like Jeff is photo-bombing, but he is there intentionally.

There was an open bar.

Lemon drops were quite the hit

A candy bar, where we filled up little bags with lots of different candies.

And of course, lots of dancing.

At the end of the night, they gave us goodie bags with bottles of water and a deck of Catalina Island playing cards.

On the walk home, we turned around to see the lights of the Casino.

Pic stolen from my cousin's FB page

This was historic for many reasons. It was the first time the Casino was lit up for a private party; the first time it was lit up as a rainbow; and the first time it was lit up like a rainbow for the first same sex marriage at the Casino.

It was beautiful, and I'm so glad we were able to attend.

Have you ever been to a destination or themed-wedding?
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