Catalina Island, CA 

Brian and Phuong’s wedding was a spectacular event.

It was the best wedding I’ve ever attended.  Catalina Island turned out to be a fantastic venue for a large reunion. The island is really small and the main town, Avalon, has all kinds of restaurants and coffee shops, snorkel shops, miniature golf, and other activities that are all easy walking distance from the rental houses.

Our group had 5 or 6 houses (each holding around 10 to 12 people), and in addition Brian and Phuong rented a place called The Beach House right on the main street as a gathering place for everyone.

Cars aren’t really allowed on the island (aside from delivery trucks and maintenance vehicles) so everyone either walks or scoots around in golf carts. It was so small and safe, with no traffic, that we could just let the kids wander around the island all by themselves. They loved the freedom more than I can say.

Everyone could quickly go back to their house if they needed a nap or change of clothes, and then you could go for a walk through the town and run into other people from the wedding party. It made it really easy for folks to mingle and talk in small groups (whoever you ran into at the ice cream shop or whatever) and then congregate at the Beach House if you wanted to see the whole group. It was such a success that everyone is talking about making it a gathering place, every other year or so. It was absolutely perfect.

The wedding itself was perfect, too. It was a fantastic representation of Brian and Phuong’s personalities. They had one of Brian’s best friends from high school (Scott Delap) officiate. The ceremony was very personalized and he did a really, really good job.  The entire event was full of happiness … an exquisite celebration of love, friendship, and joy.  I heard over and over again from many different people, “This is probably the happiest wedding I’ve ever been to.”

Here are a few of the highlight photos, plus a few shots to give a sense of Catalina.

The Mayse house.  (On Brian’s side, there was a Jeffery house, a Hanson house, and a Mayse house.  There were two or three other houses for Phuong’s family.  The houses are all within a few blocks of each other.)

Walking down the street toward the main part of town. (Brenda, Isabella, Holden, John, Elaine.)

Candy and ice cream shop.

View from the main street.

Walking along sightseeing, we ran into Brian and Phuong.  They rented a golf cart since they had to haul things around for the wedding.  

Snorkeling!

Brian and Phuong, suited up.

Lunch afterwards.  This restaurant was right on the water.  While we were eating, a group of seagulls hit three of the tables in a strategic attack that would have made a military strategist proud.  They made off with one guy’s entire hamburger.  They snatched it right out of his hands.   (The people from left to right:  Josie, Holden, Isabella, Scott Rupp, Phuong.)

Josie checking out the beach with her bottle of coke.  Coke is a treat she almost never gets, so this was a special thing, indeed.

The arcade.  It was immediately downstairs from Brian and Phuong’s Beach House, so the kids could wander down unsupervised anytime they felt like it.

The grand white building is a casino, built in 1929.  Catalina was originally owned by William Wrigley, and he built the casino.  “The large building contains a movie theatre, ballroom, and island art and history museum. The Catalina Casino gets its name from the Italian language term casino, meaning a “gathering place.” There is no gambling at the facility. It was the first movie theatre to be designed specifically for films with sound (“talkies”).”

On our last day, a bunch of us went to see Big Hero 6 here.  The theater is perfectly restored Art Deco design and was very much worth seeing.  The acoustics were outstanding.

Phuong’s parents, on the ferry ride over. (Photo by Jim Jeffery)

Brian and Phuong (photo by Jim Jeffery)

Dad (Jim) and John talking over breakfast coffee. 

Meeting up with folks wandering around town.  (John, Brenda, Elaine, Charlotte.)

Mini golf.  We had a big group of 9.  The one in the middle putting is Debbie.

Tom giving Holden trajectory pointers.

John, Elaine and Roy sat and visited.

Holden and Debbie having fun.

Arge beating me on every single hole.

Tom.

Isabella and Josie took a break when one of the island cats showed up.  Kitties are way more important than golf.

Lunch at a Mexican restaurant after golfing. (left to right: Keith, Susie, Holden, Debbie, Roy, Arge, Judy, {foreground} Tom.)

The conversation at this table was a real eye-opener for Holden.  Roy and Arge told all kinds of stories from the Alaska days; “Remember that time we found a pouch full of diamonds in the middle of the road?”  That reminded me of the time our dog, Nadia, found a pouch of heroin in our driveway up on Rabbit Creek Road back in 1987 or so.  Next story was Roy:  “I can top that; I went to get the mail once and found a dead body in the snow bank next to my mailbox.”  “One time I got up and went into my kitchen for morning coffee and found a Native Alaskan woman passed out on my couch.  I called the police and they came and got her; she was so drunk she couldn’t even walk.”  Holden could hardly believe his ears.  “Why doesn’t anything exciting like that ever happen to us in Georgia?!” he wanted to know.  

Holden loving whatever it is that he’s heard.  (Photo by Jim Jeffery)

Holden heading back into the arcade.  It was called “Fun Zone” and lived up to the name.  The staircase on the right side of the photo went up to Brian and Phuong’s Beach House. 

Gathering up for the big event — wedding time!  07 November 2014

This is some of Brian’s family.  

Phuong’s family being seated.

Phuong’s family (Photo by Jim Jeffery)

Brian arrives.

The ceremony.  We don’t have photos of Phuong and her father walking down the aisle; Adam didn’t want to get in the professional photographer’s way.  Phuong looked absolutely stunning.  

After the ceremony, everyone headed outside for photos.  The light was fading fast.  (It was around 6 p.m.)

The happy couple!

Holden in front.  In back:  Keith, Susan, Aaron, Roy.  Far left; John.

My favorite photo of the weekend.  

Brian, Mom, and Phuong.  This was a really sweet moment.  Phuong hugged my mom and said, “I can call you Mom now!” and everyone within earshot started to cry.  There was a whole lot of eye-dabbing for a few minutes.  

Losing the light!

Throwing the bouquet.  

(Brian is only called Brian by family who knew him as a little kid; everyone else calls him Jeff and it is the name he prefers.)

The cake. 

Visiting at the wedding dinner. L to R:  Charlotte, Isabella (Holden, can’t see his face) Josie, Brenda, and Elaine.

Charlotte, Isabella, Holden, Josie, Brenda

Hanson table:  back row L to R:  Linda, Deb, Dick, Game.  Foreground L to R:  Charlene, Josie, Mike.

Scott Rupp and Phuong.

Breakfast the next morning.  Adam went outside and snapped a photo through the plate glass window.  

More breakfast.  From L to R:  Dick, Linda, Deb, Game (face hidden), waitress, Mike, Charlene, Brian (Photo by Jim Jeffery)

Walking around town.  Brenda, Sharon, Isabella (with a hint of Josie and Elaine behind me.)

Jim and John talking deep thoughts.  

Along the green pier:  Sharon, Josie, Jim, Elaine, Holden, Isabella.

Artistic shot of the water.

The Casino.  Art Deco light fixtures and tile mural in the outer vestibule. 

Walkway from the Casino to Avalon (the main part of town.)

Up in the Beach House, petting Phuong’s parent’s dog, Luna.  The dog is so mobbed by people you can barely see her down there.  (People, starting center front with Holden and going clockwise:  Holden, Brenda, Josie, Isabella, Phuong, Susan.) 

Brian grossing out Josie and Isabella. 

All three of them listening to some story I’m telling.  It must have been a good one!

Keith, Susan, Sharon.

Brian, sporting his wedding ring.

Roy.

Holden and Phuong’s cousin, Benny.  Benny lives in Australia.  Phuong’s Australian family won for “furthest distance traveled.”

Ice cream break!  I don’t know the girl with the red ribbon in her hair, but I do know she was the 12-year old sister of Benny.  So:  sister of Benny, Benny, Phuong, Holden.

Brian stepped on something sharp during the snorkeling expedition and thought his foot was starting to get infected.  The only thing we had to use as disinfectant was a bottle of Crown Royal.  It stung really, really bad.  

After everyone went inside, the seagulls showed up to eat all the crumbs. 

Last morning.  There were LOTS of hugs and goodbyes to be said.  Here is dad having a group hug with the kids.  

Down at the ferry dock getting ready to leave.  

Everyone packed up and ready to head back home.  (Charlotte, Sharon, John, Elaine.)

Mom’s turn for the grandkid group hug.

More group hugs!  Brenda, Phuong, Holden, Brian, Isabella, Josie.

Our ride back to LA.

Tom found some people fishing off the pier and went over for one last chat before getting on the boat.  

That’s it for photos!

Congratulations to Brian and Phuong; you guys pulled off one of the greatest weddings of all time.  Everyone is going to remember and cherish the moments and relationships (both new and rekindled) that happened this week.  You were aiming for fun, but managed to hit Magical.  Everything came together just exactly right.

We can’t thank you enough for putting all this together, and we wish you the very best as you start this new chapter in your lives.

Until next time!