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Groom's Day: Meet the Parents

A groom's perspective on weddings.

Proposed. Engaged. Loving life. What's next?

We decided to invite both sets of parents to town for a weekend. They’ve never met before. You might be wondering, “Are you nuts?”

It’s true. Fortunately, we knew they would mesh well so we didn’t hold back on planning a weekend full of events.

First, we took the parents to see the location of the rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception. Fortunately, all of these events will be taking place at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay.

Having both sets of parents inside the venue is a daring venture. Our poor wedding planner at the Hyatt was fielding questions right and left, oftentimes attending to the same question more than once. I would not recommend merging this many people and the wedding planner at the hotel together. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, although we skated through.

After viewing the ceremony location located in the cabanas and adjacent to the pool, we traveled up to the 18th-floor penthouse where the rehearsal dinner will be taking place. Taking up the entire 18th-floor, the penthouse offers sweeping 360-degree views of San Diego including Mission Beach, Mission Bay, downtown, La Jolla and the mountains to the east. This penthouse is one-of-a-kind. There’s no other structure this tall anywhere else in Mission Bay so we’re elated to have it all weekend long.

We dined at the Red Marlin for lunch. Prices will flex the wallet, but luckily “pops” picked up the tab. With incredible marina views, the Red Marlin offers an heirloom tomato and mozzarella sandwich on the lunch menu that’s delicious even for meat lovers.

Later, we finalized flowers at Wholesale Flowers & Supplies in Linda Vista. The consultant was well-prepared, which made for an efficient meeting. We were in and out and decided on all the flowers within 30 minutes. Their team was busy as bees assembling centerpieces and bouquets for the weekend. They showed us an impressive bridal bouquet that included succulents and an artichoke. Yes, an artichoke.

The weekend with the parents is off to a great start. That night, we dined in Del Mar at Poseidon and watched the sunset. We had to eat well to prepare for Saturday morning cake tasting. I would definitely recommend one or two Stone IPA 20-ounce bottles for the groom.

Saturday morning, we arrived at Flour Power in La Jolla. All eight of us! The owner of Flour Power seemed surprised at the size of our group but was more than welcoming to two sets of parents, a sister, nephew and the bride and groom. Flour Power had 25 weddings booked for the weekend. The tasting went well, with the exception of a flying purse knocking over one of the display cakes. We offered to pay for damages but they wouldn’t accept.

Then we were off to Cake, at its new location on Reynard Street in Mission Hills. This is the little bakery that you might be envisioning, something similar to what you see in online reality shows like Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. Here, we met with Kimberly, who welcomed us even with our last-minute visit. We are definitely setting an appointment for a tasting with Cake. Their creations are brilliant and we can’t wait to taste.

Overall, the parents hit it off. They were a pleasure to spend time with. We toured our venue, secured flowers, tasted cake and still managed to have fun and relax in our beautiful city. I managed to make it through the low-stress but highly productive weekend without losing any hair.

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