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Joel & Jen got married this weekend and I could not be happier for them.

This past week was a whirlwind of wedding stuff starting Wednesday with the stag. We kept it light for most part. A few of us had to work on Thursday so we decided on a nice dinner at State & Main and then to the casino where we booked a private poker table for the evening. Dinner was awesome, I highly recommend State & Main as I have yet to try something there that I didn’t like. On Wednesdays they have .39 cent wings and most of the guys ordered this “Grilled Cheese Burger” that looked so good.

The poker was great too. The house take $1 for every $10 on the table up to $5 so the rake wasn’t too bad. I mean the casino makes money but we played for like 5 hours and I hardly noticed the rake at all. That might be because I was up though. I enjoyed having a dealer and would certainly consider doing this again.

Thursday night was the rehearsal, followed by dinner at Santa Ana. Big thanks to Jen’s parents for picking up the tab on that one. Best Caesar there but I was disappointed they were out of their lasagna which is what I usually get.

Friday night I had reserved Muddy Waters so that we could have a nice dinner and Joe and Joel could just head back to the hotel room at the forks. I made the reservation weeks ago and just to make sure it was perfect I went to the restaurant to scope things out. The manager at the time was very helpful and reserved a nice table for us that was surrounded by TV’s for the Bomber Game. This was important because this was the first time we were meeting Joel’s friends from Edmonton and the Bombers were playing the Eskimos. Anyway I got there early so that I could greet everyone there and the girl informed me that I was sitting in a reserved section. I told her I was the one who reserved it and then she asked me if I was Tony. I told her who I was and she said I was sitting over in the corner where there was one barely working TV we would all have our backs to. I told her that I booked this section and that I had even come in to confirm the reservation and the manager on duty that night wrote it into the book including the section. She suggested we go look at the book and sure enough it was all right there. She insisted someone had double booked a 20 and there was nothing she could do. I started to look around the restaurant for other good locations with TV’s and pickings were slim. She asked me again in a bitchy tone “what would you like me to do?” – I said I would like you to honor my reservation. Then she raised her voice and said “I TOLD YOU, THERE IS NO OTHER PLACE I CAN PUT 20 PEOPLE” she said “NOW YOUR JUST BEING DIFFICULT” and then walked over to another girl who I assume was the manager to tell them how difficult I was being. The other girl came over and again offered me the corner with no apologies at all. I told her I didn’t appreciate the tone from the first girl and went and sat down. I WILL NEVER SET FOOT IN THAT RESTAURANT AGAIN, PLUS THE FOOD WAS SHITE. Best wings in town my ass.

It all worked out regardless because Joel had a little mishap with the rings. As in he forget where he put them and was scrambling to find them. By the time he arrived at the restaurant everything was smooth sailing and I think he had a good time despite the Bombers loss in OT.

Saturday was game day and I picked up Joe, Jay, and Joel and we all had breakfast together at the Forks before heading to the venue. I have to say I really enjoyed hanging out with Jay and Joe. It’s not surprising that Joel kept such good company in Edmonton.

You could not have asked for a nicer day, or a better venue. It was really nice to have the ceremony and reception all in one place. We went for pictures on the grounds so everything was just relaxed and easy. It was an awesome day. Congratulations Joel and Jen on an amazing day. So happy to be a part of it.