This weekend our colleague and City Council reporter Jason Ruiz got hitched to the fantastic Kristina Borjon. It was a lovely affair, only drizzled a little, and featured an open bar (you know, the important thing). Here’s our’s (and Jason’s) recap.

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Jason

What a weekend. I had two Lyft drivers charge me for rides I did not take. A jockey box mishap that created a lake of beer where no lake should be—on a church’s foyer carpet—likely costing me a cool $500. And I still managed to make it to Pride for a farewell drink (kind of?) at Ripples.

Oh, I also married my best friend.

The past few days have been a literal and figurative blur. From drinking in a grocery store parking lot Friday night with my best men to trekking from Pasadena to Long Beach and back, with the kind of hangover only parking lot drinking can provide, just to check in on our sweet pup, Mango, and ask if it was OK that I married Kristina later that day.

It was all so fast and also so slowed down. Especially when Kristina appeared for the first time at the end of the aisle with her dad, who everyone thought was Vladimir Putin.

Screenshot courtesy Jason Ruiz of the bride’s father, Vladimir Putin.

You would think with so many journalists in attendance someone could have gotten to the bottom of the chemical attack that clearly affected me during my speech. Was it tear gas? Is my father-in-law actually Putin? I need answers.

I requested that Steve Lowery edit out any mentions of crying. Except for his crying on Twitter about not being invited. Love you, Steve! That line will now ensure that there are lots of mentions of crying. But it was a beautiful weekend. It was something worth crying over.

Steve

When I tweeted that I had not been invited to Jason and Kristina’s wedding that was technically correct but not actually correct. Jason noted as much when he texted me the following day: “I will not be sullied on Twitter. You were invited. You said you hate weddings.” And then he added the kissy face emoji, which I thought was a nice touch. Jason’s problem—and this is Jason’s problem—is that he has not known me long enough to be aware of two facets of my personality: 1) I play a ripping good victim and 2) I am a liar… which, now that I think about it, is not the best thing for the editor at a news site to admit, so let’s just say that I have a problem distinguishing the truth as I was traumatized as a child by the actions of the Nixon administration (See? So easy for me; like drinking water.)

Asia

My date was less than excited when I told him I and several of my coworkers would be live tweeting our colleague Jason Ruiz’ wedding in the tone of how he covers Long Beach City Council meetings. My date obviously misunderstood the importance of the matter and said, “Whatever happened to enjoying the moment?” “Love is the death of duty”, I appropriately growled in response, as any person obsessed with their job would say to their significant other, right? (Reminder: Jon Snow has also said these words.)

Amazingly, we’re still together.

I think that was due to the playlist newlyweds Jason and Kristina crowd-sourced for the reception—we had a lot of fun on that dance floor, despite the earlier conga line I had tried and failed to start (a humble thank you to the one stranger who obeyed my frightening command to join)—and the fact that mine and my partner’s judgments of each other had been redirected to a certain incredibly spicy green salsa that left half the table in tears as we ate the rest of our incredibly delicious tacos.

Also, shoutout to Dennis for facing his one fear of public speaking and officiating so well.

Valerie

We at the Long Beach Post are true Long Beachians (…Long Beachites? Whatever). Because I realized at Jason’s wedding that this was the first time I’ve seen them all outside city limits. Usually when I see everyone, I drive 10 minutes to Downtown and the gang’s all there. This time, we drove an hour to see our colleague and friend tie the knot in Pasadena. Except I committed a terrible wedding faux pas and was late to the ceremony. I have a good excuse,  though.

You see, while getting off the Saturday shift and transforming from a grimy breaking news reporter into a less grimy wedding attendee, the space-time continuum broke and suddenly it was “Oh crap, it’s 3:15!” I finished getting ready in the car and thankfully no wedding actually starts on time. We arrived to see the back of the processional, wave at beautiful Kristina as she prepared to walk down the aisle and get snuck into the back row of seats by a sly and talented wedding coordinator.

We watched as Jason and his bride exchanged vows, cried happy tears (lots from Jason) and displayed to the audience how well they know each other, which is amazingly well. I even teared up a little. I also concur with the rest of the crew that the green salsa was spicy beyond belief and I should’ve listened to the nice taco lady when she warned me.

Stephanie

As a fellow reporter of Mexican descent, I need to highlight all the amazing ways the bride and groom celebrated our vibrant culture throughout the evening. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the punctuality of the ceremony (as in it started late like all good Mexican parties do). We Mexicans are known for our tardiness, and whether this was taken into consideration or not, it allowed me the rare opportunity to show up on time, so thank you Jason and Kristina. Then there was the food. A taquero with the added bonus of camarones as a choice of meat? Yes, please! And, what’s this? Pacifico and Modelo on tap and with lime to top it off? Yes!—and yes it was an open bar, too! For dessert, we were then treated to all kinds of pan dulce, like the classic conchas and cuernos. And of course, we heard Spanish songs playing throughout the night, but I thought it was especially adorable that the bride chose to dance to Selena’s classic “Bidi bidi bom bom” with her dad. And that, you guys, is how a Mexican wedding is done.