This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. Chris Harrison and Lauren z Ema coming to you from the home office in Austin, Texas. Elsie, Happy first first anniversary.
Wow, I feel like I'm on a high right now. If I sound high, I guess I am. I'm just tired and feeling romantic, and maybe that's a high. We've just arrived home from an absolute surprise by you, Chris Harrison, for me, and I'm so grateful and feeling so blessed. And this past weekend went by in a blur, almost on the level of the world that was our wedding, because that felt like it went by too fast, too good things always do, Basically everybody, Chris Harrison and I had this agreement.
Okay, what's a married couple's word for a gentleman's agreement? Had an agreement? Yeah, did you lie to me? I don't know.
Being a little bit, I fudged there. I played in the gray areas when you are in a relationship, when you get married, you will have this, especially if you've been in a relationship for a while, You're gonna have these negotiations if you will. It's about what we need to come up to come up with a good word for this because everyone who's let me just tell you what we're talking about, because you've been there, and that is when you're married, it's like, babor, we do anything
for anniversary? Are we going to do anything for each other's birthdays? Are we doing? What are we doing? Especially when you have kids? What are we doing for each other for Christmas this year? And you make an agreement, a marital agreement of no, we're not you know, let's do cards, let's not do presents, let's do small presents, let's not go crazy.
So Chris to me, yeah, and was that Okay, that's the question. Everyone, Please let me know.
We agreed that we weren't doing any thing for this first anniversary. And that might sound wild, but we are going to Portugal together in a few weeks and that was our anniversary trip. It was our We never did a honeymoon, and now we're doing one trip that was going to be the big moment, which I still think it is, but we I thought that was when we agreed we were celebrating our first anniversary.
The devil's in the details. We said, let's not get each other presence. We didn't say let's not do anything. What we said was, hey, babe, can we agree we're not going to get each other presents?
WHOA, Okay, so you're I wasted.
You come from a family of lawyers, so the devil is in the details, as your mom and your brother have taught me.
Wow, all right, I got all this. I got to take this in. You're right.
We did agree no presence, and we didn't agree no secret surprise trip planning, which is what this wonderful man did. He gave me a card about a week ago. I walk into the bathroom and there's a card on the counter, and I thought, oh, maybe he's just writing me a nice note. But it gave me a card. I opened it and it said surprise. We are going to Napa, where it all began, for our first anniversary this weekend. All will be revealed. All has been planned by me.
Happy anniversary, no details. What a sweet, wonderful man. And so I was super excited and incredibly surprised. You've never surprised me on this level. I had no inkling, I had no hint you were planning this trip. I had no suspicion. I was completely floored, and so I tip my hat to you, sir.
It is incredibly hard being married to Angela Lansbury and Colombo. She comes from a family of lawyers, she is astute, she is smart. It is so impossible to get any thing by you. This was I mean, I had to go deep state fake here with trying to keep things. I'm booking flights. Here's the thing too. Technology makes things very difficult because as soon as I book a flight
for Lzi, it'll pop up in her app. As soon as I do a lot of things, you start getting correspondence, you start getting emails and text messages from restaurants, from you name it, and so I'm like, oh my gosh, there's alerts throughout your life. Now you can't just call somebody or send a carrier pigeon.
You know what else is hard to the texting, Like if you told me now you've now revealed that you know, we might be texting a friend over here, and you had to and this person about it side text and.
Hey, don't mess up when you say anything, and I.
Guess we're remiss. The reason I said happy first first anniversary for those that didn't know, Lauren and I look If it's good enough to do once, let's do it twice. We got married twice. I highly recommend it if you want to do two weddings, because at this point in your life, do what you want. Have fun. So our first wedding was October fourteenth of last year. That's the one, a very small, quaint wedding we had in Napa Valley. So this was our happy first first anniversary.
Are we going to celebrate too every year? I think, yes, they enjoy life?
Why not exactly?
So Chris took me back to Napa where we got married, where we also got engaged. And what was incredible too, was that you had these surprises revealed along the way.
We landed there on Saturday, and I never.
Expected this again, it didn't even cross my mind. You took me to a place the two of us have always wanted to go, a restaurant that I think is on a lot of people's bucket list because it's maybe it's one of the most famous restaurants in the world and maybe the most famous restaurant in America, The French Laundry in Napa, and.
We pulled up.
Our flight was two hours late, so in very I guess rom com date movie fashion carry. We both had to change in the airport. So we left the Sacramento Sacramentar airport. All you told me was to dress really well. So I'm in like a velvet black dress. You're in your wedding suit walking out of the bathroom.
Luckily we had like we weren't in like hats, and you know, we hadn't gone like full I.
Did my makeup in the airport bathroom. Shout out to the young woman I met who also had to do her makeup in the airport bathroom. She was already to a girls trip in Phoenix. I hope you had a great time. I told her to go out in Scottsdale. We were chit chatting about that.
Yeah. So in our layover, you're like, look, I was like, babe, we're going to be cutting it close now because I was doing the math in my head, and our plane in Phoenix, our layover kept getting delayed and delayed, and so You're like, I'm at least going to go put a lash and some makeup on. So you did a half makeover will make over in Phoenix without getting changed. And then when we landed in Sacramento, we went to
baggage claim. We were waiting on our bags. We both sprinted to bathrooms and I put on my wedding suit.
I had never seen an airport bathroom before.
I'd never seen a bathroom I saw.
I'm I'm changing all over.
So if somebody walked into the bathroom and a couple of people did, uh, well, sorry for what you saw. But uh, you know, my my bag's open displayed everywhere, and I'm like changing and I'm hopping around because you know how you're also trying not to touch the bathroom floor. Oh I do. It's a real balancing act.
So here's the thing I do, because I've had to change in bathrooms many time for work with ET. You keep your shoes on and then you like, as you're taking your clothes off, you you step like a leg out of a pant back into the shoe like you're always.
I was wondering what you did. I balance on top of my shoe, so I'm standing on top of the shoes and.
I'm always standing on top of the shoe. We did the same thing.
Okay, so yeah, my foot's not going on Okay, my foot yeah not going back. Yes, it's stand on.
Your own shoes. Yeah, be on your own item.
At one point, I'll admit I did lean to the starboard side in my and I'm not going to touch anything. So luckily I was near a wall and my head went into the wall. So I don't know if that's better.
I'm okay to lean into a wall. It's the floor for me.
All I think about is like that, it's so much other people's pee on the floor.
And no, no, no.
So another travel tip, always carry So here's the thing. We rarely check bags, but for this trip we did. But in your carry on you must always have your key, toiletries and an outfit change. And like if you need an outfit for that day or the next day, I always put that in my carry on. Even if I'm checking a bag, I operate as if that check bag might be lost, and I put like the next two days key things in the carry on.
Just anyway, And even though we got our bags, we were able.
To change in the vacuum before we went to get those bags at baggage quick so Superman.
In the Lower Sla came out of the phone booth we were changed.
Uh, we did look a lot better.
We go to the French we we get in the car and I don't know where we're going, and we pull up and we pull up to the French Laundry and Wow, what an experience. I've never had a better service experience at a restaurant. I can't believe it took us this long to get there. Because you've actually known the very famous chef, chef Thomas Keller for a while, right, Yeah, we've.
You know, our paths across because we used to he plays a lot of golf, and we've ended up vacationing in the same area and we've spent some time together. So I've known him, kind of known him for probably over a decade now, and he is such a gentle soul. It's very off putting because you think you know most chefs. You're thinking, like, I don't know Gordon Ramsay and people screaming in the kitchen and what.
Well, I think is secretly a nice guy, Yeah he is.
But you know, Thomas is such a soft soul, and I think.
That was reflected in the restaurant.
The biggest thing I was surprised about and I hadn't, like obviously, I to know we were going, so I'd done a lot of googling, but I do know of the French laundry. But I think I had this idea in my head like maybe it's from shows like The Bear or Chef's Table on Netflix, that it would be very like, this is.
Our incredible food and you are lucky to even be here.
You're going to take what you get and a lot of Michelin. So French laundries three Michelin stars has been for forever. It's which is astounding. And yeah, actually, by the way, Thomas Keller was in The Bear. He had a great camera.
Was he nice on the show? Yeah, he was.
He was kind, he was playing, Yes, he did. He played himself and he was the wise kind of old sage and not to say you're old Thomas, but he was the wise sage for the Bear in the in the in the show. But yeah, and it's it's it's been on my bucket list for a long time. And
you and I have had Thomas Keller meals before. We've been to events where he's cooked, and so we've been around Thomas, but we've never been to his you know, Mount Rushmore, his French laundry, and so it was something that's been on my list for a long time that I've this culinary experience I wanted to enjoy with you.
It's cool to do.
Something with you that you've never done before, because sometimes those experiences in places specifically are a little hard to find because of the show. Like you've been so many places and you've done so many things through the Bachelor that I like when we give experienced something for the first time together. So yeah, the service was just so incredible and so surprising that their whole mentality there is actually the opposite of what you might think. It's we
are so grateful you're here. We know this is a special experience for you. When they asked us, do you guys have any dietary restrictions or anything we'll need to change on the menu, I.
Never thought they'd asked that question. And they let you change a few things.
Yeah, they And you know there's you and I have talked about this before, and I've said this before about the way you treat people and you meet them. If someone comes up in the airport, the next person comes up, and you've now you've met five hundred people in one day, and how you treat everybody the same because when you meet that next person, that's their first experience, that's their moment.
When I was hosting Millionaire, I always you know, you did seven shows a day, the seventh show needed to be as good as the first because that was their moment. And I feel like Thomas Keller has created a culture at French Laundry where everybody that walks in that door, whether you are the they've been there. They're celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, and so they treat us on year thirty just like someone who's been there on year one. We felt,
you know, the door's open, it's warm, it's welcoming. They know this is your experience. People are flying from around the world to go through this journey with them. To borrow a phrase from myself.
Yeah, I thought about you because you've always told me that that if you know, if somebody comes up and wants a picture at the airport that day, no matter how tired you are or whatever, you always want to make it a great moment for them. And that's how the restaurant felt. They have a signature Shromsburg champagne made only for them that you're greeted with when you come audit from You have this incredible I have to go back and look at the menu, but what do you
think it was fifteen course meal? Yeah, and every course was different and delightful and beautiful and delicious, and it really and I mean the service is to the level that when I went to go to the bathroom, I don't know how, but there was a waiter waiting there and opening the bathroom door just for me.
It was such a symphony.
I think they're very intuitive, like they they've watched the Symphony so many times that they kind of know intuitively what you're wondering, what you're going to ask, where you're going to go, and they and it's not in your face, you know. I always said, it's kind of like, I don't know, I's trying to think of just certain hotels or whatever where just the service is impeccable where it's not in your face, like oh my gosh, I get it, but it was intuitive where it was just where you
needed it and just where you wanted it. And I was trying to I've thought about this meal a lot, and the food aside. The food is brilliant. The food is you know, is a vision and it's creative and exploratory and all that, but I was trying to think what was the whole experience, because that's what a Michelin rated restaurant supposed to be. And I felt like I went to a great museum and I was experiencing a part of an exhibit. Is that does that make sense?
Like, because it's art?
Yeah, And it was because it's not just about the food. And that's that's hard to explain because you're like, well, I just went to a restaurant. It's about the food.
No, that makes sense.
And also I think because you feel you're kind of a part of history there. You're a part of American culture there.
You feel it.
Yeah, because he that restaurant came up, you know, in the nineties and this time when these incredible chefs were trying and exploring new things in America. I think in making global news for the first time.
Especially in a place in Napa, Wa. Isn't Napa yet, Thomas Keller took a leap of going into Napa thirty years ago. Napa was not the you know sweet spot it is now like such such a tour.
It was still coming up. Yeah, and he probably helped cement it.
I mean sure, but he's part of that legion of if you're you know, a food person like Charlie Trotter out of Chicago and Grant I forget his last name, who started a linea.
In Chicago and all these Lagasi.
Yeah, these like the chefs were really make like making global noise from America, I think for the first time, and probably maybe a little in the eighties, but definitely in the nineties, especially because of TV too, to.
Do it on the West coast because New York huge, you're your hometown of Chicago, because of Charlie Trotter was thrown on the map. You know, going west of the Mississippi River was quite wild. Going out west, not just a Los Angeles or San Francisco, but to the small cow town yeah, Napa Valley.
You know, we should look up how we wound up in Napa.
And then you know, the late nineties is when you know, Cabernet really did blow up and you know, like the ninety seven Vintage and all that, but he was there doing it in the nineties. That was that was pretty wild and I you know, I've never had that conversation with him, I need to of that was a leap of faith you took to open up there.
Well, I would highly recommend the French Laundry. It is a once in a lifetime I mean, if you can afford to do it, more good on you. But if you have someone who you really love, who really loves food, and there is a special occasion, it is so unexperienced you'll never forget.
Two more things I want to say about it. Number One, the staff, God bless you. Thank you for such an experience. But what I loved is, you know you and I love to talk to people. We love to talk to the chefs, We love to talk to the Samalia the ways.
Thank you to Nicole and Ian yees Yeah, Ian.
And Nicole was awesome. But what I loved is when we I talked to him, how long have you been at you know, French Laundry? And they had all been there for quite some time. Well, Ian was somewhat new, Nicole had been there a while, and they were both they realized they were on the mountaintop. It was not lost on them that they were at French Laundry every day.
And they were so grateful to Chef Keller, and they were just kind of busting at the seams talking about their experience at French laundry, Like it's just as important to them that they are there and it wasn't lost on them, which that made me feel even more excited that they get it.
Yeah, it just seems like he's really doing it right too. Like we found out that he I mean, we got to go see the kitchen and the wine cellar. Yeah, there was such a great community in those spaces, and thank you to the staff for letting us see inside your world. But we found out that Chef Keller, you know, he has housing for everybody across the street from the restaurant,
and he's really taking care of his employees. And I wish I'd taken a picture of There was a quote up in the kitchen about taking care of the guests, and it was, yeah, just so beautiful and thoughtful, and you felt like you were really part of that family for a night and oh my gosh, we go in the kitchen and they had I guess every night they do this, they have a different quote they print out on the counter.
For the night, under the menu for the night.
Yeah, and they had a picture of you and a quote from you, and that was so cool. I could you lit up like a Christmas tree. I think everybody listens knows this that you love what you do. You love your job. Probably after that you love sports casting and maybe the weather. But then you love food and you love learning about food and watching chefs work.
So I could that was a really cool moment.
I was speaking a little bit.
Yeah, so thank you to the staff for being so thoughtful with us. Couldn't recommend French laundry more. After that, the surprises kept coming. You took me back to the hotel where we stayed at for our wedding last year, to the One Full Archer, which is right in the heart of downtown Napa. It's such a great location if you want to check out Napa, such a great place to just like because you can stay there and walk
and go get a great coffee and a croissant. But also it's well located to different you know, obviously wineries you want to go see.
And that was so fun to be in that same room, in our same room.
I ran it all back. It was it was really it hit me when I walked in our room just because I remember, like we had the clothes wreck and your wedding dress was in the corner, and you know, we put out, you know, our rings and the watches and the safe and so it was just like, I don't know, everything just kind of came back. The nostalgia was already there just one year later.
You know, I didn't know I agree, and I didn't think about this until we were until we did this weekend. I would recommend going back to where you got married so much, because one, it helps bring back memories in a sensory ways you just said. But two, I remember so much about that weekend and it was so perfect and so joyous. But no matter how much try to take it all in, you are doing so much when you're getting married, saying hi to people, getting ready for this,
going to that, that it just moves quickly. And so to be back in the room, I actually felt like, oh, we're enjoying this.
We're really enjoying the hotel room.
Now.
Last year it felt like, you know, it was a great room, but like we're here to get ready to go to the rehearsal.
Dinner and now this this, and now we're running in and out so much separately because like I'm going to go see my girls, I'm going to go see my parents, make sure they're okay, and so yeah, you're hosting. We were hosting an event out of our room, and so we were in and out so much and it was just hectic, and so this was just us and it was quiet and it was slower. Yeah, we have to drink it all in literally literally.
So we're back at the Archer and then the next morning you just had a couple cool tastings set up. We got to go and meet a wonderful family called the Servantes fans of.
The Savants family out of Mexico City.
And they have a beautiful vineyard in Napa and they were making some gorgeous cabernet and sauvignon blanc and they literally let us eat lunch with them as a family and meet their grandkids and they were such a beautiful They are really what I think of as the best
part of Napa. Like you can go and see a really well known vineyard and see their process and that's one experience, and it's really like all the bells and whistles, Or you can go with a local family who's making this a family business and really be part of their world for a minute, and that's very cool.
Yeah, it's one of the things, you and I both. I'm glad that we both love that. You know, we are much more about the people make the experience, and that's what you remember. And you know, I'll always remember about this trip. Adding another family to our list of friends. And they were they were sitting there, as you said, with you know, the mom down to the grandkids and just eating their food on their porch at their family home. That was beautiful. And we went to a game.
Their wines were spectactical.
All their wines are incredible. We went to a damas Adamus or Adamis, but either way.
We apologize us.
Their wines were amazing too, some full cabernet and they are an entirely biodynamic vineyard which was very cool and just a gorgeous tasting room.
Yeah, big fan of theirs.
And then we went home and got ready for dinner. And that's when I surprised you.
Oh my god again, friends, Okay, this man. You surprised me over and over in ways I didn't expect, over and over, but somehow I didn't expect them, and yet it made me feel so loved because it was like you knew what I would want when we woke up in the morning on Sunday, we were walking through the lobby to leave the hotel, and I actually said out loud, oh, I kind of I miss seeing Mike, our dear friend,
Mike who married us, who officiated our wedding. I miss seeing Mike sitting here at the table in the morning with his coffee. That was what happened last year. And then Saturday night we go down to go to dinner and I'm walking through the lobby and Mike and his wife Nadine are sitting there. And you surprised me with our friends joining us.
Because I wanted, I want us to have our alone time. So I wanted like a good day and a half where it was just us, where we could really kind of get into the moment and share. And then I wanted kind of some of the people who meant the most to us to be there.
And obviously, what doesn't do you think the guy who.
Married us, you know, had to be back to bless us again. And so they joined us for dinner.
Everybody send this I send this podcast to your partner if you want them to get like, what would you say your tips are for playing?
First?
Why would you call me? And you know I'm going to start a business on how to sneak a leap. So here's the thing. This is Sunday night and we're just going to a dinner, just going to you know, a nice little Italian dinner there and I think it was Chichio was the name of the place there in Jansville. But the big surprise was on Monday night. That was you know, that was October fourteenth. That's our actual anniversary. And that's the one thing all of Monday I had
planned because that was our actual anniversary. I had Monday planned down to everything, every experience I wanted specifically for Elsie, and I had kept it a secret with the Ventnors, with our friends, with everybody, and I made it. It's Saturday night, we're at dinner, like we've made it. There's nothing that can burst this bubble of secrecy.
Now you got me to.
Nap, and it was a surprise. Friends, there was a surprise, and then you had the whole Monday.
Yeah, the people we were going to see Monday, they had not spoiled this. And I've been texting, We've been calling, you know, on the way to the gym in the morning, I'm calling people and we're oh okay, this is what's happening. I'm on the golf course places I know that Elz wouldn't see me. I'm like, okay, I got this, I got you, Like Monday is all set. The only thing I didn't plan was smash Ly. I didn't see sweet.
I got to call her out. We're given permission to call her out.
Yes, okay.
So your tips for a good surprise, which are great, I'm going to go over them now. I think One, plan the details at a place where the person wouldn't even hear you or be suspicious you went on the golf course to make these calls about planning this. Two, if you're planning a flight, don't put their rewards number into the reservation.
It'll keep it out of their.
Ass, keeps it on the grid.
Three, plan a surprise to a meaningful place, and that's just going to mean the world.
That they and you'll both enjoy. But definitely with them in mind for maybe.
Bringing the people they love. You brought our friends in and that made it all the more than meaningful. And then five and I think this was the one, the new one we've learned. Now, make sure that you not only tell the people who need to know, but tell them, hey, don't tell your friends and family. And actually, I think you should have known this from the show.
Yeah, it's always the friends and family.
You used to tell me this.
Very thing about The Bachelor. You used to say, it's not the people on the show who spoil the show.
It's like their mom.
It's their friend from high school who knows they're on the show or knew they.
Told what happened, because everybody has someone. Yes, and all fairness to Chef Tom at Roy Vineyard where we got married. Who this is where we were going to end up on Monday night for the penultimate moment of this trip. So, and I guess I should lead with that Monday what I had planned was number one, we went back to brand That is the vineyard where Lauren and I got engaged.
And we had not been back since we got engaged.
There's this beautiful outlook on Pritchard Hill overlooking Lake Hennessey. We had not been back since we got engaged a couple of years ago, and I wanted to go back. I wanted the day to start where we began, which was where we got engaged. And so we went back, and I specifically said, I want to go up there. I want to have a glass of wine. I want to you know, have a toast with our friends, take
some pictures. And that's where we started. The day was at Brand and our thanks to Brand for welcoming us back, not only that but also allowing us kind of back up in our little spot and giving us the space to do that. That was really special. And we met the owner of Brand and it was really funny because I had never met the owner of that particular vineyard. I just love the vineyard. I love their wine, and I love their little outlook where we got engaged.
It's a beautiful spot. They have a gorgeous tasting room and a beautiful view. I highly recommend getting engaged there.
And we met him. We didn't get to meet his wife. But it was funny because I'm like, you know, I feel awkward because I've never met somebody who's land or home means so much to me, and I've never met you, like I've had some of the biggest moments. Now the biggest moment of my life happened here where I got engaged.
I didn't even know you. So it's nice to say thank you, but so that's where we started, and then we were going to end up at the place where we got married, which is Roy Vineyards and Soda Canyon, and I highly recommend their wines, but also going to their tasting room.
Yeah, if you see I mean Roy Brand, Servant Adamus, these great wines we went to. We also love Lakoya, Cardinal Mount Brave, you.
See him on a menu. Those are all all stars for me.
And unfortunately the Roy Vineyard, you know, got burned down in the twenty twenty fire, and so they really rebuilt and it's just magnificent. I mean, it's just such a beautiful tasting room. So if you have a chance, it's a small vineyard, but it is so worth it. But that was we got married there, So that was we
going to end up. And we not only got married there, but we had this beautiful meal by one of the most incredible chefs, Chef Tom, and so that was going to be We're gonna have a very quiet dinner with Chef Tom. You are friends Mike and.
Friend Catherine who runs the taste here in front. Yeah, Chef Tom Stafford is just what an all star he is. His food rivaled French Laundry food to me.
So that's what I've kept a secret. Okay, I didn't care about anything. That's what I kept a secret. And that I'm like, she's gonna I know the look on her face when we pull up to Roy. The other thing, I don't know if you can if you're asking about tips for how to trick somebody, I can't promise this. But one weakness, the kryptonite of Lauren Zema is she is geographically blind. She has no idea where we are at any time.
Ever, that's helpful for you.
And it's so helpful because when we drove up the brand we've been there before, there's a big lake next to it. She's like, where are we? And I'm like, this is great. Same thing. We could have driven all the way to Roy and until she saw the actual house, she probably would not have known where we were. So having a spouse it's geographically blind, that is wonderful. But that's what I wanted to keep a secret until we got there because.
I wanted to could have done it if not for Smash Smash.
So Saturday night, we go to dinner and we're going to a restaurant you've never been to before, and we walk in, and as I'm walking in, a young woman is standing up and looking at us, and I thought, oh, okay, she's seeing Chris.
She's just really excited. She wants a picture. But like, literally we hadn't even sat down and she's standing up and coming over to me, and she goes, Lauren, I'm chef Tom's girlfriend Ashley, and he is so excited to see you tomorrow. It wasn't even like a Hi, nice to meet you guys.
Like if she just said, Hi, I'm chef Tom's girlfriend, Ashley.
It would have taken me a second.
But I think you could have swooped in and maybe changed the direction of the conversation. But she said and then oh, Ashley, all our love to you. But it just became word vomit after that, Like it was like and she kept saying, and she kept saying, and he's so excited to see you tomorrow. I was actually at your wedding last year, and so he's so excited to see you tomorrow for the big event. And he is so and I want to be back in from Chicago just for this.
And so at that point.
I wish there had been a video of me and my face because my jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn't stop what was happening. It really was a scene from the show where I couldn't stop what was happening, and I was just my heart was aching. My jaw had dropped. I tried to like give her these nonverbal cues of like, you know, aboard, aboard. I think she was excited, and she kind of word vomited, and it was out there and we couldn't turn around. We couldn't turn the car around.
I felt so bad because I could see, I could set.
You got quiet.
I got really quiet, and I.
Could sense that you were like no, no, no, no, and I love you so much.
I if I could have gotten like, here's the thing, maybe if.
She just said the first.
Thing, I would have, But it was all happening so fast, Like if she had just said the first thing and then we I don't know if but she kept saying it.
I was trying to find a way to pretend like I hadn't understood what was like if she maybe said something a little bit, you know, hinting, I would have just pretended I was confused, and I would have to preserve what you'd clearly worked so hard for I would have pretended I hadn't figured it out and pretended to be surprised that I would, saying, because, by the way, this wasn't something I was like trying to figure out. I wasn't a kid trying to find out what my
parents got me for Christmas. I wanted to experience the whole surprise. And I was actually so glad. Sometimes I'm annoyed. Sometimes I'll be watching a movie and I'm annoyed. I figured out the end of the movie because now the whole thing's you know, it's a little less interesting. But I didn't want to know. But there was just no way to get around. She had made it so obvious, the.
Links I had gone to to keep this secret.
I mean, tell you the girlfriends and your boyfriends and your friends that it's a surprise.
It was like, and I got to the eve, I got to Christmas Eve, and I was there, I was home. I was crossing the finish line in this girl just blew it up and it was so we sat down. I wasn't upset. I sat down. I go, well, let me tell you about your surprise tomorrow night. Clearly we're going to roy and we're going to sit down and have a dinner by the man that cooked our wedding dinner, and we're going to have some amazing wines. And that's
what happened. But then it also sunk in a little bit further around, like, oh, I feel like I was just very rude to that girl, and I felt like she may have thought you were rude because you didn't respond because I was just both quiet, Well, you didn't know what she was talking about. You're like, I have no idea what she was talking about, so you didn't respond.
I knew what she was talking about.
But you didn't know what the Yeah, you couldn't interact because you didn't know.
No, I mean maybe I picked up on it pretty quickly. I just was so quiet because I knew that I was everything. I knew you were so upset, and so I felt so bad.
But so look, I after a few minutes, I just went up to to say, like, Ashley, don't worry about it, and she, of course she said, oh my god, I just texted Tom and he told me it was a surprise, and now I feel so bad. I just said, don't worry about it. It's not a big deal. But that is the lesson everybody if you're planning a surprise. And this is a thing that we used to say about the Bachelor, Tell it's not just the people who know about the surprise you're helping you with it. It's their people.
It's the third layer of people. That's so you got to worry about.
And you know what, it was fun because then I.
Was able to get really excited for it, was to look forward to it a little bit. So the next day was that was all those this big finish of surprises for our anniversary, like you said, taking me on this journey of We went to the place where we got engaged, and then we went to the place where we got married and we got there at the exact same time again to Roy and took some pictures and it felt I mean was it felt like again it was this beautiful day, the temperature was amazing.
We got so lucky.
I feel so blessed, Like I always feel a little bit like my Dad was watching over us that day because we just said the most perfect day and the sky was so beautiful, and it made me feel like he was just saying hello and making sure everything.
Would be perfect.
And so we had a gorgeous night and an incredible dinner cooked by Chef Tom. And he didn't give us the exact menu from our wedding, but he said it was inspired by and he kind of used some of
the same ingredients and mirrored the dishes. And we got to sit there with us and the guy who married us, and his wife who sang in our wedding, Mike, and a dean and the woman who helped us plan our wedding, Catherine, and the guy who cooked our meal, Tom, and I guess you and I the people who got married and just enjoy it.
Opened up a ridiculous run of some burgundies that led into some real wines, uh cabernets and some oh man, it was just it was ever it was. It was perfect.
Took our.
I always recommend Cheers tablets. You can get the money at the end of the night and they will make sure that you aren't miserable in Napa when you're doing wine tastings all day and then drinking wine at night.
But we you know, we had to. It was almost a full moon out and it was just one of those perfect clear nights because it had rain the night before in Napus it was so clear you could see it.
How are you feeling?
How am I feeling?
How are you feeling in that? And yeah, being there, I haven't even really.
Asked you that I was going to tell you. One of my favorite moments was that you and Nadine had walked back into the kitchen, I think to say thanks to chef Tom and to our friend Catherine who helped put this whole thing on and put our wedding on.
And so Mike and I were so the room where we kind of had our ceremony, Uh is this tasting It's like a living room, right, There's a table and a fireplace and chairs, and so Mike and I were sitting in these two big leather chairs where everybody had just been sitting a year, you know, that night a year before for our wedding. And I don't know, I just we were looking up and it was night, and so I had never really seen the place at night in the lights, and I was like, this is really a
beautiful room. And I don't know, it was kind of like being in a church late at night where you just kind of took I kind of took it in for the first time again, and it just made me emotional and very nostalgic and grateful and happy. And look, my belly was full. I had some great wine, and so it was just kind of it all kind of hit me right at the end where I was just so in love, so grateful and just yeah, blast, I
felt just Mike. Mike just kind of put his eye on my shoulders, like yeah, he just we both kind of just felt this moment together. It was really cool at the end.
I think my favorite moment was before we sat down to dinner, I said to you, I want to go back down because we we had done our dinner on the lower level, and I said, I want to go back down there to where we were with all our friends and family before the sunsets tonight. I want to
see before the light goes away. And so just the two of us went down there, and that was what, you know, our wedding and app was everything I think we wanted it to be, because it was, you know, the small group of the people we love the most, and we got so much great time with them, and
that's what I'll I will remember forever. But standing there with you in that spot again that already held so much emotion, I really was thinking, like, wow, I'm surprised because I loved you so much when we got married, obviously, but I was thinking, I'm surprised by how much deeper I feel like our love has gotten in this first year of marriage. People talk a lot about the first year of marriage and how you know you can have some bumps along the way, which we really haven't had.
But like I think, maybe I naively thought, I don't know, because we're a little older and we know ourselves a little better, I didn't know how much the first year of marriage would still be really impactful. I feel that our love has gotten a lot deeper. I feel that we're even closer. And I felt that in that moment because it was really a bookmark of one year then to now in that same spot and being there physically in that place really helped me reflect on that. So
that made me really grateful and happy. And I never thought about this because, like I said, I had no idea you were taking me there. But I highly recommend going to the place you got married A year later. I was reflecting and thinking, well, to say, we've done this in ten years, like for your tenure, the place might have changed a lot. I don't know, maybe it's not even still there, maybe the same people aren't still there.
So to come back a year later where it's still the same and to kind of have your senses awakened again and have your memory refreshed and again to experience it a little slower was really really cool. So I don't know you knew that it would bring all that, No I did. What did you think it would bring?
I just I knew it would be sentimental for us because you and I both we both appreciate and love the same things. And it's one of the things I've become I've learned over this year of you know, Elsie and I and I agree, it's funny that it's only been a year, but I do think that we have leapt forward so much further than you know you think at the time, Like we are in love and we are connected, and all those things are true a year ago. But you know, what you can't ever make is history.
Only time can help you make history. And we've had
the experience of time now together. And so now that we've had another year under our belt, four more seasons of experience and love and life and all these things, it just brings you closer together, and so now you have we have stories, and so we have you know, we sit there and talk about our our parents and and things that you know, having them there and all those just experiences made it that much more meaningful, and so it was a beautiful trip.
I just reminded always of the importance of celebrating. Like, I don't know, maybe if I told this to someone, it might seem like a lot wow on your first anniversary you went back or what. But I think often our relationship is the thing that we feel we can rely on, so it ends up coming last. You know, you're working, you have your kids, you're doing these things
because you think, oh, the relationship's good, it's there. I don't have to feed that, but the feeding it is what makes it good for so, you know, for the times when you need it. I think it's so important to celebrate each other, to celebrate your love, to take.
Time to think about it. And one thing that I love that we.
Do is that when we give each other these gifts or we do surprises for each other, we always try to do trips. Like I love that you surprised me with a trip instead of an item, because that meant we got to make these memories together and feed our relationship. And I'm like tired, and now I'll get a little teary, but I love you so much and I'm so grateful.
It was a perfect weekend.
Yet again, thank you to all the people who helped you make it perfect. To roy to Brand for all the great memories we've had in both those places. Can't recommend them enough, and can't recommend that enough. Go have a romantic weekend and feed your relationship.
There.
I well in this the way I began. Happy first first anniversary. Maybe we have many more.
I love you.
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