October 17, 2024 • 42 mins
In today’s episode Chris and Lauren are sharing the most intimate details of their first wedding anniversary. Chris pulled out all the stops to surprise Lauren and ALMOST pulled every detail off. “Real life happens” as Chris would say and its a story you won’t want to miss.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
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.
(00:39):
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.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
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
(01:23):
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
(01:45):
do cards, let's not do presents, let's do small presents,
let's not go crazy.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So Chris to me, yeah, and was that Okay, that's
the question. Everyone, Please let me know.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
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
(02:19):
agreed we were celebrating our first anniversary.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
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?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
WHOA, Okay, so you're I wasted.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You come from a family of lawyers, so the devil
is in the details, as your mom and your brother
have taught me.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Wow, all right, I got all this. I got to
take this in. You're right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
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
(03:09):
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
(03:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
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
(04:09):
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
(04:30):
somebody or send a carrier pigeon.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
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.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Hey, don't mess up when you say anything, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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,
(05:14):
a very small, quaint wedding we had in Napa Valley.
So this was our happy first first anniversary.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Are we going to celebrate too every year? I think, yes,
they enjoy life?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Why not exactly?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
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.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We landed there on Saturday, and I never.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
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.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We pulled up.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Luckily we had like we weren't in like hats, and
you know, we hadn't gone like full I.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
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
(07:05):
baggage claim. We were waiting on our bags. We both
sprinted to bathrooms and I put on my wedding suit.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I had never seen an airport bathroom before.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I'd never seen a bathroom I saw.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I'm I'm changing all over.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
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.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I was wondering what you did. I balance on top
of my shoe, so I'm standing on top of the
shoes and.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I'm always standing on top of the shoe. We did
the same thing.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Okay, so yeah, my foot's not going on Okay, my
foot yeah not going back. Yes, it's stand on.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Your own shoes. Yeah, be on your own item.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I'm okay to lean into a wall. It's the floor
for me.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All I think about is like that, it's so much
other people's pee on the floor.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
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
(08:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Just anyway, And even though we got our bags, we
were able.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To change in the vacuum before we went to get
those bags at baggage quick so Superman.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
In the Lower Sla came out of the phone booth
we were changed.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Uh, we did look a lot better.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
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
(09:47):
screaming in the kitchen and what.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, I think is secretly a nice guy, Yeah he is.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
But you know, Thomas is such a soft soul, and
I think.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That was reflected in the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Our incredible food and you are lucky to even be here.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Was he nice on the show? Yeah, he was.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
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
(10:54):
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.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
It's cool to do.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
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
(11:31):
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.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Never thought they'd asked that question. And they let you
change a few things.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
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.
(12:15):
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
(12:38):
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.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
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
(13:14):
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.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
It was such a symphony.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
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
(14:02):
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
(14:23):
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?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Like, because it's art?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
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.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
No, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And also I think because you feel you're kind of
a part of history there. You're a part of American
culture there.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
You feel it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
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.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
It was still coming up. Yeah, and he probably helped
cement it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
In Chicago and all these Lagasi.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
You know, we should look up how we wound up
in Napa.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
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.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Thank you to Nicole and Ian yees Yeah, Ian.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
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
(17:12):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
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
(17:48):
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
(18:08):
on the counter.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
For the night, under the menu for the night.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
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.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So I could that was a really cool moment.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I was speaking a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
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
(18:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And that was so fun to be in that same room,
in our same room.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
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
(19:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
We're really enjoying the hotel room.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
The Savants family out of Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
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
(21:15):
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.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
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.
(21:47):
That was beautiful. And we went to a game.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Their wines were spectactical.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All their wines are incredible. We went to a damas
Adamus or Adamis, but either way.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
We apologize us.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, big fan of theirs.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And then we went home and got ready for dinner.
And that's when I surprised you.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
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
(22:36):
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
(22:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
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.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
And obviously, what doesn't do you think the guy who.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Married us, you know, had to be back to bless
us again. And so they joined us for dinner.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
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?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
First?
Speaker 1 (23:35):
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
(23:58):
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,
(24:20):
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.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Now you got me to.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Nap, and it was a surprise. Friends, there was a surprise,
and then you had the whole Monday.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
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.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I got to call her out. We're given permission to
call her out.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It'll keep it out of their.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Ass, keeps it on the grid.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Three, plan a surprise to a meaningful place, and that's
just going to mean the world.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That they and you'll both enjoy. But definitely with them
in mind for maybe.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, it's always the friends and family.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You used to tell me this.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Very thing about The Bachelor. You used to say, it's
not the people on the show who spoil the show.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It's like their mom.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's their friend from high school who knows they're on
the show or knew they.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
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
(26:47):
brand That is the vineyard where Lauren and I got engaged.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And we had not been back since we got engaged.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
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
(27:12):
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.
(27:34):
I just love the vineyard. I love their wine, and
I love their little outlook where we got engaged.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's a beautiful spot. They have a gorgeous tasting room
and a beautiful view. I highly recommend getting engaged there.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
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
(28:05):
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.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, if you see I mean Roy Brand, Servant Adamus,
these great wines we went to. We also love Lakoya,
Cardinal Mount Brave, you.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
See him on a menu. Those are all all stars
for me.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
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
(28:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
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
(29:30):
is geographically blind. She has no idea where we are
at any time.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Ever, that's helpful for you.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
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
(29:58):
got there because.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
I wanted to could have done it if not for
Smash Smash.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
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.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
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.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Like if she just said, Hi, I'm chef Tom's girlfriend, Ashley.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It would have taken me a second.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
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
(31:05):
just for this.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
And so at that point.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
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
(31:31):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I felt so bad because I could see, I could set.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
You got quiet.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I got really quiet, and I.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Could sense that you were like no, no, no, no,
and I love you so much.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I if I could have gotten like, here's the thing,
maybe if.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
She just said the first.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
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
(32:18):
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
(32:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Links I had gone to to keep this secret.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I mean, tell you the girlfriends and your boyfriends and
your friends that it's a surprise.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
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
(33:19):
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
(33:40):
no idea what she was talking about, so you didn't respond.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I knew what she was talking about.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
But you didn't know what the Yeah, you couldn't interact
because you didn't know.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
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.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
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
(34:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And you know what, it was fun because then I.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
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
(34:56):
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.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We got so lucky.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
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.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Would be perfect.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
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
(35:44):
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.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
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.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Took our.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
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.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
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.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
How am I feeling?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
How are you feeling in that? And yeah, being there,
I haven't even really.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
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
(36:53):
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
(37:14):
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
(37:38):
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.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
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,
(38:09):
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
(38:32):
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,
(38:53):
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
(39:15):
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
(39:37):
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
(39:59):
don't know you knew that it would bring all that,
No I did. What did you think it would bring?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
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
(40:25):
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,
(40:46):
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.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
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
(41:24):
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.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Time to think about it. And one thing that I
love that we.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
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.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
It was a perfect weekend.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
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.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
There.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I well in this the way I began. Happy first
first anniversary. Maybe we have many more.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever, and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
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.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
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.
(00:39):
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.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
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
(01:23):
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
(01:45):
do cards, let's not do presents, let's do small presents,
let's not go crazy.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So Chris to me, yeah, and was that Okay, that's
the question. Everyone, Please let me know.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
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
(02:19):
agreed we were celebrating our first anniversary.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
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?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
WHOA, Okay, so you're I wasted.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
You come from a family of lawyers, so the devil
is in the details, as your mom and your brother
have taught me.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Wow, all right, I got all this. I got to
take this in. You're right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
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
(03:09):
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
(03:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
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
(04:09):
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
(04:30):
somebody or send a carrier pigeon.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
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.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Hey, don't mess up when you say anything, and I.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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,
(05:14):
a very small, quaint wedding we had in Napa Valley.
So this was our happy first first anniversary.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Are we going to celebrate too every year? I think, yes,
they enjoy life?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Why not exactly?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
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.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We landed there on Saturday, and I never.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
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.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We pulled up.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Luckily we had like we weren't in like hats, and
you know, we hadn't gone like full I.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
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.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
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
(07:05):
baggage claim. We were waiting on our bags. We both
sprinted to bathrooms and I put on my wedding suit.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I had never seen an airport bathroom before.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I'd never seen a bathroom I saw.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I'm I'm changing all over.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
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.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
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.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I was wondering what you did. I balance on top
of my shoe, so I'm standing on top of the
shoes and.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I'm always standing on top of the shoe. We did
the same thing.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Okay, so yeah, my foot's not going on Okay, my
foot yeah not going back. Yes, it's stand on.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Your own shoes. Yeah, be on your own item.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I'm okay to lean into a wall. It's the floor
for me.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
All I think about is like that, it's so much
other people's pee on the floor.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
And no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
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
(08:42):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Just anyway, And even though we got our bags, we
were able.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To change in the vacuum before we went to get
those bags at baggage quick so Superman.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
In the Lower Sla came out of the phone booth
we were changed.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Uh, we did look a lot better.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
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
(09:47):
screaming in the kitchen and what.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, I think is secretly a nice guy, Yeah he is.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
But you know, Thomas is such a soft soul, and
I think.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That was reflected in the restaurant.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Our incredible food and you are lucky to even be here.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Was he nice on the show? Yeah, he was.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
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
(10:54):
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.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
It's cool to do.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
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
(11:31):
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.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Never thought they'd asked that question. And they let you
change a few things.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
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.
(12:15):
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
(12:38):
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.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
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
(13:14):
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.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
It was such a symphony.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
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
(14:02):
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
(14:23):
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?
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Like, because it's art?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
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.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
No, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
And also I think because you feel you're kind of
a part of history there. You're a part of American
culture there.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
You feel it.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
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.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
It was still coming up. Yeah, and he probably helped
cement it.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
In Chicago and all these Lagasi.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
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.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
You know, we should look up how we wound up
in Napa.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
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.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Thank you to Nicole and Ian yees Yeah, Ian.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
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
(17:12):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
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
(17:48):
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
(18:08):
on the counter.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
For the night, under the menu for the night.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
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.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So I could that was a really cool moment.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
I was speaking a little bit.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
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
(18:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
And that was so fun to be in that same room,
in our same room.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
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
(19:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
We're really enjoying the hotel room.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
The Savants family out of Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
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
(21:15):
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.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
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.
(21:47):
That was beautiful. And we went to a game.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Their wines were spectactical.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All their wines are incredible. We went to a damas
Adamus or Adamis, but either way.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
We apologize us.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
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.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, big fan of theirs.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And then we went home and got ready for dinner.
And that's when I surprised you.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
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
(22:36):
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
(22:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
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.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
And obviously, what doesn't do you think the guy who.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Married us, you know, had to be back to bless
us again. And so they joined us for dinner.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
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?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
First?
Speaker 1 (23:35):
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
(23:58):
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,
(24:20):
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.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Now you got me to.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Nap, and it was a surprise. Friends, there was a surprise,
and then you had the whole Monday.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
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.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I got to call her out. We're given permission to
call her out.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
It'll keep it out of their.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Ass, keeps it on the grid.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Three, plan a surprise to a meaningful place, and that's
just going to mean the world.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
That they and you'll both enjoy. But definitely with them
in mind for maybe.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, it's always the friends and family.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You used to tell me this.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Very thing about The Bachelor. You used to say, it's
not the people on the show who spoil the show.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
It's like their mom.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's their friend from high school who knows they're on
the show or knew they.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
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
(26:47):
brand That is the vineyard where Lauren and I got engaged.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
And we had not been back since we got engaged.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
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
(27:12):
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.
(27:34):
I just love the vineyard. I love their wine, and
I love their little outlook where we got engaged.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's a beautiful spot. They have a gorgeous tasting room
and a beautiful view. I highly recommend getting engaged there.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
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
(28:05):
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.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, if you see I mean Roy Brand, Servant Adamus,
these great wines we went to. We also love Lakoya,
Cardinal Mount Brave, you.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
See him on a menu. Those are all all stars
for me.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
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
(28:49):
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.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
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.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
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
(29:30):
is geographically blind. She has no idea where we are
at any time.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Ever, that's helpful for you.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
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
(29:58):
got there because.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
I wanted to could have done it if not for
Smash Smash.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
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.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
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.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Like if she just said, Hi, I'm chef Tom's girlfriend, Ashley.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
It would have taken me a second.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
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
(31:05):
just for this.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
And so at that point.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
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
(31:31):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
I felt so bad because I could see, I could set.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
You got quiet.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I got really quiet, and I.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
Could sense that you were like no, no, no, no,
and I love you so much.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I if I could have gotten like, here's the thing,
maybe if.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
She just said the first.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
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
(32:18):
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
(32:38):
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.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Links I had gone to to keep this secret.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I mean, tell you the girlfriends and your boyfriends and
your friends that it's a surprise.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
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
(33:19):
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
(33:40):
no idea what she was talking about, so you didn't respond.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
I knew what she was talking about.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
But you didn't know what the Yeah, you couldn't interact
because you didn't know.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
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.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
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
(34:19):
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.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
And you know what, it was fun because then I.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
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
(34:56):
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.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
We got so lucky.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
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.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Would be perfect.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
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
(35:44):
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.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
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.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
Took our.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
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.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
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.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
How are you feeling?
Speaker 1 (36:28):
How am I feeling?
Speaker 3 (36:29):
How are you feeling in that? And yeah, being there,
I haven't even really.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
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
(36:53):
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
(37:14):
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
(37:38):
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.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
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,
(38:09):
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
(38:32):
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,
(38:53):
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
(39:15):
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
(39:37):
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
(39:59):
don't know you knew that it would bring all that,
No I did. What did you think it would bring?
Speaker 1 (40:03):
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
(40:25):
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,
(40:46):
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.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
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
(41:24):
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.
Speaker 3 (41:37):
Time to think about it. And one thing that I
love that we.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
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.
Speaker 3 (42:02):
It was a perfect weekend.
Speaker 2 (42:03):
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.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
There.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
I well in this the way I began. Happy first
first anniversary. Maybe we have many more.
Speaker 3 (42:26):
I love you.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
dramatic pod ever, and make sure to write us a
review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
next time.
Hosts And Creators
Lauren Zima
Chris Harrison
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