Moss landing

As part of our centerpieces we are using two of these these swirly metal and glass candle holders on either side of a larger candle holder.

They are a little plain, so in order to bring in the natural element of the look that I am going for, my mom and I decided to create a ring to go at the base of the "cup" part of the holder.






We used light weight cardboard, and used the top of the cup as a guide for the circle, We cut that out by hand (Yes, my hands got tired) then used a circle punch for the center. I wish there had been an easier way to get the center of the ring out because they were almost too thick for the hold punch to get through, and it was time consuming not to be able to get through a stack of them at once.



After we finished cutting them all out we gave them a good coating of spray adhesive.
and placed moss over it. It got rather messy at times having to do both sides of the rings, and at times the moss didn't want to adhere very easily at times.









Here is a pile of the completed rings. It took about 5 hours to get these all completed. We made about 80 rings all together since we're having 15 tables, and two small holders, and the larger holder has 3 of the glass holders as well.





Here it is all complted with the ring on. This makes it look a bit more yellow, but reall the moss lends some nice green to the holders, and the centerpiece in general. It was a project that took a while, but it changes up the holder and makes it look less like it was just purchased a plunked on the table.

Have you done any DIY projects in order to "punch up" something store bought ?

and pretty maids all in a row

... So getting Bridesmaid dresses hasn't been one of the easiest tasks for me to tackle. I knew the color from the beginning was going to be purple. I also knew for the formality and location of my wedding a tea length dress would be the best option.

But I also have bridesmaids who are not all made of the same shape and size. I considered having them each wear different styles, but I've always kinda liked matched dresses. I decided to go with Alfred Angelo, as they are affordable, and they made the Jr. Bridesmaids dresses, and colors would coordinate. I asked each of them to look at the website and choose some favorites.

They came up with














I liked all of them. The hard part came when we tried to get everyone together to try them on and see them in person. Even though my Bridesmaids are all with in an hour drive, we all have different schedules and things going on (one had just given birth, one is pregnant)

I went with a bridal salon called Boutique des brides. Mainly because they carry the whole line of Alfred Angelo, and Alfred Angelo seemed to have the shade of purple I was looking for.
It is a small place, but the place is stocked with samples of the whole alfred angelo line, and a majority of Bill Levkoff. Hilda, who runs it is very helpful and pretty much let us have run of the place, trying on whatever caught our fancy.
The girls ended up choosing the dress on the far right. We all felt it would be most flattering on everyone.

We asked Hilda's opinion about what to do about sizing for my pregnant Maid of Honor. She suggested that we go up one size from what her bust measurement would require us to order for her. (at that time she was abou 5 months pregnant). Hopefully that should give enough wiggle room, as she has 4 months of time for losing baby weight.

I am pleased with the selection, and Alfred Angelo dresses seem to have fairly good fabric and details used ! I am excited to see them in person when they come in !

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore... (or choosing a venue.. the FINAL installment)

The seed for this venue was actually planted before we were even engaged.

The story goes that the fiance's dad was having a business dinner in Houston. He was asking the FFIL about how his family was, and he mentioned "oh well if your son ever wants to get married at the venue in his area let me know. I can help. When my Fiancee mentioned this to me, I was excited and wary at the same time. I was excited because it is a fairly unique location. I was wary because it was.....

THE ZOO !

I was excited about the idea of somewhere so unique. It was also one of the first places we went on a date, it's across the street from where he proposed, it was IN the city. There were several pluses before even visiting. My worries was that it wouldn't have the element of elegance and slight formality I was looking for.

We arrived and met with the event coordinator. She was very nice, answered all of our questions with out making it feel like she was trying to "sell" to us, and gave us a packet of all the necessary information we needed.

She showed us the several areas that are available to rent. This is the circular patio where ceremonies can be held. The arch pictured is not there normally there. There is lush trees and flowers around the whole area though.






Cocktail will be on the Africian savanna. The guests will walk a little further into the zoo and there is a patio that looks out onto the African savanna habitat where the animals will still be wandering. We can also choose to have animal encounters where zoo volunteers will bring some smaller animals for guests to pet !

The reception will be here in the great hall. It is a reception room that can fit up to 200 people. It has high wood beamed vaulted ceilings, a stone fire place, and one wall has floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors that lead out onto a patio area. It has an feel of rustic/natural but can still be dressed up quite nicely. The pricing was not crazy out of line, and was very inclusive (Linens, tables, chairs, glassware all included). I was excited !

I still wasn't completely sold however, because even though it was much more than I had hoped for in the elegance department, it was nothing in comparison to getting married at the Legion of honor. We went home and crunched the numbers for each venue, and did pro con lists. Since they each were different in the way the charged, we tried to come up with our best estimates of the price for everything we would need (space, chairs, tables, food, etc) at each venue.

It turns out the zoo to be one of the cheapest options. They also had a date that worked for us available. It took us about two weeks to make the final decision, we debated having a ceremony at the Legion of honor, with a zoo reception, pictures at the legion, or some other venue, we contemplated Wente again (although not very heavily because of the date constraints) we tinkered with many options.

In the end we decided it would be easier for everyone to have the ceremony and reception at one venue, and that it was so unique, and the room had such personality that we called them, and sent our deposit.

In sickness and in health

I don't think any of the weddings I've been to recently have included these words from the traditional wedding vows. For my Fiance and I, whether or not we end up choosing to have them included in the actual ceremony, they have special meaning. After Mrs. Lemon's post on wedding bee, it gave me courage to write about how medical issues have effected my relationship and wedding planning.

While neither of us have issues which require 24/7 special medical attention or that make us not be able to have a"normal" life; we both have medical conditions that we've dealt with our whole lives, and will effect our relationship through out our years together.

In fact I think our understanding of each other's medical issues and shared experiences of many Dr. visits and scary medical tests when we were young is one of the things that helped us bond.

My fiance has epilepsy. (it is actually much misunderstood disorder, and epilepsy foundation has a lot of info if you have time, click the link and take a gander!) He has dealt with it since he was very young. His is very well controlled with daily medication, and I don't expect any problems. However unlike a seating chart, signature drink, or first dance, all the planning in the world can not guarantee a seizure free wedding day. It's something you have to take as it comes.

I have a genetic condition effecting one in 2,000 women. While my medical issue does not effect me, or my fiancee as much on a day to day basis as his epilepsy, it certainly will effect our marriage. It (pretty much 100%) will make it necessary for us to get A LOT of medical help to bring any little ones into the world, and requires me to visit a Dr. a bit more often than most.

We both have known about each others' medical struggles since the first few months of our relationship. It was hard in the beginning to figure out how and when to tell him about it, especially since it's not something that I share with many people. He has always been supportive and caring, and I try to be the same way.

It's not always easy. Even though I know he's not really in immediate danger from a seizure, they are scary, and I do worry about him. We just don't let it get in our way. We do what we have to do to deal with it (Hello Ambulance bill we received since he's in a waiting period for insurance at a new job!), and move on.

We have discussed having donations to the foundations for our conditions as favors at our wedding. I know this is a hot button issue, so we'll see if it works out !


Has anyone else had to deal with either a medical issue of their partner, or worry about how and when to explain theirs to their partner. Did you work it into your wedding day at all ?

Third times the charm ?! (or Our search for a venue part 3)

Ok, so I lied... third time wasn't the charm for us, but I did LOVE The Brazilian room.
It is in the Berkeley hills, in a Tilden county park, and is surrounded by trees, and flowers.


This is what the guests would see as they walked toward the building. Soo pretty, with the flower garden, right ?!






The ceremonies are performed out doors over looking a fabulous view of the hills beyond the park.




Here it is all dressed up for wedding. Those windows are floor to ceiling and also afford a view of the hills beyond and the patio courtyard area where the ceremonies are held.

It is run by the county park and recreation department, and they have "open houses" for people to come see the space instead of personal appointments.

At these open houses, they also have various "preferred" vendors showing their stuff. There were 2 caterers with h'or dourves and drinks, musicians, and 2 florists who had set up some pretty table scapes. All of this gave a much better idea of how the room looked when actually set up for a wedding.

I loved everything about this place. It would fit our 100 person guest list, it had a beautiful area for an outdoor ceremony, AND the rental fee is nominal, especially if you live in Alameda County (which my father does)

The problems were
Because it is an extremely beautiful place, at extremely fair pricing, it is VERY hard to get a date you want. We would've been limited to a morning slot, or a Friday evening wedding, and we started searching for venues a year and 4 months in advance. We didn't have a specific date in mind in the beginning either, just a two month span.

They also have rules about the music. They also are very strict about the ending time if your reservation. You can't even pay a fee for over time. There are more, but these are the ones that bothered me the most.

Because of the price, and the beauty of the building and its surroundings it still remained on our list of possibilities until we found..... THE place... More to come....

First rule of Real Estate LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION !!!!!!! or( where we will get married part 2)

So after heading out to Wente, and deciding it was a bit too far and a bit to "cookie cutter"
We looked closer to the city, actually we looked IN the city at the Legion of honor Museum. Info to Rent the legion of honor IT. IS. GORGEOUS

This a a photo of the outside of the building. It definitely has that indescribable "ohhh... Ahhh" factor when you arrive and approach the building.


You can have your ceremony in this gorgeous greek inspired courtyard/entry way with Rodin's Thinker






PLUS it's on top of a hill, so there are view like this ALL around for picture taking !



The bummer is, unless you want to shell out 20,000 JUST for the fee to rent a gallery your reception is held. Just not as awe inspiring as everything else about this venue, and this is where guests would spend most of their time. They also do offer to do a tent in an outside courtyard, which could be a good option.




The "awe" factor definitely tugged on our imaginations and *almost* made up for the (I think) kinda blah look of the actual reception area. However when we started looking into the costs of the little extras they charge for... like coming in the main beautiful entrance way, Extra time at the end of the evening, security, tent rental if we didn't want the "blah" reception room, etc... it started to get WAAYYY out of control financially. Then we thought of another factor. The weather. Our date was chosen to give us prime weather (Aug. and Sept. are usually VERY reliable good weather months in San Francisco. even so the location on top of the hill lends itself to lots of wind and fog, even if the lower lying areas of the city are calm and blue, so we were nervous about guests being cold in an out door setting.

So..... we kept looking.

TOPLESS CAKE: Wanted for indecent exposure

FROM WIKIPEDIA The origins of the tradition of the wedding cake date back to medieval times, when each guest at a wedding was supposed to bring a small cake, the cakes would be stacked on the table in levels and layers (If the bride and groom were able to kiss over the top of the stack it was considered good luck). These cake stacks would eventually merge into one cake and evolve into the modern wedding cake.

There is even more to the article if you care to learn more about the origins of the wedding cake. But for now, for now I don't want to talk about the cake ! I want to find something to dress up the top of it so the poor thing doesn't have to go topless !

I know the monograms are popular, but I'm not so much a fan of those. Also not so much a fan of the traditional stoic bride and groom topper either. So I have gone in search of something a bit different I found some here (designstudio.com)

- Wouldn't this look fab with bouquets or centerpieces that used calla lilies ?!















This one is one I'm thinking of using myself ! I think it's whimsical, and contains swirls AND my it's my colors, and it's sparkly and and and it's just perfect ! ( and it's $60...maybe not so perfect, we'll see)









I think this one would look very pretty amongst some real or sugar flowers to add some sparkle!













Here are some neat porcelain ones which you can purchase here (wedding collectibles.com)


- a snowflake for a winter wedding?! I think so !









A bride and groom, but in a bit less traditional way, I love the way this has "movement"









Another bride and groom, in color, but still I think different than the traditional "bride and groom topper"










and some very creative ones I found here (design by dorian)


This would be cute for a reception with a travel or Parisian feel











Then there is this one ! It is certainly..... different ! It is called "love never dies"












I shall continue my search for the perfect top so that my cake will not have to go around topless at my wedding !!!!!!!!!!

OH where oh where will our wedding be ?!

This was the main question facing us after he popped the question.

We were very excited and started searching around a few weeks after we got engaged. The night we got engaged we briefly discussed some very loose conditions

- Neither one of us was attached to a church ceremony
- Neither one of us wanted a hotel ball room
- It would be in California
- Needed to hold 100 people
- I didn't want to HAVE to be out at a certain time.
- I wanted no restrictions on the music
- Didn't want a place that had 2 weddings in 1 day if it could be avoided.

When I thought about my wedding before being engaged, I had always kinda wanted to get married in Tahoe. It is GORGEOUS there. The mountains, the crystal blue lake, mountain tops with views.
There are plenty of options for someone wanting to have an outdoor ceremony. The only trouble is it's 4 hours from San Francisco. There is an airport there, but it's small and therefore more expensive to fly into versus a major airport like San Francisco, or Sacramento. With the amount of out of town guests we were expecting, it didn't seem practical to ask them to spend great amounts on plane tickets, or fly in, then travel an additional 4 hours from San Fran or 2.5 hours from Sacramento to get to our wedding location. So we reluctantly decided against looking in Tahoe.

The first place where we made an appointment to look was at Wente Vineyards in Livermore, (about an hour outside of the city)

They have two venues for wedding receptions and ceremonies. The first is at the main Wente vineyard, where you can have an outdoor ceremony, and dine inside, or have a tented reception one of their large lawns. The left is the main event center building where the indoor dining takes place if you choose, and on the right is a set up for an untented ceremony. There are more photos on their website, as I don't believe these quite do it justice.
The second is about 5 minutes from the main event center. It is called Murietta's Well. It is a spanish style building and holds less people. If you choose this location your ceremony is in an actual wine barrel cellar.
The top photo is the outside of the building. Again it is not done justice as in person there are more flowers, and some really neat tiled steps up to a patio area where they would hold cocktail hour over looking the foothills. The bottom photo is a photo of the wine cellar area.

This is the type of venue that is in THE wedding business. They have an office where you go in watch a video, look at photos of past weddings, etc then speak to a coordinator (IE; sales person)
The event coordinator was very nice answered all questions, was on time, and responded to all E mail and phone calls quickly. I did feel she was a bit "sales-y" however. Also they have very limited availability for the months we were looking into (August and September) and if you chose Murietta's well (which I preferred) it was a MUST to be out by10:30, and there was limitations on music because of the houses in the hills above. We had tried outside the city limits hoping to save some moeny, however they also had minimums for food and such which, while in our budget, would've stretched the amount of other little things we could do.

We kept looking....

A rose by any other name...

The changing of your name is a point of great deliberation for many women. They have to decide if they are going to take their husband's name (and whether to actually use it, or just keep it changed on paper), keep their maiden name, hyphenate, or form some new name with both names. (I had a middle school teacher who did this) . Then you have to listen to others opinions on the matter, whether you asked for their advice or not.

I have decided to change my name when the time comes. It will be a bit strange, I'm sure to change something that has defined me for my whole life. But this is a new stage of life I (we) are entering into, and I think it will be exciting enter that stage together, with the same last name.

That being said, it's not so easy to actually go about doing it. But I have found a website that can help ! www.missnowmrs.com They charge a fee, but it could be worth paying to save the time and headache. If you want to go the do it yourself route there is a good article at about.com. about what you need to do to change your name !

YOU LIKE ME, YOU REALLY REALLY LIKE ME !

We sent out our save the date magnets last week, and have gotten many excited responses on our wedding website about them ! A cousin of my fiance whom he has not heard from in a very long time even wrote on our guest book that he has saved the date and is coming ! I received a message from my mom's cousin that they are honored to be included in my day.

It really just got me thinking how excited I am, and how awesome it is that our wedding (and weddings in general) can bring families together. I can't remember a time when my whole family was in one place at one time, and it may be one of the only times in my life where it will happen, and if this brings my fiance into contact with his cousin again, budget schmudget, everything was worth every penny.

Besides, you now marrying such a fabulous man, I think seeing all of my friends and family in one place at one time is going to be the most amazing part of the whole weekend, and make all the obsessing and planning and research Oh so worth it ! What are you most looking forward to about your wedding day ?