The wedding...
Wow, it flew by so fast. I have to say it was the most beautiful day of my life....so far. The cottage we rented was the best possible place for this event to happen. My mom, dad, sister, brothers, sister in law, niece and nephew all stayed at the cottage. I am still on cloud 9 with how smoothly the wedding went. At the beginning of August is when I started to get in gear with planning. I realized after the surgery that we really don’t have time. The wedding was more of a big party...a big celebration. It wasn’t stiff and formal. I kept telling myself it wasn’t traditional, but in every sense of the word...the wedding was traditional. My sister was my Maid of Honor and Erich’s brother was his Best Man and we had a pastor (Erich’s friends dad) do our wedding.
If I could possibly pick a perfect day, October 25th of 2008 would be it. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and as guests came at 5:30 the sun was slowly setting over the Pacific Ocean. The temperature was perfect and the beer and wine was flowing. Our 38 guests helped themselves to an open bar and basked in the sunlight, the beautiful view and the sounds of the waves crashing right below.
As the ceremony began I got so nervous my knees started to buckle, but my dad held me up as we walked down the isle. We walked down to Pachelbels Cannon in D major by the London Symphony Orchestra. It was beautiful :) We said our vows and both cried and we couldn’t figure out which hand was left...so everyone laughed.
After the ceremony the cocktail hour began and the servers began with the tray passed hors d'oeuvres. The tables were being set below the line of Chinese lanterns. I wish I could verbalize the intensity of the flowers. My girlfriend who is a florist did our flowers. She works for an orchid grower in Santa Barbara so she brought those down with her along with the calla lilies. For her side gigs she works for Oprah on her estate in SB. Anyways, once we get the professional pictures, I will definitely post the table setting along with the flowers...soo pretty.
The food was amazing and everyone had fun. I was so happy to see our families combine and everyone meet each other...that alone was a beautiful site. The best part was everyone was laughing and carrying along. There was not one ounce of drama. I think the fact that the setting was in the garden of a house...not a venue, that everyone was more relaxed. And just the soothing sounds of the ocean brought everyone’s anxieties down even more. The last group of people didnt leave until 3:00am...so it was definitely a party. And my parents stayed up and partied with the best of us :) I love them!!
Erich asked me why we waited so long to do this. I said I didn’t know, but today I have the answer. It wouldn't have turned out this way if we did it any sooner. The time was right and the stars were aligned for us. It was meant to happen as gracefully and easily as it did. I love him! This will be 9 years going strong :)
Listed below was the menu for the evening:
Tray Passed Hors D'Oeuvres
- Mini Beef Wellingtons
- Béarnaise Sauce
- Caprice Skewers
- Infused with Basil and Pesto Oil
Dinner
- Tri-Tip
- Served with Charred Three Onion Sauce and Béarnaise Sauce
- Chicken Da Vinci
- Stuffed Chicken Breast, Filled with Zucchini, Cream Cheese & Lime Zest, Lime Zest Beurre Blanc Sauce
- Red Roasted Garlic Potatoes
- Vegetable Medley
- Penne with Marinara Sauce
- Pear Salad
- Romaine & Wild Field Greens
- Sliced Pears
- Dried Cranberries
- Walnuts
- Stilton Cheese
- Pear Vinaigrette
- Fresh Baked Rolls & Butter
The Cake!
- 2 tier chocolate cake with 4 layers per tier. Separated by chocolate mousse with crunched up Score bar mixed in. The entire cake covered with a layer of chocolate butter cream and then a shiny chocolate ganache. Both tiers lined with brown silk ribbon and then covered with orchids.
Shoot---I hope our photographer took a picture of the food.
Our photographer is amazing. She is affiliated with Paul Frank, so we told her we wanted our photos to be more artsy and edgy rather than the traditional wedding pictures. I sure cant wait to see them
I don’t think I showed you our invitations, but here they are...they’re homemade. My brother in law made them for me. But I cut them all out! The invitation is square and the invitation as well as the rsvp was printed on an antique white card stock, which I bought at the Paper Source. The envelope was moss green and the rsvp envelope was dark chocolate brown. The brown went with all the brown linens which were used for the tables and such. The square envelope set the tone for the square plates which were used for the dinner service. The wedding cake was also square and chocolate! I went with square because my engagement ring is radiant cut...a square :)
The l's did not actually print bolded like that, they for some reason look like that in .pdf format. They were designed in Adobe Illustrator.