Ardenwood Update

Last week Mom and I took a short trip to Check out Ardenwood as a potential wedding site.
This historic farm has retained much of its charm. The docents gave us a tour of the house, which is fully furnished with period decoration. The land itself is still being worked and they have an assortment of animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, and horses.
The weather seems nice this time of year (November) but the site is still all outdoors, meaning that if it did rain we would be in trouble. The Docents recommended a summer wedding. I had a chat with the local blacksmith who makes horse shoes behind the farmhouse, its turns out he had a historical civil war era wedding at Ardenwood not too long ago. The details he put into his cermenoy makes me think that a truely victorian wedding will be quite difficult. But I think i can still have much of the flavor and charm in my wedding without serving a 9 course meal or wearing a 30lb dress (well i hope my dress wont be that heavey). So far i think this place has a lot of potential and i will definitely consider it as the final wedding and reception location.



I can Imagine this as a great Picture spot.



The Garden gazebo is just in front of the mansion, Right on the other side is the horse field, I imagine those guys will be pulling our carriage.




All Upperclass Victorians had an exotic bird house filled with quail, rare chickens, and these beautiful white doves. I think this one is posing for good luck.

Victorian Party Favor and Cake Pulls

During my research I have discovered that the Victorians adored party favors, the more elaborate the better.

I think something like these glove kits are just delightful for the ladies. Im pretty sure a proper Victorian woman never left home without them, but modern ladies can at least enjoy the novelty of it during the party. I will be posting more favor ideas as I find them.


I also discovered a delightful Victorian tradition called "cake charms". After the wedding cake is baked the Chef tucks away several charms in to the cake. Each charm is attached to a ribbon. The bridesmaids gather during the cake cutting ceremony and each pull a ribbon. Each individual charm has a special meaning and brings good luck. I found a nice range of charms here: http://www.weddingcakecharms.com/

Completed Corset

My wonderful friend Jillian crafted my Victorian styled wedding corset. The whole dress will be designed around it. My designs at the moment have the corset partially covered by an open silk jacket which will have a long attachable train (think of the jacket like an old fashioned riding habit). Hopefully I will have some designs worked out in the coming months.




Im so happy the way the lace turned out. We actually went to this upscale fabric store in Downtown San Francisco and picked out the lace. The ivory and gold silk we got at discount from local fabric stores (Joannes I believe). The corset parts came from specialty stores, One being Lacis in Berkley (the store for Victorian wedding supplies).

If you would like to see Jill's other corset works and fine art you can find her here: http://volatilevisions.deviantart.com/

Welcome/ Ardenwood Affairs

This blog was created to help plan and organize the wedding of Christy Williams and Adam Bontrager.
As of now there is no set date though the estimate is 11/01/11.
The theme of the wedding is country Victorian. So far we have visited many venues but none have that special feel that we are looking for. Next on this list is "Ardenwood Affairs".

Ardenwood is located in Freemont and is a working Victorian farm complete with gazebo and horse carriage. Hopefully we will have time to visit this venue soon and take lots of photos.
For more info visit: http://www.ardenwoodaffairs.com/index.php