Alum Rock Park

Well, Ive finally booked my wedding site for both ceremony and reception. After much consideration we settled on Alum Rock Park, more specifically Sycamore Groove Picnic grounds.  At the very top of the hill, at the end of the parking lot there is a paved hiking trail. For a few hundred feet you follow a small winding creek decorated with little stone bridges.

Past the small hotsprings there is a shady little picnic site on a patch of grass. Before you walk into the site there lies the stone bridge that will set our ceremony. From the top you can see all the little hot spring arches but the smell is not apprent unless your right up next to the wells.

3 BBQ pits and enough seating for 75 people this site is perfect for our small low budget wedding. Strangely enough the park's pamphlet claims they do not allow weddings (but large company functions and parties are fine). After talking with the Ranger we got the OK for our event, but im not sure why they would have this rule, Maybe they are afraid people will throw rice and hurt the wildlife.

 

 

More wedding dress designs

Notes, notes, and more notes! I'm still working on designing this dress, but everything will be decided upon by the new year. In fact i already have made changes on this and ordered a new skirt and train pattern which i will follow up with soon. The new inspiration is Winona Ryder"s London dress from Bram Stoker's Dracula. An odd source to say the least but the beautiful design of her dress really stuck with me.

Anyways, this is a style guide that i sent my dress maker and i already have gotten some great feedback from her. I can't wait to buy my fabric for this.

Hat!

Finally located and acquired one of my essential bridal pieces, the mini-Victorian top hat! Now i just have to figure out how to work it with my hair, so im not cutting it until the wedding.

I found this hat in LA at the costume college - "ATELIER MELA" the super hat making Lady, her stuff was so beautiful i wanted to buy it all!

wedding colors

I have been goign back and forth on colors for the flowers and decorations. My dress will be simply white and gold, but i want a lot of color to spiff up the picnic area. I started collecting scraps of stationary paper, making mussie tussies out of them and other nonsense to help me visualize the decorations.
I went on colourlovers.com (the coolest design site on color ever!) and made a practice palette. Cant say for sure these are the final colors but it is a start.


Color by COLOURlovers


Color by COLOURlovers

Lavender Lemonade

INGREDIENTS
1 tray ice cubes
1/4 cup dried lavender
2 cups boiling water
3/4 cup white sugar
8 lemons
5 cups cold water, or as needed
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..DIRECTIONS
1.Place ice cubes into a 2 quart pitcher. Place the lavender into a bowl, and pour boiling water over it. Allow to steep for about 10 minutes, then strain out the lavender and discard. Mix the sugar into the hot lavender water, then pour into the pitcher with the ice.
2.Squeeze the juice from the lemons into the pitcher, getting as much juice as you can. Top off the pitcher with cold water, and stir. Taste, and adjust lemon juice or sugar if desired. Pour into tall glasses, pull up a lawn chair and a good book, and relax!


"This seems like something fun to serve, apprently it was a popular drink for the Victorians during the summer"

Recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amys-Lavender-Lemonade/Detail.aspx

Somewhere Fun and Casual- Huddart Park

I have been thinking a lot about our pinic/BBQ style recepetion. I have been looking at local parks for sites that are both scenic and practical for our needs.
One site I like at the moment is Huddart Park in San Mateo. It has a huge pinic ground that can be reserved for parties, lots of fields and play areas, multiple BBQ pits, bathrooms, parking, and all the redwood trees I could ever want. They also allow alcohol and low volume music.


Intresting enough, i heard rumor that anyone person within San Mateo County can officate my wedding, which means I dont have to hire someone, I can just trick a friend or family member into doing it.

What to wear...

After another visit to Lacis' in Berkley I think I have found a pattern that I like.


Based off this I have been brainstorming some designs of my own so the outfit works with the dress and corset i want to use. These are just a few roughs BTW, i will probably make dozens before i figure it all out.


I think the hardest part will be deciding on how the jacket opens (to show off the corset). Than I have to worry about how it will flow with the skirt, and how to make the train beautiful, and lastly i will need to figure out my colors. It is safe to assume that all fringe is lace, lots of lace.