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.

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/