A "Love-ly" Weekend, Part 1

After months of anticipation it was finally here...the wedding week!  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be hosting a wedding in Healdsburg, California.  Sure, every time I ever visited the area I thought it looked like an amazing place to have a wedding but it never crossed my mind that I would have a daughter, who would meet a guy from California and they would get married in wine country.  But here we were.. living a dream!  I still wonder if it was real.

The perfect place to say, "I do."

 We all made our way to northern California from as far away as Madrid, Spain to as near as the Bay area for Kelly and Chris' wedding. Love was definitely in the air, even though upon arrival that air was over 100 degrees!  Who would have thought it would be over 100 in northern California?  We collectively held our breath and hoped the heat wave would break by the weekend for the outdoor wedding.  Good news....it did, and we were treated to that perfect weather we all hoped for when planning the wedding.

Wedding flowers chilling before they become
arrangements and bouquets.

After a couple of days visiting family and taking care of those final details, the soon to be betrothed and their families made our way up to the Healdsburg area on Thursday.  We all enjoyed the sunshine and seasonal temperatures!  We met some of the groom's family for a casual, anticipation filled, happy to see/meet you, pretend you are not stressed dinner.  "This is really happening" was my feeling that night.  I love it when the family and friends all start to arrive, it makes it all so real and so fun!  We met friends and some of our family later at a local brew house and the level of excitement continued to escalate.  There were smiles all around, especially from our grandsons who won at Bingo and spent their winnings on root beer floats.  Since many of us were still on eastern time zones the night ended relatively early as we slept with visions of the wedding day dancing in our heads.

Airbnb for the win with this house and this view!
Perfect place to call "home" for the wedding!

Before dinner they perfected their "first" dance moves.

Friends and family looking over Kelly's "record"
(a scrapbook of her "life before Chris", I made and gave to him as a gift)

Friday began with an intimate private wine tasting for the bride, some of her family and a few friends at St. Supery Winery.  We were treated to some delicious wines and cheeses along with some valuable knowledge from our private host.  A perfect and peaceful way to start the day, even though it did involve drinking several glasses of wine.  Hard work but someone had to do it!

When in wine country....why not?!

Cheers!

Meanwhile back at the house the father of the bride was taking care of some very important business.  When you buy a wedding dress in one city and get married across the country from that city you need to get the dress from A to B.  The poor dress had to travel cross country rolled up in my carry on bag with strict instructions from the bridal shop to "not let the bag out of my sight!" on the trip.  To say I was a bit nervous would be an understatement.  Upon arrival I took the dress out, unrolled it and set it free hoping the wrinkles would relax.  I had a steamer and in spite of my repeated efforts the dress just wasn't perfect and by golly it needed to be perfect.  Enter bridal/tuxedo shop owner where TJ picked up his tux.  The owner graciously said she could steam the dress and return it to its original splendor!  TJ had the job of picking up the dress and very carefully drive it back to the house where she hung from her second curtain rod of the week waiting for her debut.  The dress took on her own persona after a while and I just had to name her Estella.  Don't ask my why.

Estella just hanging out...not ready for prime time yet!

I've always said the rehearsal is where I get the most emotional.  Seeing a father walk his daughter up the aisle, even just practicing, always brings a tear to my eyes.  No different this time.  The music was played by three of the bride's friends and was perfect!  They played and sang (en francaise) La Vie en Rose for the wedding procession and for the bride and father to walk up the aisle.  It was surreal.

Practice makes perfect...is the sprinkler and hose too much?!

The welcome dinner was the next event and it was very fitting for the groom who loves a good Argentinian pig roast!  Roasted pig, braised short ribs, all the sides plus three different types of empanadas!  It was at Soda Rock Winery, whose "mascot" is a boar.  The food, the atmosphere and the guests made for a perfect evening.  We were all so happy to be together!  It was nice to have everyone included the night before the wedding.  If I weren't worried about fitting into my fancy dress the next day I would have eaten three times as much as I did, it was that good!

Full boar into marriage!

We're getting married tomorrow!

We are so excited for them!

There were toasts!

Officiants, musicians, photographers, and all around great friends!

At the end of the night, we all went home to get some much needed sleep for the big day tomorrow.  Seriously, how can anyone sleep on this night?  We tried!  Not before the bride and her Dad did a little practicing  for "their" dance.  It was a very sweet way to end the night.
Stay tuned for part deux!