Yesterday Momma Puff and I visited a place I’ll call “Freak-Out-ville,” otherwise known as “our ceremony site.”
Momma Puff came down from Oregon so we could do some wedding-related tasks. We got a lot accomplished! One of the items on our to-do list was to visit Crissy Field with our shepherd hooks and figure out how long the aisle will be.
WELL.
First off, the amphitheater is much bigger than we remembered. 20 shepherd hooks simply aren’t going to make it if we want the aisle to start at the beginning of the grassy area. We immediately decided that it would cost too much money to buy as many hooks as we need to make such a long aisle, so we’re going to have to start the aisle somewhere in the middle of the grass. It will be a weird, floating aisle.
Secondly, this is the first time I’ve been to Crissy Field since the Warming Hut (a little cafe/store right next to the amphitheater) re-opened after being damaged by fire awhile ago.
It.
was.
busy.
There were so many people EVERYWHERE that I started to panic about the crowds on our wedding day, which will likely be a gorgeous Saturday during peak tourist season. How the heck do we keep them and their off-leash dogs out of our ceremony?! And speaking of dogs, there’s no way our dog can cope as our flower girl. She was so excited to be at Crissy Field that she wouldn’t stop whining. Like, at all.
Thirdly, we realized that with all the cars in the parking lots, the trolleys may not be able to drop our guests off right near the amphitheater. Asking our guests to walk even a quarter of a mile seems kind of…inconsiderate.
Fourth-ly, we checked out the bathroom situation and were very depressed to see a long line of both men AND women waiting to use the ONE restroom, which didn’t look very nice. Our guests + the public = a very uncomfortable bathroom situation.
Fifth-ly, the sun. I am concerned about the amount of time our guests will have to sit in the sun. Chinese women typically do NOT like to expose their skin to the sun, and there’s no shade at the amphitheater. I’m thinking we’ll have to buy some parasols.
WHY IN GOD’S NAME DID I NOT THINK OF ANY OF THESE THINGS BEFORE?!
Oh yeah, I know why…I was blinded by the site’s beauty and personal significance. Now that I can see clearly again, I am freaking out a little inside. SIGH. I have a lot of phone calls to make this week to our Day of Coordinators and the park managers to see if we can work these things out!
Holy crap.
Don’t forget to look at the bright side!! You have 4/5 months to figure out a solution. Knowing me it’d be 2 days before the ceremony and I’d figure out these issues 
You’re ceremony will be wonderful!
Aww, it will be fine! A long aisle is more chance to trip or get grass stains on your dress, anyway. You can easily get parasols for people, and heck, you can even rent fancy port-a-potties if you want to. Could you somehow block off the area with ribbons or put up “Wedding ceremony in progress” signs so that the noisy and nosy snack shop customers are respectful?
Don’t let it get to you, it really will work out alright in the end. I attended a wedding in a public area and tourists were so awed and excited to be witnessing a wedding that they were very respectful. Mostly, you’ll just have more people taking your picture. Also, looking into porta potties- they have really, really nice ones. And maybe instead of using your hooks for an alter, you can circle them and use ribbon or material to rope your areas off. I think that would look great!
I think you should try and negotiate a lowered rate on your space rental so you can rent wedding port-o-johns…they are actually really not that bad…ours where white, came with running water in the sinks and had a shelf for a candle and some flowers. If that isn’t an option, ask the venue to provide them.
I agree that the tourists will most likely be really respectful that there is a wedding going on.
Next, if you spread out the shepherds hooks and use ribbon to go between them, will they stretch to be a longer aisle? What if you did shepherds hooks every third seat until the end of the seating, and then alternated shepherds hooks with garden stakes and ran the ribbon along them. The stakes should be less expensive, and you can still hang stuff off the shepherds hooks.
Lastly, I don’t think a 1/4 mile is too far to ask people to walk. Especially if you made it interactive and had signs along the way…maybe like the old burma-shave signs that told a story as they went along.
Do remember to check with the city if you decide to rent your own portable toilets, as there may be some kind of permit required. Hopefully the rental place would know that, but it would be seriously no fun to have men in uniform wandering through the ceremony trying to figure out who to ticket…
There are pluses and minuses to every location, and you have a great location - but a very public one. Our town has a serious of lovely parks and hotel grounds on the river, right by a bike path. We ride every Saturday morning, and its always fun to peek at the ceremonies as ww pedal by. I think that most people are reasonably respectful, although I did once see a frizbee whiz through a wedding arch. Hopefully the bride and groom just thought it added to the uniqueness of their day.
buy paper umbrellas and give them to your guests as favors like knottie soireelaura did (scroll down about 1/4 of the way): http://community.theknot.com/cs/ks/user/page.aspx?username=SoireeLaura&MsdVisit=1
I think she said they came from Oriental Trading Co. at $1 a piece (this was a couple of years ago, though)
First, deep breath :). As for the aisle starting in the middle it will look beautiful. Remember your chairs will define the space and having the hooks start at the chairs will be beautiful.
As for people staying away, most if not all people are in awe of weddings. They are mostly respectful and will not trounce all over your ceremony set up.
Def. get some cool parasols in your colors which will def. help set the mood for your beautiful color scheme. Have them placed in some sort of container at each side of the aisle at the beginning. You know Target has a bunch of cool cheap containers.
As for the bathroom….how long is your ceremony going to be? Maybe on the trolley tour one stop can be somewhere like pier 39 where there are a ton of bathrooms. Tour bus guide can say something about there being bathrooms at this stop etc.
love ya and your wedding is going to be stunning!!! trust me
You could space your shepherds hooks farther apart or alternate them with something else…maybe a painted bucket of flowers or wood initials painted in your colors.
You could rope off the area by putting signs on stakes stating “Quiet,wedding in progress”. Most people are pretty repsectful of things like that.
So the trolleys can get close to the site have a couple people go over early in the morning and leave cars in the parking spaces you will need for the trolleys. Maybe taking up a bit more spce than they need but not so much that another car can slip in. You will probably need more cars than trolleys since thay are bigger. They can move the cars later and mark off the area with cones and signs that say wedding trolley parking so that the space is ready when the trolleys come. Designate some people not in the pictures to take the cars back to the hotel or reception site or you could have the cars taken back to the hotel right before the ceremony and they can catch the last trolley over if you rope off the area.
I absolutely second Lisa’s comment (especially about the deep breaths).
Just remember - your wedding is going to be fine. In fact, it’s going to be awesome. I wish I could smuggle myself into your wedding just to see the awesomeness play itself out.
Also remember that your guests are there for YOU. As long as you make it as comfortable as you possibly can, they will be happy. They’ll probably be so distracted by their happiness over you and Mr. Cream Puff tying the knot that they won’t even notice the semi-iffy bathroom situation.
You’ll get it all figured out. Just breathe and make a list. That’s the only way I’ve gotten this far!
Awww… cheer up Puff! I wholeheartedly agree with everything that Lisa said. It’s easy to be overwhelmed with a big open space, but once everything is set up, there’d be a definite “start of aisle” and “end of aisle.”
I’m sure your DOCs will work something out. I really like tberry’s idea with blocking off some spots closer to the site. Would the park managers do something like this? If anything, I can get you a bunch of cones or delineators (orange “cone” things, but look like tall poles) to help block off some spots.
I had the same freak out when I saw my venue after I booked it. We’re getting married in a public park and I’m nervous about people having a picnic next to our wedding! Have you thought about something other than shepards hooks? Buckets of flowers perhaps?
Unless you have a lot of people who have trouble walking a quarter of mile isn’t too bad. It beats driving around and looking for parking.
After a while you’ll feel better about it. I do. It’s been a couple of weeks since we visited our venue and I’m not freaking out as much.
I’m totally not worried for your aisle situation! It will look fine not going the whole way up, and I think a lot of outdoor weddings look like this, with no huge aisle! The wedding will be goregeous I just know it. And I think people (especially in san francisco, the awesomeist city in the world) will be respectful of your big day and you shouldnt run into too many problems…
do you know of other brides that have married at Crissy Field?
We were concerned about tourists and strangers showing up in our wedding venue, but I think people have enough respect not to do that.
I think Asian parasols are a great idea and bring a fusion element to your wedding. You might want to check what the sun is like your time of day at Chrissy Field - maybe your guests will be in the shade. (I think you’re planning an early afternoon wedding though so never mind…)
Hi Miss Creampuff,
I have to admit I was a little envious when I first saw that you were getting married at Crissy Field. I run that area just about every weekend and have also imagined getting married there, but my wedding will be in Oregon. Have you thought of moving your wedding away from the ampitheater? There is a beautiful set of cyprus trees along the path - close to the little bridge and the East Beach. Even if it’s a crowded day, which it undoubtably will be, you could marry on the beach under the cypress trees and still be protected from the crowd on the path. The bus could pull into the East Beach parking lot - there are also bathrooms there. The walk isn’t very far, but for guests who would have trouble walking, you could arrange to have some bike-carts/trolleys (not sure the right term for these) to take those guests to the beach. This would also be an adorable way for you to arrive and you and your groom to leave. Congratulations and good luck!
Boy do I relate. We are planning our ceremony at Crissy Field in August 08 as well. My fiance and I are living in the Mid-west so my parents have been visiting the site and they keep sending me notes like… “we were there this weekend… there were strollers… there were dogs… there were bikes and joggers”
Anyway, my mom is very nervous about how public it is (and the bathrooms) but I have been ignoring it because we loved the site so much and whatever happens, happens! Can’t wait to see your posts on more ideas!
[...] I have returned to Reality-Land. I am feeling much better. Thank you for all of your supportive comments! A few things we’ve decided [...]
Mrs. Cream Puff, San Francisco Bay Area
Age and Occupation: 25, Illustrator
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Merchandise Planner
Engagement Date: May 27, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: February 7, 2008
Venue: Ceremony at Crissy Field and Reception at the Green Room
About Me: I never dreamed about my wedding as a little girl because I was too busy playing in the mud or pretending to be Martha Stewart–but now that it's here, I'm having a fabulous time DIYing everything in sight! We’re planning a very fun multicultural wedding (I'm Jewish and Mr. Cream Puff is Chinese), filled with as many personal details as I can muster.
First-How many hooks would you need? Maybe you can space them out more or alternate b/w the hooks and something else. I saw a bio somewhere were there was a long outdoor aisle and they lined it w/ woden bowls (shallow) with flower petals. I saw another onw where the bowls has pretty river rocks in them.
Second- If there is anyway to rope off the area where it will take place, most people will be respectful when they see what is going on, especially if you make a sign to put up during the ceremony telling people there is a wedding in progress.
Third- If you paid a considerable amount to use this location, its not unreasonable to ask if you can reserve a parking spot for your trolley to pull in and out of. Is there a loading area close by they can pull into. If your guests have to walk, consider having someone to have out cute fans, parasols, or water bottles when the get off the trolley.
Fourth- Could you afford to rent additional portable restrooms. Someone else posted about this I belive and I think you can get fairly nice ones if you have the extra cash.
Fifth- I think it would be cute to set up a little table w/ cute little bottles of sunscreen, sun hats, parasols, and/or fans. Let people choose their coolness. Otherwise you can always rent nice tents for them to sit under.
Hope at least one of these ideas helps. Or at least helps you to feel good about your choice in venue. It sounds beautiful. Hope it works out.