Weekend Wedding
July 7th, 2008 @ 4:39 pm by Mrs. Espresso
Before Mr. Espresso proposed, I had never thought much about what our future wedding would consist of, except for one thing- I wanted a weekend wedding. I loved watching movies and hearing about weddings where the family would all meet up at their castle or family estate in the country for a weekend of wedding activities, tag football, and fantastic food. Now I know what you’re thinking: Miss Espresso either is secretly rich, or had some serious high hopes. Well let me just tell you right now- it was the latter. Because I don’t live in a castle, I’m not rich, and my family doesn’t have a sprawling estate in the country. But I did manage to find an affordable venue in my dream location that…wait for it…will allow me to have the weekend wedding I’ve always wanted!
Weddingbee hive, it would be my pleasure to introduce you to the Alpenhorn Bed & Breakfast of Big Bear Lake.
The day before the wedding our close family, wedding party and their significant others, and out of town guests will gather for a game of kickball in a local field. I’m so excited for this! This is the reason I’ve always wanted a weekend wedding. I can’t wait to have some good old fashioned fun with my future husband and the people we hold closest to us. It’ll be messy, dirty, and a fantastic way to relieve any stress and laugh before our beautiful day. We have Alpenhorn all to ourselves for the entire weekend- which is awesome on so many levels. All the ladies will be staying there the night of and, because it’s a bed and breakfast, will wake up to a gourmet breakfast the day of our wedding! Each of the rooms has a fireplace and most have their own jacuzzi tub. I love it!
The entire wedding will take place outdoors. Here is the small bridge everyone will enter in on.
The tables and dance floor will go here.
We had the option of keeping the outdoor furniture or having them store it. I’m totally keeping it! I saw a couple pictures of a wedding they had here before and the bride put pillows on the some of the chairs, and I think I’m going to steal her idea 
. But in addition to that, I’m also going to set out games on the small tables between them and have croquet set up on the front lawn. I’m going for a sort of Kate Spade meets Robert Frost meets Finding Neverland type of wedding
The view looking up
Our ceremony will be in the very back of Alpenhorn. It’s separated from the rest of the land by 2 bridges, a small stream, and pine trees.
Below is a picture of the living room inside. Linda (the Alpenhorn’s owner) told me I could put picture frames around and my music on to help me feel more relaxed and comfortable. I love how thoughtful that is and can’t wait to hook up my iPod play lists.
I love our location and can’t wait to marry Mr. Espresso here. I hope you like it too!
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19 Responses to “Weekend Wedding”
WOW, you’re wedding sounds like it is going to be a TON of fun and really beautiful!
I love it! We’re thinking about having croquet and bocce on the lawn during our reception! Love it! Have fun!
A weekend wedding was my dream as well. It didn’t turn out to be possible, for various reasons. But I think your weekend seems spectacular!!! Question: where will the men stay if the women are at the B&B?
Wow you would have a great weekend and wedding there. It’s beautiful.
Go you! What a fantastic venue. I always loved the weekend wedding idea too, but I didn’t even look into it because I assumed I couldn’t afford it. Yours is going to be FAB!
@jen: I’m so glad you asked that! I had that on my to do list forever and then somehow it didn’t make it to the current list… I’m getting on that right now! I’ll be booking them all rooms at a nearby hotel.
Thanks ladies I love reading your comments so far!
It’s gorgeous! We considered this route for half a second, before the reality of our budget caught up to us :-).
How many peoples’ lodging will you be covering?
I love the feel of this place! It’s rustic, but not over-the-top with it. It looks really beautiful!
@This_Is_Amore: Since we have Alpenhorn for the entire weekend- the total cost for the wedding, reception, and lodging for 2 nights is $4,700. So that’ll cover all of my 7 bridesmaids, my mom, my FMIL, aunt, cousin, and me for the first night, and then the same amount of family members for the night of the wedding. All in all a good deal I think
oooh, pretty! congrats on figuring out how to pull off a generally affordable wedding weekend! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
We’re also doing the wedding weekend thing in Tahoe. We just want to hang out with all of our friends and family all weekend. We are lucky enough to have 160 acres to do it on!
Here’s our link:
http://www.shinneyboocreek.com/page8.php
VENUE ENVY! If you need someone to stand on the perimeter and guard against bears/rogue woodpeckers, let me know. You don’t even have to feed me, because I have mad trapping skillz.
WOW Miss Espresso, truly amazing!
@doctorgirl: So Pretty!!!! I love Tahoe
@Mrs. Lovebug: hahaha I may just take you up on that. I can’t have any rogue woodpeckers making it into my wedding
I just have to say.. it’s SO fantastic to have a weddingbee that’s having a wedding in Big Bear…because that’s where my hubby and I had originally planned our wedding to be. Big Bear is a GREAT place for a weekend wedding. We actually couldn’t have it at Big Bear because I needed a Catholic wedding…and the only church ‘up the mountain’ that would marry us was in Lake Arrowhead. Then enter the BIGGEST fire last year that occurred a week before my wedding. We had to move our entire wedding down to Pasadena. I hope my situation never happens to you.. and I hope I didn’t scare you. My hubby and I will probably renew our vows up there….
@lucy: it’s so funny that you said that because I actually woke up from a dead sleep about a month ago for that reason. I ran to my desk, wrote FIRE on a piece of paper (in the dark- in the morning it looked more like Fera), and have been wondering about it off and on ever since. I am praying that doesn’t happen to us!
you’ll be fine! it’ll be lovely weather during oct you might even get lucky and get the changing colors of fall!!
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big Bear
Age and Occupation: 23, Community Services Specialist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance Technician
Engagement Date: December 21, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear Lake
About Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
I had the same vision as you, but couldn’t find such a place with my limited knowledge of Vancouver and its surrounding area. Oh well, I’ll just have to live vicariously
Your wedding is going to be awesome!