Weddingbee Blog
This is the final installment in my three-part, New Zealand honeymoon posts. So far, we’d been to Christchurch, Kaikoura, Marlborough, Marahau, Nelson, and had started our drive down the west coast to the high-mountain town of Franz Josef.
Once in Franz Josef, we checked into our hotel, Te Waonui. Our room had a wall-size window that looked into a full-on rainforest. It was gorgeous. Moss, intermingling tree branches, ferns, and dampness were framed by this window. I could’ve sat there and stared at it all day. But instead, we woke up the next morning to hike the Franz Josef glacier.
That’s the glacier behind us. From where we’re standing in this picture, it was about a 40-minute walk to get to the base of the glacier. And it was raining, no less.
Here’s a shot of the glacier once we arrived at the base:
Read more…
So, just to catch you up, we’d flown in (albeit, after a lot of stress), wandered Christchurch, taken an incredibly scenic drive to Kaikoura, and gone wine- and beer-tasting in Marlborough. And, remember, we now had George, an adorable little stuffed bear, along for the ride.
Day 3: Marlborough –> Marahau
We arrived into Marahau in the middle of the afternoon with plans to go horseback riding up into the lush valley. We met our Kiwi horseman and off we went.
Once we finally arrived in Christchurch, on the east coast of the South Island, after our horrible debacle flying to New Zealand, we were ready to start our trip. One of our favorite parts? Our rental car and driving, not only on the wrong side of the road, but on the wrong side of the car! [Note: Mr. CB didn’t let me drive once. Probably a good thing.]
Day 1: Christchurch
We checked into our first hotel, The George, to find, well, George on our bed!
Read more…
Scene: It’s 2 AM on our double-decker 747 airplane. We’re two hours out of Los Angeles, somewhere over a dark Pacific Ocean. Mr. Cowboy Boot and I scored the bulkhead seats (front row with extra leg room) for letting the flight attendants know we were on our honeymoon. Mr. CB is snoozing away next to me while I read and combat heavy eyelids in hopes of beating jet lag. Three crew members, including the flight’s safety manager, are sitting facing us.
The phone rings and the safety manager answers it. She’s a Kiwi with a sweet smile and a primped outfit. Her face drops as she receives word from the person on the phone. She lowers her voice and turns her face into the wall, speaking softly into the receiver. My stomach drops, my palms sweat and I grab for my new husband. What’s happening?
She hangs up the phone and her accent comes over the loudspeaker, falling on the ears of passengers clad in eye masks and itchy blankets.
“It seems there’s been a little problem. Our pilots told me we hit what they think is a pelican. Unfortunately, the bird went straight into the nose of the plane,” she says statedly. “The bird has damaged our weather radar, prohibiting us from being able to see storms over the ocean. So, the safest thing for us to do is turn around and head back to Los Angeles.”
Read more…
What does that spell? Post-wedding chop!
I did it, everyone. I had to. It was down to my waist and I couldn’t stand the static, tangles, and hair-always-in-my-way. It was heavy, unhealthy, and ready for a trim.
To say that nothing went “wrong” at our wedding would be an understatement.
We ran out of appetizers 15 minutes into our cocktail hour. Storm clouds swelled throughout the day forcing our ceremony from an expansive meadow into a cozy barn. The photo booth backdrop didn’t end up being quite enough fabric to encompass a large group of guests. Our band played for longer than planned (score!) but that meant we had to skip our end-of-the-night dance party playlist which I’d been looking forward to. The bluegrass songs I picked for our band breaks brought the dancing to a halt every time the band took a break; I could never figure out which songs would keep the energy high between live sets. You can’t go from fiddle and washboard to Jay-Z, right?
But calling everything above a “wedding failure” depends on your perspective and mindset. According to me? Nothing went wrong at our wedding. And that’s because I didn’t have a strong definition of the word “right”. Here’s a teaser of our wedding video, made by my brother, to give you an idea of how it all played out (note: you can make it full-screen):
I knew that our wedding was going to be what it was going to be no matter what.
Read more…
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
There were two things we really wanted to include in our wedding that didn’t happen: 1) our dogs and 2) our “thank you” signs, done in calligraphy. The reasons we didn’t include our precious pups as ring bearers? Debated here.
Our “thank you” signage, penned by Pretty Pen Jen, never made it out of the cabin where all of the ladies got ready on the morning of the wedding. There was too much going on and they simply got left behind. Halfway through the night, our photographer, Tec, asked if I wanted someone to go grab them, but I declined his offer saying, “We’ll shoot them when we get home.” And that’s just how our thank you cards came to be.
This makes me giggle.
It’s only been three months since our rustic, ranch affair, but I think I might be ready to say goodbye. No, not to you, hive, and certainly not to Mr. Cowboy Boot, but to Julianna, my beloved, floating pool of ivory tulle. She originally came into my life in the Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue and made me tingle, flit, and giggle like a school girl.
I love her and adore her, but alas, she hangs there so lonesome and without any future plans in sight. In fact, I don’t really want to wear her again for fear of shaking off the significance of her debut.
I am interrupting my final wedding recap to talk about an issue that is really crucial when it comes to weddings: DOCs (day-of-coordinators). I, like many brides, thought I could go without. But as the weeks neared our wedding date and I started to visualize a timeline for the few days before the wedding, I couldn’t figure out when I would have time to set up all of the our DIY projects in our reception barn pre-wedding.
I had two trains of thought: 1) a stressed out bride, racing the clock, delegating projects, and ultimately, barely taking a breath before walking down the aisle, or 2) going hiking with friends, enjoying our rehearsal dinner, waking up rested the morning of the wedding, and possibly having a chance to go for a run or do yoga in the hours leading up to the ceremony.
Needless to say, option 2 seemed much more appealing. Our wedding salesperson at Devil’s Thumb Ranch had two recommendations for day-of-coordinators and one, she said, was fairly new to the business. Her name was Danielle Odil of Something Classic Events. We talked a few times for a few months before the wedding and, eventually, I caved. But not without combing through her set package and customizing it to my needs (including slicing the price tag to my budget). To see what I did to her package, head here.
Read more…
After being asked to design a wedding inspiration board based around a Christmas ornament, I immediately turned to Anthropologie. They have an eclectic assortment of ornaments (that I constantly covet) and I knew I’d be inspired. I sorted through the various deer, owls, mushrooms, and stars and settled on a carnival ornament that reminds me of all things Moroccan, gypsy, hippie, and whimsical: The One-of-a-Kind Carnival Bird.
I liked the idea of a wedding decorated in saturated jewel-toned colors, which this ornament makes me think of (even though it’s grey). So, I went to Polyvore and tried my best.
Read more…
In an effort to drag our wedding out by (at least) one. more. post. I thought I’d show you some of the amazing portraits our photographer, Tec, captured throughout the day. There weren’t many of them, but the ones that were sprinkled in with our wedding pictures were strong and beautiful. They make me want to print them out for our guests and give them as gifts.
For a different kind of portrait, press “play” below. One of our friends joined the band on-a-whim and played a harmonica solo. We had no idea he even played harmonica, but he rocked it. This is the perfect way to portray him. (Sorry the visual is no good.)
Soon after the first dance and father-daughter dance ended, everyone was on the dance floor. One of our friends is a square-dance “caller”, meaning he calls the next move at square dance events, so thanks to him, everyone was having a blast dosey-doe-ing.
After toasts and feeding each other cherry pie, after everyone had exhausted the photo booth and enjoyed some ribs and cornbread, it was time for the first dance. Our band, Elephant Revival, took the stage (they’d learned Neil Young’s Harvest Moon for us). If you remember, our wedding coincidentally fell on the night of the Harvest Moon which we didn’t figure out until after we’d picked our song.
A while back, I asked all of you for help with our reception signs. You offered up your best rhymes but nothing clicked until I got home and looked at my stamp collection. I’d bought an adorable stamp from Hobby Lobby with the word “Love” on it, which I used on our out-of-town bags. I decided I’d make the signs cohesive by incorporating the stamp into each sign somehow.
I sent the stamped stationery off to Pretty Pen Jen in Texas and here’s what I got back. I used samples of Crane’s Lettra letterpress paper for this signage. Yay for free paper!
Photo by Amanda Wilson
Cake did not make an appearance at our wedding. Instead, we served up a pie bar (by Denver’s Teacup Bakery) for our guests to enjoy. All eight pies were natural and organic. We had the venue cut the pies into 12 slices, instead of 8, so people could enjoy multiple flavors. You’d want to too, given these flavors: blueberry peach, cherry, apple, pumpkin, caramel apple, chocolate cream, lemon meringue, and banana cream.
Paula from Teacup was so cute when I went in for a tasting. She told me how she goes down to the farmer’s market and buys the fruit at its peak (which was way before October). She froze it when it was at its best so our fruit pies would still taste seasonal.
| Visit our sister sites | Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Fertile Thoughts Infertility Support |
Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa Fe Age and Occupation: 25, Magazine Editor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting Guide Engagement Date: April 28th, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2009 Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colorado About Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
