So what do you even begin to say about a wedding where the venue itself is so amazing that you come home with close to 300 pictures? Where the food spans four continents? Where butterflies roam free and attach themselvesthe guests? The problem with this wedding, and the venue, is that so much of it defies any sort of rational attempt at description, that it makes the finished blog product but a mere shadow of the wedding itself.
This past Saturday, Dad and his partner of 10 years, Kathleen, tied the knot. Why they decided to join the hordes to become man and wife is beyond me, but more power to them. And hey, in the end, it was an absolutely kick ass party, so who am I to complain?
You start with the venue...25 acres in the Saratoga Hills...this property has 2 swimming pools, 2 art galleries, 2 homes of different sizes (think single family homes here), a tennis court, apricot orchard, sculpture garden, and four terraced levels of granite and marble with various art and sculptures. Add in a traditional loggia and multiple fountains throughout the property, and about the only thing you can say is some sort of Disneyland for adults and rich folks. The problem is, you can't take pictures of the property. Why? Well, everything you want to take a picture of is on such a grand scale that it won't fit in a camera frame. Then, once you step back far enough to fit it in a picture, you're so far back that the grandiosity of the subject is lost. Call it a problem in scale. And for those of you interested, here are some of the pictures that were taken during construction.
For guests, there's not a whole lot anyone here would know...the family showed up of course (both my Dad's sisters, his brother, mom, etc)...friends of both bride and groom, and we rounded out the youth party with Sis, Murphy, Chaz, his date Sarah, Gavroche and FSU.
The wedding starts at five with saketini's and the opportunity to roam the 2 galleries and sculpture garden on the property. This collection has been called "one of the, if not the finest private collections in North America." At six, we move down to the Loggia for the actual ceremony that lasts about twenty minutes or so (short and sweet, just how I like my wedding ceremonies). After this, they head up to the middle level for a butterfly release and dinner. The butterfly release doesn't work out as planned, in that they don't really scatter, and there's not a ton of them. But it ends up working better than planned as three or four of the butterflies find their way onto Kathleen's bouquet and stay there for the majority of the evening.
The theme of the wedding is "Around the World in Our Golden Years" because in their ten years together they have traveled extensively. So appropriately, the meal is themed for world fare, with tables for Hawaii, Tangiers, and Thailand among others. Lamb, salmon, prawns, oysters and much more. Furthermore, every table's theme has a gift that people can take home with them.
When dinner finishes, there are two dances performed by traditional Thai dancers. Following that, it's a dance by the married couple before the loggia is cleared of its ceremony chairs and set-up to be transformed into what Kathleen has called the "Diva Lounge." At this point, the guests turn into dancers, a chocolate fountain with strawberries and pretzels is brought out for dessert, and it starts to become possible to slip away on the property to enjoy some js.
When we get back to the hotel, we crash the wedding suite to hook the man up with a little gift courtesy of the LoveShack...a hash oil smeared joint dipped in hash nuggets. Talk about a trick to get you lifted. But the post-party doesn't last long as we get evil eyes from the bride who wants to take advantage of her wedding night.
So there you have it. An unimaginable wedding in an indescribable venue summed up into a few pedestrian paragraphs and some accompanying pictures. Talk about making a long story short. Actually, this wedding is going to take more 1 entry...Pictures in this post will be wedding party and guests, see the Shangri-la post for pictures of just the ranch, and see the Wedding Dancers for the videos.
Pictures here: Chaz and his date at the fountain, Toby and the Bride walking the aisle, new best friends S and FSU, dinner powwow with Chaz, S and Gavroche, I can walk on water, Head Honcho showing me the Gold Room, Chaz and I, my butterfly, the beautiful Bride and her bouquet of butterflies, S and FSU with their new friend Achilles, the fellas, Chaz and I get a good laugh, Gavroche, Chaz and myself, Dad w/myself, S, FSU, Gavroche, Sis and I in the aisle, Gavroche and I discussing the finer merits of the hash dipped j, you may kiss the bride, Gavroche and Chaz, a butterfly bouquet.
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