So My college roomie got married this past weekend. She did not get married to Justin Timberlake as was the plan circa 2003. Good thing he's still out there for me. Are you reading this Justin? Call me.
Anyway she lives in San Francisco where nature, wine, and good food are a-plenty. Needless to say, it was the most ridiculously beautiful and fun wedding I've ever been to. Seriously, there were three days worth of events and I felt like people laughed at my jokes all wekend long (a rare occurence, let me tell you). I was actually out west for a week helping get ready... .as my friend is an uber creative, crafy, and detail person, there was much to do for her big day. Obviously having much to do requires many breaks at wine bars. Did you know you can milk the engaged/bride/just married thing for free drinks? You do now. Thank you bottle of champagne.
The wedding was an hour or so north of SF in Guerneville (for you blog readers, that's about 10 miles from Jenna's Healdsburg) and required a little road trip. That's me riding with a very pretty white dress.
The bride, below, and a sideways Golden Gate bridge (I tried to punch my computer screen to get it upright, and then I was out of ideas... why does blogging make me feel so not tech savvy.. what is the deal with this internet machine? why can't Al Gore invent something that works more gooder for me)
Road tripping is also hard, and required breaks at more wineries. Also you're supposed to spit out your drinks so you don't get drunk. Also you're supposed to use inside voices.
In a particularly adorable move, my friend hosted a ladies tea party for the bridal party and families. Some of the groom's family is British, but any chance you get to wear a tea dress and eat cucumber sandwiches should be taken. (note to self: new idea for a bumper sticker)
Tree hanging decor courtesy of Martha Stewart. Tablecloth was a roll of fabric she got on clearance, cake stands she made with plates and candlesticks found and flea markets. Get that girl a show on HGTV, asap. Hey Hey, she's crafty!
She found different English china teacups and saucers on EBAY for everyone to take as a party gift.
There might have been vodka in the lemonade.
She also gave everyone a tea bag with an inspiration 'women's quote and a note thanking us for being an important woman in her life. 
Perhaps the best part? Her new Betsy Johnson tea party shoes. ME-OW.
The rehearsal dinner was in a redwood forest (Armstrong National Forest) and had trees larger than I'd ever seen in my life. They were amazing! They made me think of Ewoks a little bit from Star Wars... but you have to be careful to mention such nerd speak when you are meeting new people. Ditto for the 'forbidden forest' Harry Potter references.
So the bride and groom met when she and I went to Jamaica our junior year of college for spring break. Can you believe they've been together ever since? Crazy! Obviously a Jamaican themed rehearsal was perfect. It was even catered by a friend of theres who they met in Jamaica, lost touch with, and then he found them on FB and told them he was opening a restaurant. How serendipitious can you get?
Tree Hugger.
Note to self: that Jamaican bread (made with cononut milk) is SO DENSE and amazing! It's like pound cake! I normally am not a fan of spicy food but this was SO SO good. Extra TLC for the pinapple that rocked my socks off.The small resort (can you call it that? it makes it sound like there's a lido deck to me) had 50-some-odd cabins which were booked the entire weekend by guests of the wedding -- we had the whole place to ourselves!
Everyone got a note on the door with their name and an AMAZING goodie bag filled with candy, snacks, personalized maps, flyers with local attractions, a 'pocket' schedule for the weekend and so much more.
The bride was of course beautiful and glamorous while getting ready! Mimosa time :)
The reception was in the meadow. Seriously these pictures don't do it justice, it was ridiculously pretty and has ruined me from liking any other normal church/reception hall wedding.
There was an acoustic guitar playing here comes the sun and other lovely beatles tunes
Her uncles walked her half way, and then she walked the rest on her own.
She had ribbons, fans, and yay signs for people to use!
The cocktail reception was in the meadow and it was even prettier in real life. The parasols helped provide shade and looked pretty great too. There was bocce ball and croquet there too.
check the shoes, check the shoes..
She had their vows printed on canvas so guests could ink their fingerprints on them.
The reception was in the orchard and was SO pretty!
Table assignments hanging from the trees.
Different cakes for each table.. all of the food was AMAZING!
A shoe cake server, obviously
A pretty hilarious speech, if I do say so myself.
Busting a move.
People like myself were such dance floor hogs they had to clear everyone out half way through the reception so the bride and groom could do the official first dance that they practiced.
The bride had stashed a basket of Pashminas (in wedding colors of course) at the end of the dance floor for people to use if/when it got chillier outside.
The next day, some seared polenta fries with chunky red sauce were JUST what the doctor ordered.
A pork salad with fancy things in it. Sidebar, is pork really trendy right now? It's never something I get at home and rarely order it out, but when in a trendy California restaurant, you order the special. Am I right or am I right?
Back in SF before we left, we hit up a coffee shop downtown to get some veggie breakfast burritos with extra avocado. Behold the delicousness:
Raaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr delicious
They were oatmeal raisin and I had to go downstairs to borrow brown sugar from emily (you know, just being neighborly) and then assembled the cookies. True to form, I realized two-seconds-too-late that I had forgotten an ingredient. This time around? Vanilla Extract, which only hours earlier I had John pick up at the store for me. I tell myself that I don't think it made a huge difference. My boss politely said that it didn't. John made a face. Rude.
Last night after a quick grocery trip I tried my hand at making my own salsa..... NOT from a recipe. crazy. caution to the wind. flying by the seat of my pants over here. I just chopped up 1.5 tomatoes, red pepper pieces, poblano pepper pieces (mild is how i roll), red onion and poured in some lime juice, and pulsed it in the food processor. YUM. Okay it was probably a little too mild, I might add more pepper later (and I did miss the cilantro), but It made me think I have been CRAZY to be purchasing the store bought kind all of my 26 years. See ya PACE picante mild chunky vegetables. Our days are over. I am through with getting my salsa manufactured somewhere like NEW YORK CITY. (new york city?). I might even wear my cowboy boots whilst eating it next time. I'm so authentic. 
