Pictures from our Napa Wedding

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Really beautiful--everything!!!!!!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[lucy love]

wow... SO BEAUTIFUL!! I love the close feeling the cave gives the reception - not too big and open that you feel lost. and the glow of the candles and lighting is beautiful. Love both your dresses, and your bouquet!!! Congratulations on your marriage! ^^

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG - totally GORGEOUS - absolutely everything - your dresses, the flowers, the reception, just fantastically beautiful

 

[dutchflowers]

Your wedding was picture perfect! Love the colors!

 

[Emeraldfan]

Thanks everyone - it really was a dream come true wedding. I loved every minute of it.

Haven - thanks so much for the compliments. It's funny I look so happy with this crazy huge grin on in all my pictures that for some of them I wish I was a little less smiley so my cheeks wouldn't look so puffy. I have been following your thread as well. Congrats on the new house and your dress and new veil are just gorgeous!!

Gypsy - thanks, coming from the flower guru I am deeply honored by your compliments. Congrats to you on your new job as well, it sounds like a good move. I was going to try and meet up with everyone at the SF get together but I'm not going to be able to make it but maybe we can have one later this summer.

Sumbride - Well, you asked for it and I like to oblige so here are some more pictures. I know I am posting so many but I love them all so much and can't wait to go through them all.

Here are my shoes.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Here is a picture of my hairpiece. I bought this piece before I even had a dress or anything as I saw it on a bride in a magazine and had to have it.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Another picture of the Reem hanging. We rented this beautiful house in St. Helena and it was great for everyone to get ready there in the morning.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Another picture of us on the porch of the house we rented

 

[Emeraldfan]

DH clinging for dear life to a tree before being carted off to church

 

[Emeraldfan]

DH''s gardenia before it wilted in the heat.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Love this one of us holding hands as a symbol of our unity.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Another picture of our rings

 

[Emeraldfan]

The wedding favors and the letterpresstags that matched the invites and ceremony cards

 

[Emeraldfan]

Probably one of the few pictures I'm not smiling in. This one is DH and I trying to smile while a drunk family member makes a speech.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Us in the vineyard

 

[Emeraldfan]

These large peonies were on the cocktail tables during the appetizer hour outside on the lawn. I originally wanted foiled wrapped chocolates or jelly beans in the bottom of the container but with the almost 100 degree heat we had to settle for rock salt. I thought it still looked pretty good though.

 

[Harleigh]

OMG, Emerald, your wedding was absolutely picture perfect, stunning if I may say! Your photographer did a phenomenal job, and everything looks so professionally done! I love seeing how happy everyone was, and your joy just shines through.

I love the picture during the drunk speech...the look on your dear hubby''s face says it all right there!

Thanks so much for sharing...would love to see more when you get them!

Congratulations on your marriage and may you have a beautiful life together!

 

[Emeraldfan]

Ok - and now for the good part... THE FOOD.

Here is the beef tenderloin appetizer

 

[Emeraldfan]

Another appetizer

 

[Emeraldfan]

The ahi tuna on cucumber was delicious!!

 

[Emeraldfan]

The photographer didn''t send me pictures of the main courses yet but did send this picture of our chocolate cake with the gooey center. We had a spinach salad with pears and champagne vinagrette, a pineapple sorbet, then filet mignon followed by this dessert and then the wedding cake and fruit an hour later. Everyone raved and raved about the food.

 

[Gypsy]

*blushes*, thank you EF for the compliments and the well wishes! I DO wish you could make it this weekend... but I''m always up for a GTG, so maybe one at the end of summer like September would be a good idea! Congrats on you marriage and on the wonderful wedding.

 

[Emeraldfan]

Ok - last picture for now. DH''s mother wrote this on our getaway car

(I love his mom she''s so sweet and was so happy to have her first born get married).

 

[Po10472]

What lovely photographs. Your dress is absolutely stunning and really really suits you.

Congrats to you and your new DH!!!

po
x

 

[ringster]

what a wonderful wedding emeraldfan! i love your color scheme and the location. and your dress is gorgeous. congrats to you and your new hubby! best wishes for a long happy life together!

 

[Emeraldfan]

Thanks Gypsy!! You are such a great poster on PS and give such great advice. It would be great to finally meet you.

And Now - The Dress Saga (or how I ended up with 2 dresses)

I had wanted the Reem for so long but didn't really want to wear it to the church as it's not the traditional wedding dress. I looked for another dress that I could wear to the church and then wear the Reem to the reception. I soon found the Oscar and fell in love with it as it had that spring napa like feel I was going for. Anyway, after I bought the Oscar I decided I couldn't afford the Reem as well so I didn't order it in my size.

So, the Oscar was on rush and was supposed to get in early April. Well, it didn't come in and I was informed it wouldn't be in until mid-May - just days before my wedding or even possibly after (although the salesperson assured me it would 90% come in in time)!! It's all hand sewn and it was taking longer than they thought (who knows, maybe they were working on Jenna Bush's dress). Anyway, it freaked me out and I decided I needed to have a back-up dress. SO I called 20 stores begging for someone to sell me their Reem "Beautiful" sample as I couldn't get one made in time. I finally found a store that would sell theirs but it was a size 8 - I figured since it's empire waist I could maybe get into it or have a panel put in the back so I bought it and had them rush it to me. I also had them order extra fabric and then contacted Kristen Tucker to do the alterations (she was amazing by the way so thanks Gypsy for mentioning her on another thread). Anyway, she put a panel in the back as you can see and I really think it looked pretty good and noone commented on it looking out of place.


Well, as I now had the Reem I tried to cancel the Oscar. The store said nope, if it comes in before the wedding it's mine and as I've already paid for it basically tough luck. It came in 6 days before my wedding. The bust was too big and sat up too high under my arms and the inner corset was pushing all my cleavage and underarm/undershoulder fat out in this weird way. To fix it she would have to completely take the dress apart. She couldn't fix it in time but could put cap sleeves on it and tighten the bust a little so it wouldn't keep sliding up under my arms so much so that's what she did. Everyone thought it looked nice but I didn't feel beautiful in it cause I felt I was trying to hide things. I also felt like the Oscar was now just a dress for my wedding and not a wedding dress if you kinow what I mean (I bought 3 pairs of shoes, 3 pairs of earrings and the one pearl bracelet as I hadn't seen the dress since January and didn't get to try it all on together until the last minute).

Anyway, as I felt more beautiful in the Reem I wore that one to the ceremony anyway and then changed into the Oscar for appetizers and part of the reception. So, much to my now DH's dismay and pocketbook, I ended up with too beautiful dresses afterall

(Good thing I got the Reem or I woudn't have been able to wear that headpiece I bought and loved - so it did really work out in the end.)

 

[CrownJewel]

Aaaaaah! EF I''m so jealous of your guests. If I knew you and had been invited to your wedding, I think it would be one of those events that I would rave about and remember forever. The cave, the flowers, your dresses, the candles...EVERYTHING seems like it was just heavenly. I really love the flowers and the centerpieces.

Anyway - congratulations MRS. emeraldfan! You were a beautiful bride. You+hubby are a beautiful couple.

 

[anchor31]

Congratulations!! Everything looks so amazing. I love the flowers and cake!

 

[gwendolyn]

Wow, everything looks just beautiful! And what a fantastic place for a reception! Congratulations!!

 

[zoebartlett]

Perfection! Everything looks absolutely stunning! Best wishes to you and your husband.