Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Notes from the field: a progressive dinner

When we last left Data Monkey and Mountain Man, they were departing from their wedding ceremony in the redwood grove amidst a swirl of bubbles. So beautiful!

The guests adjourned to a patio near the redwood grove for drinks and nibbles, while the nearly-married couple had a moment alone. I believe this is originally a Jewish tradition - well worth borrowing, given the general excitement and busy-ness of a wedding day or weekend.


The next phase of the evening took place in the Meadow, requiring a short walk through the beautiful Pema Ose Ling grounds. (I stopped by the car to trade my heels for flip-flops at this point). We strolled past the temple that housed an enormous statue of one of the great teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, and arrived at an al fresco dinner, where we re-met the couple.



The adorable newlyweds shared a sweetheart table, surrounded by round tables of eight to ten guests. Dining while the sun set on a warm spring evening was pure delight.


And how 'bout that lighter-than-air veil, and lace-up corset back of the dress??? Pure poetry!

The final stage of the progressive dinner took us back to the dance hall, next to the patio where we began, for cake cutting, and cutting the rug.


(here's another look at that spectacular veil!)

4 comments:

the un-bride said...

Such a pretty setting! And these pics have made me so happy that we decided to have bubbles at the end of our ceremony. (If "decided" includes the only thing that our site doesn't prohibit.)

Awnut: that one extra-hard nut in the bag of trail mix that almost cracks your tooth. "Aw, nuts! I just bit the awnut."

the un-bride said...

Okay, I had to come back for this one.

Hubilymp: An unfortunate wedding night scenario, brought on by excessive champagne consumption at the reception.

Yes, I'm a child.

Caroline said...

I love the bubbles! They make the picture look so magical. You were barefoot?

elizabeth said...

@ Un-bride: ha! hopefully by naming the condition ahead of time, we have prevented it's occurrence!

I'd similarly 'decided' on bubbles for the same reason - but seeing them at the wedding clinched my (non)choice.

@ Caroline: This was a friend's wedding - I'm pretty sure she was wearing heels. I fully intend to be barefoot on the beach come Oct. '09. I've got to write about that some day...

"ametion": the quality of having little ego - The humble monk showed ametion in his daily tasks.