Now I've Really got Butterflies!

News Flash! I never realized just how much goes into planning a wedding!

This is a funny thought I'm sure for anyone that knows me well, because I spent my entire adult life helping people plan their bridal registries! We have some idea of what we want, but it's interesting just how daunting a task it is to consider planning a wedding in San Diego from Cleveland, Ohio. In the years since I've retired, I've discovered that I get completely overwhemed without a great structure to work within so I've been wondering where to start!

Today  , I stumbled across a website that brought tears to my eyes, www.sandiegowedding.com ,and I'm feeling such relief! I want to be able to plan the foundations of this wedding easily, leaving us free to be creative and make allowances for all of the things that we might want to do that weekend. La Jolla is such a beautiful city, and so meaningful to us, and there are so many beautiful places to see there.  This San Diego Wedding site is beautifully organized, very upscale and has pictures of places that my husband and I can look at, along with descriptions of their services. There are lists for florists, wedding cake bakers and bands, although I am sure that my sister will know the best place in town to have a wonderful cake made! For our 20th anniversary, she gave us the most gorgeous chocolate cake from a French bakery that she loves. For the flowers, I want them to be heartfelt, not stuffy. The food, well I want to it to be gorgeous in the style of a Tuscan feast, lots of it...very delicious and unrestrained, sort of like an enormous market basket! And of course..............Wine and great cheese , and where better to find great wine then in CALIFORNIA! My favorite cheese store in the world is in Del Mar, a lovely place that I've written about before named Aniata's, that carries not one but THREE kinds of truffled cheese, (my husbands favorite!) and sometimes a raw milk brie  !

I also have this crazy idea that I want to cook for our guests, and create a wonderful experience for them on Friday night. I've cooked many a fete' for over a hundred people, so I'm pretty comfortable with this. The question would be, where to have it ?

This wedding weekend is for me, all about celebrating our life together and the enormous family that we've created. I want to give everyone the feeling of just how big a part of our lives they are, and how much we love each and every one of them. I've never been good at just being the center of the party...I want to provide the experience. So I think that I will enroll my sister, who is a fabulous cook in helping me to create one of the evenings.

And of course there must be surfing, and many trips to Seal Beach with the kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Doubleclick on the photograph above!)