Bio

Emma & Ted
6.29.08
Berkeley, CA
(UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens Redwood Grove and the Bancroft Hotel)

The ladies got ready at the Hotel Durant, around the corner from the reception venue. My generous and talented co-worker offered to do my makeup - she did an excellent job!

My dress is an Amy Kuschel sample I bought on ebay. The talented Anne Ventresco of Oakland did my alterations. I highly recommend her!

Sparkling wine to celebrate and help ease the nerves.

Dance moves to keep the spirits up.

Zip it.

How does the back look?

Rallying the troops.

Enjoying the madness.

Lovely friend-made hair pieces.

The first of many posed portraits that day.

Handsome groom.

Handsome groomsmen.

Taking photos during the formal portraits/our DOC.

One of our portraits from the hotel shoot.

Ceremony time.

Sweet friend of Ted’s and talented musician played before and during our ceremony.

Dudes conferring pre-ceremony.

Beginning the processional.

I was nervous!

Whew, we made it.

Vows

More vows

Listening to my dad read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.

One of my favorite photos.

Ted’s friend Chris and my brother (a professional bluegrass musician) played “Second That Emotion” for our recessional.

Away we went.

A close up of my hair thing. My friend is starting a business – contact me at ekeefe_ihad@yahoo.com if you’re interested!

My mom surprised me a few days before the wedding with a blessing basket – she had gotten female family members (mine and Ted’s) to each embroider a message to us on a ribbon and she wove them together into the basket. Guests wrote wishes for us and put them in the basket. I was so touched. My aunt Sarah is making an announcement about the basket which turned into a very sweet toast about Ted.

Enjoying our toasts. We had four scheduled ones and a few surprise ones, but loved them all.

Aerial cake shot.

Oh how I loved the cake. It’s tragic that you see it for a few hours and then it’s gone forever.

One more cake shot.

Ok, I lied, there’s like 5 billion cake photos.

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but I was laughing because he cut a GIGANTIC slice of cake.

Forget about the photo op, I was enjoying the cake.

Cheese.

Our first dance – we learned some lindy hop steps from a dance instructor and strung them together to form a routine. Our song was Bobby Darin’s version of “I’m Beginning to See the Light.”

Everybody dance now.

My escort cards – each table was an animal. I bought the animal portraits from Etsy.

An example of the table “numbers.”

Heart-shaped cookie favors, made by my mom ?

The delicious buffet dinner – salmon, Israeli couscous, grilled asparagus, butternut squash ravioli…

Our centerpieces – white and purple orchids with curly willow.

All 14 tables.

Fin

Vendor Reviews
Alterations – Anne Ventresco: A+
Anne Ventresco in the Oakland hills did my alterations. If you Google her, you’ll find her site and her email. She is a lovely person and a talented designer and seamstress, and I can’t recommend her more highly.

Cake - Sweet Adeline Bakery: A
This was the easiest of all vendors I hired for my wedding. I simply sent Jennifer a photo of what I wanted, and on my wedding night, it manifested, exactly as I’d imagined it. I loved my cake, and from what I recall, it was delicious.

Ceremony Location – UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens Redwood Grove: A
The UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens was absolutely lovely, as you can see from the photos. It’s a great place for a non-religious couple, as it’s outdoors but has a truly sacred feel. The rental price is reasonable, but parking is steep – we ended up spending about $450 to reserve 45 spaces.

DJ - Friend of the Groom: B
Our DJ did a great job, but didn’t play any of our requested music until a few hours into the reception. This bummed me out, as I can’t really get down with “Celebrate” and “YMCA” in the ways others can. I had a moment of being upset (not my finest hour, luckily it was just sadness and feeling sorry for myself and not being rude to anyone) and then got over it and had my friend ask him to switch it up. I also accepted that a lot of people were getting a huge kick out of the very music that was bumming me out.

Dress – ebay: A
My dress was a sample from an Amy Kuschel store, being sold on ebay by an individual (not a big seller or store, so I can’t forward that info unfortunately). It was a bit of a risk, and it didn’t exactly zip up when it arrived, but after being let out to its original size it fit me perfectly. Buying online was perfect for me as I didn’t love the bridal salon experience and was so not ready to shell out thousands for a dress.

Flowers – Ultimate Flowers, El Sobrante: A
Chong Thatcher is an amazing florist, and executed my ideas to perfection. I loved my bouquet, LOVED the centerpieces, and the BM bouquets and bouts and corsages were all lovely. No complaints here.

Officiant – Friend of the Groom: A+
We had a Montana friend of Ted’s get deputized by Alameda county to be a one-time officiant for our wedding. It was easy to do (he mailed in some forms) and we were so glad we both 1) asked a friend, as the ceremony was personalized and the perfect secular ceremony (Shakespeare + Steinbeck = a lit-loving couple’s ideal wedding) and 2) gave him the power to marry us, as opposed to getting legally married beforehand, which we had planned to do. It really meant something that at the moment we said the words in front of our friends and family, we were husband and wife. It was a powerful feeling to have both the ceremonial, legal and emotional changes occur at the same time.

Reception – Bancroft Hotel: A++
The Bancroft Hotel was everything I wanted and more. The events manager, Kelly, sold me the moment I walked in. She’s warm, smart, and really cares about making your event go smoothly. Her staff is also excellent. What I loved the most about it was that it made a cozy central location for the wedding weekend. We bought out the hotel for two nights and friends and family filled up the 22 rooms and rooms at neighboring hotels (Durant is right around the corner). I kept running in to people I knew at every turn – it was exactly how I’d envisioned it.
The reception hall itself is beautiful, although the darkness makes it hard to photograph. I love how it feels like an old academic building. The stained glass windows in front made for a lovely background for portraits.
The food is also delicious! They use only in-house catering, but they can cook pretty much anything you can dream up, and they are happy to create a menu heavy on local/organic ingredients. I had so much fun at the tasting, and had leftovers for days afterward.
Finally, while I consider myself to have been a fairly low-maintenance bride, Iwas impressed at how they took all of my requests seriously and executed them to a tee. Particularly great was how I dropped off some cocktail recipes and ingredients, and their bartender made my specialty ginger martini and other cocktails much better than I had made them at home.

web counter