A Fall of Romance ~ A Winery, The Pacific and an Airplane Hangar

Love is the energy of the soul.

Love is what heals the personality.

There is nothing that cannot be healed by love.

There is nothing

but

love.

~Gary Zukav

It seems these days, that weddings are planned a year in advance. Going into 2014, I knew I had one wedding to attend in the spring. My cousins wedding. Turns out as Spring rolled around, I found out I'd have another one to attend in September, and as summer came to an end, I knew I'd have another in November ... and then another! 

They were all beautiful and completely unique to each couple, so I thought I'd share some photos. After all, at occasions like these I take hundreds of photos. These are just a few to give you the feeling of each special day.

At The Winery 

The Tyner Wedding

at 

The Old Place and Cornell Winery

 

I chose an acoustic version of the song below, because family members sang it at the "hanger" wedding, but we'll get to that later! ;) Please press play.

The arrival of the bride and groom in his refurbished vintage truck!

Their vows were said out in front of the winery, on a warm September evening ...

The purpose of relationship

is not to have another who might complete you,

but to have another with whom 

you might share your completeness.

~Neale Donald Walsch

Cherish yesterday,

Dream tomorrow,

Live today.

~Richard Bach

Jonanthan Livingston Seagull

It was all very moving. I have known the groom for 30 years and the bride is a fabulous lady. They are a very cute couple! (I might have mentioned I unloaded a boatload of Italy info on them, for their honeymoon!)

By the Ocean

The Wilcox Wedding

at

The Embassy Suites

Oxnard, California

Where there is great Love

there are always 

Miracles.

~Willa Cather

The wedding felt truly blessed by the beautiful sunset ...

At this wedding, I'd known the groom's family since before he was born! Our families are very close and his sis is my oldest friend, and a sister to me. It felt wonderful that we were all together to share the moment and the couple's beautiful evening.

The Airplane Hanger 

The Rubottom-Pluta Wedding

Oxnard Airport, California

This wedding was just last weekend!

The groom flew in on a helicopter, in his tux, with an oversized martini glass, to the theme from James Bond playing over the speakers ...

I have known the Groom since I was a little girl (friends with my parents) and he was now marrying my Aunt!

The bride (my Aunt) and Bridesmaids (my cousins) taxied up to the ceremony, in a friend's airplane.

The couple's nephews on both sides (I'm related to all but two) were the "secret service/bridal party."

The moment you have in your heart

this extraordinary thing called love

and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it,

you will discover that for you the world is transformed.

~Jiddu Krishnamurti

The groom's family sang ... it was so beautiful. I got all weepy! Here is only a bit of it I caught on my iPhone, between taking photos!

The bride and groom in front of his plane ...

 

And the reception was in his airplane hanger. 

The heart that loves

is forever young.

~ Greek proverb

Weren't they all beautiful and unique weddings? I have never been married, but if it ever happens, I love that they made the celebrations so special to them, and I would want to do the same - Make it completely personal. 

I had a conversation with a friend who is in her 40s and she'd talked about missing "that whole thing." (marriage, love, partnership) So, I told her about these weddings. The couples were in their 30s, 40s and ... well, older than 40s. ;)  You never know what life will bring. It doesn't have to be marriage but ... surprises can come when you least expect them!

Here are the website links:
Cornell Winery
The Old Place
Embassy Suites Mandalay Beach
Oxnard Airport

Fashion Fun

O.K., on to a lighter note, I don't usually do this but many of you know that I love dressing up. I kind of get a theme going in my head. Sometimes, it comes from the venue, but often it's just from the dress. (you can click on the them to enlarge.) And ... I love a bargain.

The Winery ... 

Lined cotton voile, watercolor print, by Calvin Klein. (It was about 105 degrees that day.)

Some people were in cowboy boots, so I went a little "country girl" but wore metallic pink stripy espadrilles from American Rag Company, a million years ago. Didn't get a better shot of the dress, but it was a little flared to just below the knee. Hat was borrowed. I will try to download a better shot.

The Beach Wedding ...

If it was summer, on the beach, I would have gone another whole direction, but I went with a little silk dot, number by BCBG. (We were actually on grass, not sand.)

Kind of ended up as a bit of a 1940s look ... but shorter. Nude fishnets. The jacket and onyx necklace are vintage. My hair was all set and cute ... for about the first 10 minutes. 

I had hopes for those hot rollers, but as you can see, they were no match for sea air. 

The Hanger Wedding

That's me, in the middle obviously, in a cousin sandwich. The dress is by Top Shop and was hand beaded, with little rhinestones. Sort of "mini dress/Gatsby" number. 

The Tights look white but ...

They are white and silver fishnets, that sparkled. And the shoes are swing dance shoes, I bought online, and are reproductions of a 1920s shoe. Fun huh? Set my hair overnight this time, and it held slightly better, but it was damp so ...

Anyway, ALL my dresses were bought re-sale on Melrose, for under 30 bucks. Just saying. You don't have to spend a lot to wear cute, well made, frocks! And most people don't wear dressy dresses that many times. The last dress still had all the tags on it! The original tag said 185 Euro!

There are a million re-sale shops in L.A. from Crossroads Trading, to Wasteland and Buffalo Exchange, as well as high end vintage and re-sale.

Anyway, I have fun with it. Life is a costume party! ;)

Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course lie all the realities and verities of existence.

The bliss of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power.

And yesterday is but a dream, 

and tomorrow is only a vision.

But today-

well live, makes every yesterday,

a dream of happiness,

and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore to this day.

~Sanskrit proverb

Blessings and light!

Happy December!