Bill and I were invited to what I warmingly refer to as “The Fancy Pants Wedding.” (Really, without any intention of sarcasm.) I personally don’t get invited to a lot of weddings. I’m not the floozy getting drunk under the table, I just don’t have a lot of friends who are getting married. People lament about “Oh, it’s Wedding Season” to me like I’m in my late twenties and I know what they’re talking about, when really I only know the concept of their complaint. Something about having to go to family-oriented-yet-not parties every weekend. Shrug. Ain’t my bag.

So Fancy Pants Wedding was beautiful. Held at the Madrona Manor up in Healdsburg, California, it was also an excuse for us to bump around in a wine country antique shop for a spell. (Did not literally “bump around.” What kind of ruffian do you think I am??) We made friends with the eccentric couple who ran the shop and had a hard time pulling away as they yammered on in their signature antique shop owner ways. They sent us off with a heap of Madrona Manor trivia, though, so at least we were prepped to show up this Fancy Pants Wedding crowd. Also, crazy Santa?

I’m not one of those girls who knows what she wants her wedding to be like when she grows up. I hear ideas that I think are cool, but I have not been scripting my vows since I was five and I don’t know what our “colors” would be for that day. I have a feeling if the day comes, I will only be able to accurately predict two things about it: 1) They will play “La Vie En Rose,” and 2) My skin is going to be broken out.

This wedding, though, this Fancy Pants business, had the nuts and bolts down to an ever-charming T. Warm spring afternoon? Parasols and fans.

On the menu: sea urchin and five empty glasses, each shaped differently, for the five different servings of wine to go with each course. I ended up downing eight glasses of wine that night, to which Cristina accurately responded “That’s more wine than I’ve ever seen you consume in my life!” I’m not a big drinker, but I put it all away for the good of getting the bride and groom’s money’s worth and being a pal to DD Bill.

All the letterpress, print materials, and hand calligraphy (!) were done by Hello!Lucky (Yes, they of the Martha Stewart Weddings fame!), and the props (including the cheshire smile in Bill’s and my Magnolia photo booth session and the stage and more at the MS-featured Hello!Lucky wedding) were made by Because We Can (design and ambition crush). Even though our invitation was clearly late in the overall scheme of attendees (We were seated at that table.), we couldn’t have been luckier. I ended up sitting across from Toast from BWC, and I have such a deep admiration for their work that it made my evening to engage in such down-to-earth conversation with a fun, innovative, and genuine person.

I then hired these men to live in my house.

The desserts and requisite sweet memories lasted beyond the evening, starting with ice cream made on the spot with liquid nitrogen and toppings you picked out yourself (Of course.), and continuing into the morning after when you opened your goody box to a pair of monogrammed petit-fours.

Mom's beaded tunic got stuck to the bride's dress for a time. Adorable.

Congratulations to the couple. Top two in my limited experience with weddings.