Orts of the Wedding Kind

We attended the wedding of a dear friend's son a couple of weekends ago--I made the Giant Shoo-Fly quilt for the young couple.  The wedding was in Santa Barbara at an old adobe preserved by the County Historical society.

We entered through wrought iron gates decorated with carved gourds with the couples' names.

They were wed in front of this arbor covered with wisteria vines and draped with linen.( I took this shot after the crew had removed all the chairs.) 

The beautiful bride with her father.  My photos of the wedding party in front of the arbor were all too blurry to share, unfortunately.  

Cocktails in the adobe's courtyard and covered porches.

The bride and groom kept a sense of humor about many details, including this can cozy wedding souvenir. 

They also had a candy bar and vessels with trinkets such as stick on mustaches, tiny plastic wrestlers, and glow necklaces.  Grant affecting his "most interesting man in the world" pose, above.

The reception was in a separate beautifully decorated courtyard with an enormous fountain, dance floor, and wonderful lighting.  It was a warm night so we didn't need the heaters lit, fortunately.

The blurriness of my photo aside, these traditional Mexican banners were strung above with the lights and streamers and fluttered charmingly in the wind.  

The groom, whom we have known since birth, and his lovely wife.  Her hair looked beautiful.  DD Elaine did the bridesmaid's hairstyles, along with three assistants, as there were 11 bridesmaids!   They all looked so pretty. The groomsmen escorted two bridesmaids each down the aisle and into the reception.

The sense of humor continued as the groomsmen came out and did poses wearing these Mexican wrestler's masks in tribute to the bride's grandfather, who had wrestled professionally in Mexico in the 1950's.  Our friend Danny modeled the groom's brother's mask later at the table.

Traditionally at Mexican weddings, the centerpieces are party favors and the guests take them away.  Although I saw some other guests removing them, these were so wonderful that I was afraid to, and had to ask our friend, the groom's mother, if they were really meant as gifts.  She said the bride's father had made all the boxes and they were indeed to be taken away...

...along with more succulents in vessels.  I ended up with two planter boxes and these five vessels as the groom's father put more and more in to an empty packing box and insisted I take them.  I love them!  Unfortunately, I still have not heard how the bride and groom liked the quilt.  Waiting with baited breath...