It was a great opportunity for us as a family to go on a road trip and also celebrate the wedding of my former student...
which was held, after hours, at the San Francisco Zoo. Our motel was close by so we just walked over there and skipped the parking fee. As we were walking in in our wedding finery, the zoo was just closing and many noticed not just us, but the other wedding guests who were trickling in. We were told to wait in a certain area until the reception area was made ready. The wedding itself was beautiful and made personal with their unique vows which they made under the shade of this huge African tree.
Whoever planned their decorations was a genius. They used flowers gathered from friends' gardens, tree stump slices, scores and scores of succulent plants stuck in vintage silver and pewterware and glassware as centerpieces and giveaways. The bride and her groom are both musicians and the theme permeated throughout the wedding. Her former bandmates performed live acoustic music (I don't think I've ever heard "Creep" by Radiohead as a wedding into until that day!) and college friends performed during the cocktail hour as well.
Guests got to see wildlife up close like ths kinkajou, an owl (forgot what kind) and a lizard (not shown)...
Cocktails were enjoyed at the Lemur Forest...
Bert's Vodka on the rocks, TC's alcohol free Shirley Temple and my rum and Coke:
Live entertainment provided by the talented gals from Astra Logik (college friends of the bride):
They did a great acoustic rendition of "Butterflies" by Michael Jackson!
The bride and groom...
Garland consisting of their RSVP cards in which guests were asked to submit their own artwork...
Cool table decorations (the groom is a DJ)...
Their menu which was served family style and catered to both meat eaters and vegetarians/vegans alike. Our "placecards" were cassette tapes with an animal on it. We met a former Chula Vista (a friend of the bride and groom) who we enjoyed hanging out with during the wedding, although we sat at different tables.
These shots were a bit craptastic since it was dark. Of the entrees, I liked the fish the most; the beef was a little too red for my taste. All of the Filipinos at the table were joking that the rice pilaf underneath the rice wasn't going to be enough for even one person! Everything was delicious!
We were seated with two of my other former students (in fact, the girls, who are now grown women, were my officers in the club I advised way back when) along with their boyfriends. I keep forgetting that they're not 18 anymore and are now in their early 30's! One of the boyfriends is a surgeon and was hilarious; he didn't have a filter and TC and I found his funny comments amusing.
One thing that really made my night was that one of those girls told me that I was the reason that she became a counselor! She majored in Psychology (which was my major) and then got her Masters in Counseling. She is now a college counselor in the Berkeley area and loves her job. Her kind words really floored me and I thought it was cool for TC to hear that her "old fart" of a mom actually made a positive influence in someone's life. I say this facetiously, but seriously, it's quite nice to hear this. As an educator, we often don't know of these types of success stories because once a student graduates, most don't come back or keep in touch. Only a few of students have still managed to keep in touch with me over the years, such as the bride. I'm glad I got to reconnect with these two other women
Cupcakes were from Devil's Teeth Bakery, which is local to the Outer Sunset.
My favorite was the chocolate as well as the brown sugar; the carrot cake, not so much.
That was a much better photo.
If you've just stumbled onto this post, here is a recap of our day:
Just the Highlights
+ the full blown posts:
SF Roadtrip Day 2 - John's Ocean Beach Cafe
Scenes from the OB415
Andytown
Golden Gate Park - Bison and Windmills
Beach Chalet murals at the Golden Gate Park Visitors Center
Scenes from Irving Street, Inner Sunset
Peasant Pies
Holy Gelato!
We loved the cupcakes enough to visit the same bakery the next morning! That post is forthcoming!
2 comments:
Very cool idea for a wedding - in a zoo! It looked a really beautiful day and lovely wedding. I liked the tree stumps and flowers from family/friends. That's so cool you got to hear and find out that you helped to influence someone. That's so awesome to be someone's inspiration! :)
We lucked out with picture perfect weather that whole time we were there. Yes, it really was cool. It's nice to know I made some sort of difference. The bride's brother is the one who worked on Titanfall and he also credited me with spurring him to pursue a degree and career in the arts.
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