My dear friend Christa was the maid of honor and sister of the pretty bride, Ashleigh, at this wedding. I remember meeting her and Jason for drinks and dinner before a show at the Boom Boom Room right after they first met so I was very excited about this family wedding at Hans Fahden Winery in Calistoga, always a favorite place of mine. The poem “The Owl and The Pussycat” was the inspiration for their wedding, as their spirit animals are the owl and the cat.
Ceremony + reception location: Hans Fahden Winery
Caterer: Piper Johnson Catering
Cake designer: Sweetie Pies
DJ: Colin Mcnamara
Floral designer: Verde Flowers
Bride’s gown: Amy Kuschel
So I love this: Dad is fast asleep in a lounge chair while his daughter is getting ready…
There’s an old rowboat at Hans Fahden that I’ve never been able to convince any of my couples to get into on their wedding day. Not these two. The rowboat was on our must-do list for portraits and I could not have been more excited. And nervous. What if I managed to tip my girl into the drink before the reception?
Jason and Ashleigh are creative, she was an elementary school art teacher for awhile! They created the cake topper and the owl and the pussycat illustration!
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
Pussy said to the Owl, ‘You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?’
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
‘Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?’ Said the Piggy, ‘I will.’
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
By Edward Lear
This wedding and photographs make me nostalgic. There’s a feeling of the good ol’ times in these images.