A Kiss to Build A Dream On: We Have a DATE!!! Plus a caterer, an engagement party and more...

Yes, it's true!! Among the exciting things that have happened in the past week or so is that we've decided on a place and a date to get married!! YES! It's really happening!!

But I'll back up so we can get the full story...

Jacob and I visited Santa Barbara during the last weekend in April to see the last of the sites that we had scheduled, and to see my cousin Renee get married (really, it was just so we could take notes on what to do!) We had visits scheduled with the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and the Santa Barbara Zoo. Wait! Before you say, "Alissa, really, the ZOO?!", you should know that the property was a beautiful estate that looks out over the ocean and East Beach, and was donated so a Zoo could be created. Oh, also, if you're not keeping track... these were the last two sites in the Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez area that could seat 200 people and that weren't $30k (the going price for a private home rental in Montecito... what the HECK!?). So, at this point it was do-or-die, because we hadn't really LOVED any of the places that we had visited so far. Also, the wineries that I had really liked the week before got ruled out, simply because of logistics and travel time. Jacob and I actually ended up driving back up to the wineries on Saturday afternoon so he could see them, but we just decided it was too far... and he didn't love them. Oh well! SO... drumroll please...

1. Santa Barbara Historical Museum

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is an adobe, located in downtown SB. I had never been there before, and didn't really think much of it, because it honestly looks like nothing from the outside. You would never imagine that the plain adobe brick walls (so common in downtown SB) surrounded and protected 2 beautiful courtyards, filled with classic Santa Barbara architecture and fountains and gorgeousness!! We got there a little early, but luckily Justin Reynolds was working there! We had totally forgotten that he was a site coordinator there, which basically means that he runs the events for the museum. He was setting up for a wine and food pairing event the next day, and was great enough to show us around! The lady that we were supposed to meet with never showed up, but that was fine because Justin was on top of things.

A Panoramic View of the Ceremony Area

A Panoramic View of the Reception Area

Enjoy the beautiful pictures:

The Reception Site

The Ceremony Site (both pictures)

2. Santa Barbara Zoo

The Zoo is one of the most popular places to get married in Santa Barbara, simply because of beautiful gardens and stunning ocean view. It's also such a unique venue, because you're at the Zoo! You can have the animals out late, you can do a giraffe feeding, you can have a keeper talk, you can have the miniature train running... so many fun options to add to an already enjoyable evening! We really enjoyed the Zoo, and might have enjoyed it even more if it wasn't undergoing a massive renovation of the Hilltop, where most ceremonies and receptions are held. They are adding additional bathrooms, a bridal changing suite, and new catering facilities, which would be great for weddings and other events. The construction fences and signs definitely made it hard to visualize the beauty... We walked all around, had a look at the site, and the event coordinator showed us the architect's renderings of the construction.

The Walk up to the Site

The Reception Site (see the fence on the right? That's more room for tables)

Ceremony site- you can see the ocean

A better view of the blocked-off reception site (How sweet are those fences? At least they tried to make it blend in...)

But, in the end, it was vetoed because of that construction... although it is supposed to be finished by next April (1 year), what if it ran over schedule and we were left without a venue? There was also some concern about the fog rolling in, as it does so often around that time of the year.

So, what does that mean?! It means that we've chosen the Santa Barbara Historical Museum as the place where we are going to get married! After a week of contract negotiation, my parents are heading down to sign in on Tuesday. So we're getting married on Saturday, July 11, 2009 at the Museum! It's so weird to say that, and I'm getting so excited! I can't believe it's actually happening :)

In other news, we've also been looking at a few caterers, and just thinking about their menus make my mouth water!! The caterer is the next thing that we'll book, so I can't wait to start tastings soon!!

Last, but certainly not least (well, actually, not really because I have something that I'm going to keep secret for awhile longer) Dale and Sarah threw us an AMAZINGLY AWESOME engagement party last night!! But before the engagement party I thought I'd head to Sephora (I needed new powder and mascara) and see if I could get a makeup artist to do my makeup... BAD idea. She went a little crazy on the brown eyeshadow and I just ended up looking like I had mistakening rubbed bronzer and brown EVERYWHERE. I looked much like this:

I guess I won't be going to Sephora for any wedding-related makeup jobs!

So many of our wonderful friends came up from UCLA and Santa Barbara, my cousin Meredith and sis Brenna came, and of course everyone in San Luis Obispo. Dale and Sarah had set up an amazing cocktail party complete with 3 themed food stations ("The Taste of Italy", "The Taste of California", and "The Taste of San Luis Obispo"), had lots of wine and cookies and beer and goodies, and had even snagged pictures of our dating years and engagement off Facebook and had them printed out and framed!! I can't believe it! They really thought of everything. We had a wonderful evening with some of our closest friends, and came out of it with 4 bottles of wine and some homemade heart shaped cookies (Thanks Avian!) and a heart-shaped cake! Dale and Sarah even made us play the Newlywed Game, where we competed against Melissa and Jason (married for almost 2 years, dating for 8 before that), and Avian and Matt (dating for about 2 years)... and WE won!! Bam! We were behind going into the bonus round, and then we totally ROCKED that!!! It was such a great night, and Justin gave a fantastic, heartfelt champagne toast. Oh, and Sarah and I went a little photo crazy... so enjoy!

On the way... gettin' silly

Look at how excited Jacob is!! The beautiful decorations leading to the back... apparently the wind kept them from lighting candles, but I think it looks great!