Speaking of adios, you’ll have to take good notes and report back to me about the event because I’ll be filling my belly with tapas and bull’s blood. Travel Boyfriend is speaking at a an engineering conference in Madrid next week and guess who’s tagging along? I’m bummed to be missing Beth’s insightful talk, but now I’ll have fresh new travel tips to pass along from the European continent just in time for summer.

Workshop Schedule:

June 3, 2008 6-8:30 pm - REI Marina - Bay Area, California
Wandering the World: Essential Tips for Travelers

June 4, 2008 6-8:30 pm - REI Berkeley - Bay Area, California
Wandering the World: Essential Tips for Travelers

June 5, 2008 6-8:30 pm - REI Saratoga - Bay Area, California
Wandering the World: Essential Tips for Travelers

Pre-register through her website and get $3 off the twenty dollar admission charge. 

Every day they pump out bags and bags of your favorite post-kung-pao-chicken treat. Some are even flavored with chocolate. While others harbor naughty fortunes so you can enjoy them even more…in bed!

Can’t make it to San Francisco’s Chinatown? Then watch this quick clip and travel on your own 30 Second Vacation.

Friday morning Travel Boyfriend and I woke up bright and early to head down to City Hall to apply for our marriage license. You can apply up to 90 days before your actual ceremony and since there will only be three days between my getting back from Bali and our legal ceremony with the parents, we decided to get on the stick.

It’s very exciting to know that even though the ceremony is a month and a half away, that at any moment between then and now, should TB and I be in the company of an ordained minister, we could just hitch ourselves. The city has given us license!

They have also thoughtfully given us this free brochure on sharing your life as one without exposing each other to AIDS.

Our first wedding gift!

My question of “where does body fat go when it’s cinched into a corset” has been answered. Like cream, it rises to the top. Then is spills over and flops down over the white fabric and crystal beading to look like a second pair of breasts. Maybe not as fine as the ones in front (hell-yeah!). And maybe nipple-less, as men’s should be. But there they are just the same. Breasty.

Turns out the dress didn’t have as much fabric to let out as Lucy originally thought. It appears that the photo shoot people clipped the ample seams about every inch or so down the line, probably so they would lie flat for the model and not look puckered. That’s all well and good for her, but I’ve got 3 1/2 weeks until my flight takes off and I’m unaware of how to work out the fat above my shoulder blades.

Thankfully, before I can burst into tears, Lucy makes me feel like there are still a few options. I’m not wise enough in the ways of dress construction to really understand all that she’s proposing, but I put my faith in her that it’ll all turn out alright. She has a fantastic reputation and an optimistic demeanor. And really, what choice do I have?

Actually, I do have one choice. Romantic Weddings, the company I’ve contracted with in Bali to take care of all the wedding minutia that I have discovered I loathe, has their own bridal boutique. That means I can rent a dress at last minute if my impending lipo appointment fails to produce the desired results. Sure, it’ll cost me extra. Sure, I already have $345 invested in this dress and I think it’s beautiful and I’d hate not to be able to wear it. Sure, I’ll have carted a wedding dress with me 3,000 miles away only to have to cart it back unworn. But, knowing there’s a backup plan gives me the strength to hoist myself up onto Lucy’s dressing box in order for her to concentrate on less controversial topics, such as the hem.

So, will it fit? Will I have to pay for Photoshop classes for a budding Balinese photographer? Or will I have I have to keep my shoulders shrugged during the entire Balinese Blessing ceremony as though I’m unsure of my commitment to Travel Boyfriend? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

Way back last week when we thought we were getting married in good old Gold Country and had months and months to plan, I thoroughly dreaded all the phone-call making that seems to be involved in planning a wedding. So now that we’ve injected the planning process with whatever disease afflicted Ralph Macchio in the Three Wishes of Billy Greer, I am frozen with fear by the sight of my own telephone.

The call I was dreading the most was to the wedding dress alterer. I dreaded it because my dress was a photo shoot castoff and although I am eternally grateful to my friend for giving it to me, I blanche at the thought of a seamstress judging me a cheapo. Also, the dress is technically too small, so I fear the words, “all-prune diet.” But really the biggest reason is because I just want to make sure I look kind of pretty on my wedding day and if the dress doesn’t work, that’s it. My image is forever cast in stone and on acid-free photo paper as the world’s first ugly bride.

Luckily, one of the first things I do when faced with a need I don’t know how to fill, is to give a shout-out to all my Betties. And luckily, almost always, my Betties come through. Yelp and Google and The Knot and all those places online are great, but sometimes you just need an honest-to-goodness personal referral from someone you trust. And that’s exactly how I found Lucy’s Alteration & Dressmaking.

One semi-awkward phone call later and I had my appointment. The next day I drove down to San Bruno and found a tiny dress shop next to a grubby a liquor store complete with a mustached ne’re-do-well sitting out front in his tan 1970s Buick. I popped my trunk and gathered up my bag of pure white wedded bliss and gave him a smile as I walked towards the shop thinking, “Yup, that’s right, I’m a motherfucking bride, wino!” It was the first time I really felt like I was starring in the role. Before then, it had just seemed like play-acting. But here I was taking the first step down the aisle. I’m glad he and I could share the moment.

Once inside, Lucy was great. She was confident we could make the dress fit well. She complimented my free-dress shrewdness. And she made me feel like I would be a pretty bride after all. And she did it all for a very reasonable price. With alterations, a dry cleaning to remove photo shoot grass stains, and the pressing, my grand total was a scant $345. One dress shop I’d inquired of in San Francisco had wanted $250 for the dry cleaning alone, so I left feeling like I’d won the dress-altering lottery. And you probably will too.

If you make a visit to Lucy’s for your own wedding dress needs, know that she only takes upfront cash or check. And if you’re looking for someone to make you a dress from scratch, she’s got tons of photos in her shop to convince you she can do anything you can dream up. All you have to do is call.

Travel Bride Basics

Lucy’s Alterations and Dressmaking
187 El Camino Real
San Bruno, CA 94066
(650)589-0847

Unfortunately, this altruistic goal proved to be easier said than done, and although $26,000 was raised, Backpack Nation was put to bed after a three-year run. But that wasn’t the end of Brad Newsham and his desire to change the world.

Cut to Saturday October 15, 2007. It’s me, my friend LL, and about 800+ people lying down on a pricker-filled Chrissy Field allowing helicopters to hover above our heads and shoot at us. Well, okay, I’m being overly melodramatic since they were shooting with video cameras, not bullets. Why? For Beach Impeach, of course. Brad’s latest effort is to take on the treasonous Bush Administration and get their asses thrown out of office. Again, I’m game!

You can watch the video below to see how it turned out. I tell you, I love living in a city where people like Brad (just average citizens who are fed up!) not only feel inspired to come up with ideas like this, but actually take action to make them happen. Congrats Brad! Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your vision.

If you’re interested in getting down and dirty with Brad and a surprise special guest for the next event, Beach Impeach 4 is scheduled for October 7 at 11am in Berkeley.

If you’re interested in keeping Bush & Co. in the White House, but still want to make the world a better place (something akin to Jumbo Shrimp), check out Brad’s inspiring book:

Take Me with You

Other Betties blogging about Brad and Beach Impeach:

The Rag Blog: Kick out Nancy Pelosi too
The MPJC Video Project
Vagabonding: Brad Newsham on why you should be “in the moment” when you travel

Then we went to The Knot to start plugging in our numbers into their helpful interactive budgeting tool. Food costs. Check. Beverage costs. Check. Facility rental fee? Naively, I said, “Hmm, I think that’s included somewhere in there with the food and beverage costs on that first page.” Nope. It wasn’t. The rental cost was on the second page and was meant to be added to the first page total. And that’s about when things started to turn.

During this whole process, neither of us have been very comfortable with the idea of spending so much money for a single day’s event. When we added in the cost of the site fee, we realized the only way we were going to stay under $20k for this wedding was to serve Saltines and garden hose water. And as much as I’d love to see a few key family members attempt to take a drink as I crimp and release the hose, it just started to seem completely exhausting. And a little bit ridiculous.

So Travel Boyfriend and I started to wrack our brains. Vegas? We love Vegas and could just have a fun ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel and head out to a cool restaurant and bar afterwards. But, because TB’s Dad is so sick, he can’t fly or even travel by car very far. That means TB’s Mom would either have to skip the wedding too or go alone. Not gonna work.

Cut the list? We’ve got 120 people total and I feel like there are a whole lot of people I want to have at my wedding that already aren’t invited. We’re also still trying to figure out what to do about kids. For every child who attends, that’s one adult that can’t attend. And while there’s a good chance either could end up running around the dance floor with underwear displayed for the whole world to see, it’s just a really tough call to make. Cutting the list just didn’t seem like an option. Plus, the price goes up per person when there are less than 100, so there goes the savings.

Go back to dating? We didn’t have any of this pressure when we were a carefree, unbetrothed couple. Just the occasional odd stare when we told people we’d been together for 6 years. But that didn’t cost me anything close to $30,000.

And suddenly, it hit me…

B…A…L…I…, fools!

I leave for my month-long vacation in Bali in exactly 30 days. Travel Boyfriend had toyed with the idea of coming out for a week and had even managed to secure a round-trip frequent flier ticket just in case. So, why not get married in the most stunning, exotic, ritual-infused (and ridiculously cheap) island I could ever imagine?! Yeah, why not?!

We could still do a reception of sorts when we got back. But it could be more of a fun party and we could actually have it in San Francisco. My parents are coming out for Thanksgiving the day after I return for Bali to spend time with us and Travel Boyfriend’s family. Why not have a little after-wedding family celebration? We’ll still have that fresh “newlywed” smell.

So, from now until October 17, Travel Betty is turning into Travel Bride. Can I pull together a meaningful, romantic ceremony 3,000 miles away in only 30 days and for only $3,000 while wearing a dress two sizes too small? You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

Obviously there are tons of great locations in Grass Valley, Nevada City, Auburn and the rest of California Gold Country to host a gorgeous wedding. I just didn’t have the time, or frankly the desire, to spend tons of time visiting them all. The three we chose to visit matched our specific criteria and had availability for the dates we were thinking of holding our ceremony. But along the way, there were a few more I thought were quirky and cool:

Miner’s Foundry Cultural Center- This one happened to be booked for all of May 2008, so we didn’t even bother to stop in. But, on their website it looked really interesting and I felt it would make for a very memorable wedding.

Northern Queen Inn- This one has some sort of a connection to a railroad (and you can ride the train!), which I love and the grounds looked picturesque for photographs, but overall I was worried it looked too much like a theme hotel and not a sophisticated locale. Could be wrong though. We never saw it in person.

Stonehouse Restaurant- I really loved the building’s old stonework with this location. And it looks like maybe they technically HAVE had at least one wedding here. But, I was worried that it seem more like we were just getting married in a restaurant and I just want the day to have a little more impact and thoughtfulness. Would be great for a rehearsal dinner though.

If anyone has visited, or better yet, held their wedding at one of these locations, let us know in the comments section.

Gold Country Wedding Resources

Websites and information about weddings in Gold Country are a little scarce and scattered, but these should help get you started

Nevada County Wedding Guide
Nevada City Chamber of Commerce- Weddings
Wedding Event Guide- Nevada City & Grass Valley

Other Betties blogging about getting hitched:

Flaming Tulle- Planning the perfect wedding—without going down in flames.
Stupid Wedding Crap- Exploring the underbelly of the wedding industry.
True Bride Confessions- It’s time to lift the veil.
Indie Bride- A site for the independent-minded bride.
DIY Bride- Your wedding. Your way.
Eco-Chic Weddings- Simple sustainable style.

Our Third Stop:

Newcastle Wedding Gardens and Red Horse Barn

So like I said in Part I, this third place really impressed Travel Boyfriend and I from the beginning. I had booked an appointment here on a lark only because we didn’t want to drive up all this way and have the Monte Verde Inn maybe not work out for some reason. So when we met the gracious Newcastle owner and saw her prettily styled home and property, we were quite pleasantly surprised.

Upon approach, a white mansion (where the owners live) sits by the side of the road to welcome you without being ostentatious. Inside it’s tastefully decorated and cozy with a B&B feel (sans overabundance of lace, thank god!). Behind the house you find a beautifully manicured ceremony site complete with tranquil waterfall and pond and a state of the art speaker system so you can actually hear the vows (genius). After the ceremony, guests are led to an Italian-villa-styled courtyard that surrounds a simple, but elegantly redesigned horse barn. Plus, there’s an awesome cow-hide covered bar area inside (sadly no mechanical bull, though). It is too pretty to describe or capture with a point-n-shoot, so you’ll just have to wait for our wedding photos to see it done justice.

Like Monte Verde Inn, a lot of the usual extras are included in the price (although not the cake or flowers). The owner acts as your wedding coordinator and because she’s been doing this for over 20 years and it’s on her actual property, you KNOW she’s got things dialed in. And the location is just a hop, skip, jump back to civilization so that wedding guests can carry on the festivities after the reception in the Old Town part of Auburn that’s filled with great dive-y (and even a few upscale) bars and restaurants.

Note that if you’re doing a lot of your research online, this location is one that you have to see to fully appreciate. I didn’t feel like the photos on the website sold it as much as doing an actual walk-through. But once you’re there, you’ll really be able to imagine the fun and memorable evening you want to have.

To continue reading about California Gold Country Wedding locations, see “Planning A Wedding In California’s Gold Country? Part IV of IV” (coming soon!)

Our Second Stop:

Forest House Lodge

When TB and I pulled up to the Forest House Lodge, we almost didn’t get out of the car. It looks like a rustic motel from the outside and I wasn’t really getting the concept. Since we had 3 hours before our third and final meeting though, we decided to at least take a look. I’m glad we did because it at least gave us a very different option to consider from the other two. As the owner told us, “We are a very specific flavor and either you get us or you don’t.” I would say that is a fair and truthful assessment and there’s nothing wrong with being fair and truthful. In fact, I appreciate it.

Our impression was that basically this place would be great if you wanted to just have a big blow-out bash and oh, yeah, as an aside, get married. There are enough rooms to put up 70 of your closest frat buddies and family. And you get the run of the whole damn place for as long as you care to rent it. To be honest, I would LOVE to come to a wedding being held at this place. I just don’t want to be the person hosting it. Unfortunately, as I told the owner, I’m about 10 years too old to take advantage of all Forest House Lodge has to offer.

The great part about their property though is the wedding site. It is stunning. About a mile down the road, they have a small piece of land that overlooks a gorgeous tree-filled valley. So, the backdrop of your ceremony is nature, nature as far as the eye can see.

I would say that if you’re looking to do a more casual family-reunion type of event and you don’t mind carrying wheelchairs up and down the many staircases (as was suggested for Travel Boyfriend’s handicapped father), and most important to you is a breathtaking view for the ceremony, then Forest House Lodge should definitely be in your consideration set.

To continue reading about California Gold Country Wedding locations, see “Planning A Wedding In California’s Gold Country? Part III of IV”

Travel Betty Wedding Resources

Outdoor Weddings: Unforgettable Celebrations in Storybook Settings

Bridal Bargains, 8th Edition: Secrets to throwing a fantastic wedding on a realistic budget (Bridal Bargains)

Anti-Bride Guide: Tying the Knot Outside of the Box