November in Review

Well, what with the holidays staring us down from a dark and dingy corner of December and, of course, preparations to attend the wedding of our dear friends Alexis and Tony (which took place in - get this - a thirteenth century castle on the southern shores of the Firth of Tay north of Edinburgh, Scotland), yeeeeah, we didn't have too much time in November to devote to our own search for a venue. However, we are well aware that the time is ticking for all of you to book flights, reserve rental cars and work on your tans, so I wanted to post something to let you all know we're still working on it over here.

Wedgewood's event staff is awesome and has these package deals that would enable us to, you know, splurge on the things that every bride dreams about, like, say, giving out rolls of monogrammed toilet paper as favors. Though Wedgewood left us with a renewed sense of belonging in the Bay Area, the golf course atmosphere was not up to par (har har). So, armed with our encyclopedic knowledge of local public transportation routes, we boarded our rental car and followed the 51 bus line to downtown Oakland in search of areas in our own backyard that feature the natural beauty of Northern California.


First stop?

Joaquin Miller Community Center
This venue has a lovely wrap around porch unfortunately marred with nineties style metal rails and contemporary stained glass window treatments that made me want to gag. The building itself is surrounded by redwoods and fountains with beautiful cityscapes in the distance, but the grounds themselves are pretty dilapidated.

(Don't know if you've seen news on our city budget lately, but the controversy over city spending has led us to cut at least 1.5 gardening positions and unless the slack is picked up by some conscientious volunteers the current outlook for park maintenance is only going to get more glum.)

Next!

Lake Merritt Sailboat House
Also a victim of meager city spending, but still a totally awesome central location for a party in Oakland. This has been the venue of choice for a few of our good friends around here and it seems to have a ton going for it. One quam we had? The floor reminded us both of an old school MP room and one peek inside brought us both back to colorful memories of elementary school assemblies and pukey proms. One highlight? Gondola Servizio! Here's me on the lake.

Funny thing. There was a page of the morning paper floating in the water right here that said in big bold letters ASK AMY. Hehe...

That was the prophesy for the day. From the lake, we went straight up Grand Avenue to check out Morcom Garden. Getting there was easy, but parking was tight. After spending most of the morning driving around lost (it's funny how driving Oakland sometimes makes public transit feel faster, more direct, and just plain more efficient). Don't ask me how we found this place - on the corner of Jean and Jean - probably the oddest place on earth for a stunning rose garden.