Welcome Back, Mr. &. Mrs. Bryan Bishop!
Mr. & Mrs. Bryan Bishop are back! After an incredible vacation full of of Napa wine tasting, rehearsal dinners, weddings and a fabulous Hawaiian honeymoon, we arrived back in L.A. at 5:30am Tuesday morning. My dad was nice enough to pick us up from the airport, where we promptly came home to an apartment chalk full of presents. It was like an insane Christmas in July, with about 20 boxes courtesy of Crate & Barrel & Bloomingdales. We left our luggage by the front door, because frankly there was no where else to put it, and we went straight to get bed. We woke up around noon and started going through cards, emails and one by one, the presents. It was the best homecoming ever.
But let's back up a little bit. We left you in mid-June, right before we left for Napa Valley. We stopped by Bryan's parents house for two days to spend some family time before the chaos of the big event hit. We had fun family meals and Bryan's mom even took us to the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay for an incredible spa day. The stress and exhaustion of the previous eight weeks had obviously taken its toll on both Bryan and me (obviously him much more so than me), so it was an incredible day. Normally the coastline at Half Moon Bay is cloaked in fog and mist, but on this glorious day in June it was sunny, warm and bright. We had wonderfully relaxing massages and then drank champagne in an outdoor jacuzzi overlooking the Pacific's mighty crashing waves. It was a great day to start relaxing and gear up for the rest of the week.
The next day we took off for Napa but not before making a quick stop at SFO to pick up my brother, Chris, who graciously offered to drive my car back to L.A. while Bryan and I took off for our honeymoon. We got Maui while Chris got, well, a 6-hour drive down the 5 freeway. Not exactly the fairest of trades, but we were very grateful!
For the next five days, from Wednesday to Sunday, we would call the tiny Napa Valley town of Yountville our home. From end to end, the entire town is less than one mile long, and we would slowly watch our friends and family descend upon it, filling up the various B&Bs and hotels and essentially taking over the entire town. Bryan and I stayed at the Villagio Inn & Spa, which was the same hotel that we chose to host our wedding ceremony on their sprawling Pavilion lawn and reception in the historic Barrel Room. It was incredible to see everyone that we loved in one place for multiple days, watching them fly or drive in and inevitably unwind from the stresses of their own lives. The best part was that after arriving in Yountville there is really no need for a car, as the town has some of the best wineries and restaurants in all of Napa Valley.
Wednesday night we had dinner with two of our best "couple" friends who had planned to arrive on the same day as Bryan and me. We chose a restaurant called Bistro Jeanty for its incredible French food and wine, not to mention its "across the street" proximity to all of our hotels. It was an incredible dinner and we practically shut the restaurant down, after which we all came back to Bryan's and my hotel suite for the girls to check out my wedding gown and the boys to smoke cigars on the balcony. It was the perfect start to what turned out to be the perfect weekend.
More posts to come describing Thursday (our wine tasting day), Friday (our wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner) and Saturday (our wedding!).
We're still waiting on our professional photos, but in the meantime I'll find some of our friends' shots to post soon. You'll get the idea!
Comments [9]