Honeymoon Road Trip Part Two: San Luis Obispo!

After we finished our hike at the Pinnacles National Monument we set out for San Luis Obispo. We had each been there once but never really got to spend any time there. We were winging most of the trip as for hotels and itinerary, with just a few things/places in mind when we set off on our journey. Luckily, I am pretty handy with my iphone and ipad so we drove around until we found the area we wanted to stay in and searched for the best deals. We went cheap the first night hotel-wise so we could spurge on a nice dinner instead. We ended up finding a steal of a room at the Villa Motel, cleaned up and hit the town!

The motel was actually pretty cute and check out our sweet ride! My friends and bridesmaids decorated our cars the night of the wedding. People were honking and giving up thumbs up the whole drive down. I'm still trying to scrape it off my car though . . . 

We were just a few blocks from downtown and their old movie theater.

There was so much great street art everywhere we turned. 

Every electrical box was decorated! I won't bore you with all the photos, but here is our favorite one!

We finally decided on Sidecar to feed our hunger.

The jazz, Matthew-sized menu, and ambiance pulled us in, but it was the fried Brussels Sprouts on the menu that sealed the deal!

The decor was so us, with birds, antique light fixtures, homemade art, great photography and mismatched tables and chairs everywhere!

Complimentary truffled popcorn, yes please! I'm not a huge fan of truffles, or any mushroom actually, but it was definitely interesting and I loved the cast iron basket it came in. If only I'd brought a bigger purse!

The fried Brussels Sprouts were amazing!!! The plate was dressed with garlic aioli and balsamic reduction and they were covered in blue cheese crumbles. So good I recreated them a few nights ago! The entrees didn't disappoint either. 

We did some more exploring after dinner and stumbled upon Bubblegum Alley. I had never heard about it but Matthew sure had. We didn't have time to go learn it's history, but I think the wall speaks for itself. . . 

If you think some of the gum looks like condoms, you're right. There were a few mixed in there. It was kind of gross so I'll spare you those nasty photos!

Luckily Matthew had some gum so we could contribute. I am so grossed out here and trying my hardest not to touch anything but my own gum!

The next morning we checked out of our hotel early so we could grab some breakfast and visit some of the shops that were closed during our late night wandering. However, we noticed that there was a Veteran's memorial building behind our motel which meant it was photo shoot time! Whenever I stumble across a cannon on my travels I always make sure I stop and take a picture in front of it for my Dad, because I know he would make me if he was there. 

I don't usually find huge tanks though, score!

Matthew had been waiting until after the wedding to buy a new skateboard deck so we figured a honeymoon road trip skate deck would be special. This SF Giants inspired deck was a find and will always remind me of how they won their second world series in three years the week of our wedding! We will find somewhere to display it once Matthew is done with it. 

I loved Coalition, the skate shop where he got the board. Especially this TV frame, and the painting below. 

After a little shopping we decided to drive about 20 minutes to Pismo Beach where another hotel search began. 

To be continued . . . 

Honeymoon Road Trip Part One: Pinnacles!

So as most of you know, I am doing an online masters program that only allows 2 weeks off at a time. It was a bit difficult to cram a wedding and a honeymoon into such a short time period so we decided to do a honeymoon road trip right after the wedding and hope to plan a real honeymoon on a beach somewhere next year. We ended up hitting quite a few places on our drive last week so I'm breaking it up into lots of different posts.

We started the trip off by going to the Pinnacles National Monument outside of Soledad. We planned on leaving the Monday after the wedding but were exhausted on Sunday so we left on Tuesday. It also happened to be election day and neither of us had gotten around to mailing our absentee ballots so we had a little business to take care of first . . .

The Pinnacles is an ancient volcano field which is absolutely gorgeous! There are lots of hiking trails and caves (some with bats, we went to the ones without!). It was a bit humid but the coolest part (literally) of the Pinnacles is that you occasionally wind up standing in spots that feel like walk-in refrigerators! It was so weird but very refreshing!

The view as we left the parking lot and started our hike.

I'm having an Indiana Jones moment here!

Matthew carving our initials on a log outside the Balconies Caves. Don't worry, we were only one of thousands of other carvings! 

Cake + Bear

Some pretty flowers I fell in love with but knew not to touch, ouch!

This has to be one of my favorite pics of Matthew ever!

Not only did we spot a coyote on the way out, we got to watch him take a dump. 

Priceless!

Sorry it's blurry, but we were somewhat fearing for our lives as we took this picture! 

The Pinnacles was a very tiring way to start our honeymoon, but it was amazing and Matthew had been wanting to go for a very long time! The caves weren't too scary but they were very dark so not too many photos were taken. I was also worried we would drop and lose our phones! I know Matthew is planning another trip out there very soon to do a different trail so let us know if you want to go with him!

After the Pinnacles we drove another hour south to San Luis Obispo for the night, which will be in the next blog. 

To be continued . . . 

Kelly Smallcombe

Wedding Part Two

For anyone who didn't read the previous post, this post covers the reception of the wedding and the last post covered the ceremony and some of the formal photos. We don't have the professional photos yet, so only pictures from friends and family are being used for now : )

The tables!!! They turned out amazing but were definitely where I took the biggest risks! I was obsessed with sapphires when I first started planning the wedding and decided I wanted all blue vases on the tables. I was going for a wildflower theme and wanted all the tables to look the same but different. Overall, I wanted the reception to feel like home and the mismatched collection of vases and the fabric really brought it all together. 

Did anyone notice that the wine bottles matched our wedding invitations? We bought Three Wishes wine for the wedding because it features dandelions on the label, so cute! I think the best part of the tables were the table numbers! We collected logs and cut them at an angle then added spray painted address numbers. They turned out amazing and I think we are going to try to sell them on etsy.com! 

Our cake topper was so simple and cute! When I ordered them, I was planning on putting my hair up but I actually changed my mind the night before the wedding and wore it down instead. Otherwise, our topper would have looked exactly like us. Yes, I specifically requested that the groom was taller than the bride and didn't have hair. Best part about this topper is that it will be framed and enjoyed forever!

Cake cutting! I have been told we were pretty tame, but I think that was mostly because we were running a little behind at that point and I didn't have time to be mischievous! The burlap curtain/candelabra from the ceremony was repurposed to the cake area.  

The favors/escort cards! I have to admit, I think this was the best DIY I pulled off! On the opposite side of the escort tags was a message that explained the favors pretty well. It said "Remember when we said we were going to give out small combs as wedding favors? Ya, we weren't kidding . . . " I searched far and wide for a website that did personalized combs with a minimum order of 100. These combs are pretty common with salons, but most minimum orders were in the thousands! 

Here is a picture of the combs themselves. The say "The Smallcombes Nov. 3, 2012" and as soon as I saw that they had combs with a hole in the handle I knew they could double as escort card holders! I sewed the sleeves myself, which only took a few weeks. It was really just an excuse to buy pinking shears though . . . 

A shot of our head table as we listened to Liv's best mate speech which was so sweet! The best part about her speech was that she gave us her cue cards which went straight into our wedding keepsake box!

More cake cutting! Look at my sister's pretty hair here on the right!

Our first dance! We had planned to dance to No Doubt's "Running" pretty much throughout the whole wedding planning process but changed it to Jefferson Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" at the last minute. That song is awesome and we both remember loving it as kids. The lyrics were perfect and it's from one of the best eighties movies ever, Mannequin! The fact that Matthew was just as excited to use this song as I was just shows how perfect we are together!!

Like I said in the previous post, Matthew and his mom picked Kermit's "Rainbow Connection" for their dance. The funniest part about it was while they were dancing, people kept coming up and asking me if it was a recording of Matthew singing. Trust me, if only we'd had time . . . Sadly I don't have any pics of my dance with my dad, but it was to Beyond the Sea and was so sweet!

Dancing shots, courtesy of Kate!

I think this is during Footloose. It's Matthew and Liv's song, but the crowd really got into it. 

The whole wedding was such a blast! Can't believe it's over but we are really looking forward to getting our lives back. I think it's a good sign that we are happy to have the wedding behind us because we are looking forward to our marriage. It's pretty mushy and lovey dovey over here right now! 

I only get two weeks off from school in between courses so we have to put off the real honeymoon until next year, but we did do a four day honeymoon road trip along the central coast last week. I will be blogging all about our adventures, that should keep be busy until the rest of the photos come in!

Cheers!

Kelly Smallcombe

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew and Kelly Smallcombe!

We did it!

The last two weeks have been a blur and I can't believe it is all over and I'm about to go back to work tomorrow as Kelly Smallcombe! The wedding was absolutely amazing and everything turned out exactly as we imagined and hoped it would. Since we don't have the professional photos yet I will share some pictures given to us by family and friends instead. I have to admit, the above photo (thanks Jason Zumwalt!) is my favorite so far!

Love this instagram of my Dad walking me down the aisle! And look how amazing my wildflower bouquet turned out (thanks Liv!!!) I can't wait to see the bouquet glamor shots, Liv wrapped it in some gorgeous lace and my something old was a blue brooch with a dried flower inside of it that belonged to my great grandmother. (Thanks Marissa for the pic!)

Such a pretty shot of the groom's side!

This is the best shot of our kiss so far (thanks Bobee!). 

I'm a little excited here : )

Matthew and his wolf-pack! From the left, we have Skyba, Matthew, Liv, and Khoi.

The Smallcombes and the Gunters! From the left, we have Brad (my new brother in law and our officiant), my new sister Megan, in the yellow dresses are my new nieces and flower girls Claudia and Cloe, and my new nephew Micah is on the end.

How amazing are their dresses? They look so grown up, can you believe they are only 12?!

Finally! I am officially their aunt!!

The rest of Matthew's clan. We have his sister Shannon and her husband Justin on the left, followed by his other sister Christy and her boyfriend Ron. Matthew's mom Wendy is on Matthew's right. Their first dance was a real crowd pleaser, it was to Kermit's Rainbow Connection. I know, right?! 

After this picture was taken, Justin pointed out to me that I am officially the smallest Smallcombe. That's hilarious! It doesn't look like it in this picture because Claudia is slouching and I'm wearing heels, but he's totally right! 

I don't have any pics of my family or my bridesmaids yet so I will have to wait for the professional pics for to share how amazing they all looked. This post is already so long and I've just barely covered the ceremony, so I will make a separate reception post. 

Cheers!

Kelly Smallcombe!