First off, congrats to reader Georgiana for winning the Bee’s Knees Giveaway and a big thank you to everyone who participated!  You might have noticed a brief disappearing act from the blog over the past week, but if you follow me on instagram then you know that the Englishman and I got married a couple of weekends ago!  Since the past couple of weeks have been pretty focused around the wedding, I thought I’d do a life lately: wedding edition update.

Want to know the best way to get rid of pre-wedding jitters? Go wine tasting with your mom the day before.  Works wonders on the nerves I promise.

I finally got to meet the wonderful Christine from Standing Sun Wines and ended up leaving with four bottles I can’t wait to open later.  If you are ever in Buellton be sure to check this gem out.

Our rehearsal dinner was held at Avant Tapas and Wine in Buellton.  One of the highlights of the evening was an appetizer called “Yuppie Crack” which was a date stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon.

The picture doesn’t do it justice but it was amazing.  And since my maid of honor is a vegetarian, she was kind enough to let me eat hers too.  SO GOOD.  I will be making this at home this summer.

Of course it wasn’t all just wine and bacon wrapped dates.  There was water, green smoothies, sandwiches and these handy pumpkin seed snack packs the Skout Organic team sent me.

If you are ever looking for a quick snack, these raw pumpkin seeds definitely hit the spot.  I’ve sprinkled them on salads and just eaten them straight out of the bag.  So good.

I plan on doing a more detailed post highlighting the amazing food at the wedding, but let me just say that Trattoria Grappolo did NOT disappoint.  And neither did Solvang Bakery, who created this gorgeous cake.

I had various guests coming up to me telling me the cake was one of the best they had ever had, so I consider that to be a resounding success.  I made sure to help myself to a lovely slice of chocolate with lemon butter cream.

If you find yourself in the Santa Ynez area, be sure to check out Sunstone Winery (our wedding venue) and try their Grenache Rose.

I personally find it more fun to drink rose while wearing aviators, but it tastes just as good without them.  Sunstone also has an amazing Cabernet and a Grenache Blanc that are also highly recommended.

And now it’s back to the real world for a couple of weeks until we leave for Maui on our honeymoon!  If any one has any good Maui food recommendations please leave them in the comments.