After my little introduction to Ocala last post, I decided to take you around town and spotlight some of the fun and diverse places of interest.

When I first moved here about three years ago, I found a lovely park not very far from my new home. One of my nieces was getting ready for marriage and was looking at some options for an outdoor wedding in a park or garden setting. She invited me to join her to take a look at Sholom Park where we are going to visit today.

This is a place unlike any parks I have visited because it is devoted and designed to be a place of peace. Winding through the maze of paths, there is nothing to disturb you but the trickle of fountains or the running water under foot bridges and the trill of birds. Even the people who frequent the park do so with a respect for the place and for other visitors. On my walk there this afternoon, I encountered a couple resting on a sunny spot of grass, a woman taking her leisure on one of the many benches under a tree reading a book, and a family with two small children tossing a ball. Sound idyllic? Well, it is. Ever time I visit there, no matter how harried I am on the way in, I always leave calmer than when I entered.

Among the pathways, you will see an abundance of flowers, trees and plants which seem to change color and shape from season to season and look as though they just grew there.

Come on, walk with me and as we take a pictorial stroll though the park.

This is a lovely, classically inspired shelter that serves as our starting point. Here we can have a cool drink of water or pick up a map of the grounds and gardens. When my niece thought of using Sholom Park as a wedding venue, we thought this might have been a great place to welcome guests with a prenuptial beverage.

If you want to feed the koi, step into this pavilion where you can look over the rail down into the pond and not only see the koi, but turtles! The fountain lends a lovely ambiance which is so calming.

Everything is natural and the planners certainly made use of plant materials in interesting ways. Look at the imprints of palm fronds and leaves on the trails.

Now, this is the place where the bride and groom could vow their undying love. It looks like a chapel, has lots of benches inside and has a tree and flower bordered “aisle” any bride would love to walk down.

After we pass an outdoor stage where I could just imagine music being played under the stars, we next pass through gates to a part of the park that I think is my favorite. The meditation garden, or The Labyrinth as it is called, is just ahead through this vine covered trellis. In the summer it is covered with roses. Here we can wind through the maze-like path, stopping at each of the 26 plackets that lead us through mindful meditations. Linger here awhile and see what you can learn about your inner self.

So, here we are, back where we started. I hope you enjoyed our walk. Whether you stay for a brief stroll through part of the 44 acres, stay for a picnic, come for a quiet place to read a book or do the meditation, I hope if you are nearby you will come again. Meanwhile, Sholom.

Here is an article I wrote for my other blog, LeftoverQueen.com, however, I feel it is relevant material for this blog as well, since it features many local St. Augustine vendors. Hope you enjoy!

I am talking about this post of course. It could be taken the other way too. We are not “old” but we are not kids anymore either, so I guess you can take it however you like it!

However, the point is that we are in our second month of marriage (celebrating 2 months on Thursday) and I am just now getting around to posting about the wedding. It took us a while to get our photos, due to technical difficulties and then there was so much catching up to do when we returned. So sorry it’s late, but here it is! I already gave you a look at the honeymoon, but now it is time to write the story of our wedding day and all the wonderful vendors that helped us to make the day even more special. Plus, I know you are all dying to hear about the food and the cake.

I know everyone says this, but we had the best wedding ever. It was small and nearly everyone that we are close to was there to spend the weekend with us – Roberto’s mom, all of my parents, Roberto’s daughters, Gwen and Rachel, my best friend Jen and her family, and several other relatives and close friends. Just having all the people we love surrounding us, made it an amazing day.

We were married early in the day, so we opted to have a Brunch for our reception. I have always loved brunch – there is something just so classic about it, not to mention very budget friendly.

Since we had a small guest list, we were able to procure a beautiful Spanish style restaurant to host it. Saint Augustine, FL is well known for its Spanish history. Although it was held by the British as well, before the Americans, it is the Spanish who will forever be associated with the place. You can see this influence reflected in the architecture all over town, as well as the street names. It is such a beautiful place. When you are coming over the bridge from the beach into downtown, if it weren’t for the American flag, you would think you were in Spain.

For this reason, we really wanted to show our out of town guests what Saint Augustine is all about – get into the spirit of things, since many of them were going to spend some time in the city either before or after the wedding and many of them had never been here before. Therefore, we opted to have our brunch at La Cocina Restaurant located inside the Spanish inspired Castillo Real Hotel . Early on in the wedding planning game, we went to La Cocina to have lunch. We were very impressed by the artistic plating they did. Although the restaurant is very wallet friendly, dining there, you feel like you are in a swanky place. The staff is very professional, helpful and makes really delicious food.

This was our HUGE menu on the big day:

Fresh Fruit Display with Kahlua Yogurt Sauce
Green Salad with Corn, White Beans, Tomato, Avocado, Roasted Peppers, in a Cilantro-Cumin Dressing
Tomato and Fresh Mozzarella Salad
Eggs Benedict
Penne Pasta with Shrimp
Alaskan Salmon with Peppercorn Cream Sauce
Sautéed Chicken Breasts with a Mushroom Demi-Glaze
Rosemary Roasted Potatoes
Sautéed Garlic Veggies
Garlic Bread
Coffee and Tea

*We also had Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. Our “champagne toast” was done with Moscato D’Asti. *

Everything was delicious. I especially loved the Tomato and Mozzarella salad which had a fantastic balsamic dressing on the side, and the Eggs Benedict, which were cooked to perfection. Also big hits were the salmon, the potatoes and the fabulous garlic bread! I had a bite of everything and I was not disappointed. If you ever are planning a wedding in Saint Augustine, look into having your reception at La Cocina, and be sure to ask for Norberto. Or if you are just coming here for a visit, be sure to check it out for lunch or dinner – it is rated one of the best restaurants in town.

Moving on to the cake. We had several cake tastings before we found the right bakers. As soon as we walked into
DeFores Cake Design and met with Kerry and Sandi, we knew. They had a cute table set up, with a tablecloth, flowers and two dishes with 3 different types of cake on it, accompanied by bottles of water. I had mentioned in one of my inquiry emails that we were looking for a Zuppe Inglese, an Italian layer cake with custard, chocolate and fruit. It is like a glorified trifle and a lot of people refer to it as Italian Wedding Cake (not to be confused with Cassata, a Sicilian cake that is also sometimes referred to as Wedding Cake). Most of the bakers we talked to, especially “wedding cake bakers” said it was impossible. But the amazing thing was, when we stepped into DeFores and asked what kinds of cakes we were sampling, they told us one was Zuppe Inglese. Kerry had baked it just for us, so we could try it. Not only that, but she had never made one before! Now that was amazing. Once we took a bite we were sold. The cake was tender, soft and delicious and the layers were creamy and full of flavor. One of the other samples was a chocolate cake with dark fudge filling. That was heavenly too, so we decided to make each of our tiers a different flavor.

The biggest layer was the Zuppe Inglese. Second layer was the chocolate cake with dark fudge filling and third layer – traditional for the 1 year anniversary, was rum cake with a custard filling! A nod to our Jamaican honeymoon. The cake had a simple, yet beautiful design – exactly what we wanted. No icky fondant here. Buttercream icing with a wave motif, and Sandi (the decorator in the pair) even painted seashells for the top. It was an exceptional cake. I am soo ecstatic that there is still some in the freezer awaiting us! I highly recommend DeFores Cake Design.

All of these gorgeous photos were taken by my friend and photographer, Keri Duesing. I met Keri when we were still living in Ocala. She is an animal and sports photographer who had assisted with many weddings. However, she is expanding her portfolio to include weddings, so we decided it was a perfect idea for her to do ours. She did a wonderful job and I can’t thank her enough. She is updating her website, and I will get a link here as soon as I can.