Snapshots From A Florida Renaissance Faire

Last weekend we got the gang together to visit the Lady of the Lake Renaissance Faire just outside Orlando - a new one to me. Want to see?

Trust me, you want to see.

That's Traci, Karen, & Arielle. We spent Craft Night working on our outfits.

Ironically that IS my Death Eater cloak. It's fun having a cosplay closet to pull from.

Rest assured, John was not spared:

He is VERY PROUD of that hat, y'all.

Also those are women's pants he thrifted for the occasion, and he was completely befuddled by the lack of pockets. "But where do I put my wallet?"

All together now, ladies: EXACTLY.

:D

Parking lot portrait so you can see our full outfits:

Right, I suppose I should talk about the actual Faire now, huh?

Lady of the Lakes surprised us in the best ways. It was bigger than I expected, with more people, more shows, and located in a shady grove filled with tall trees, so everywhere you looked there was gorgeous green canopy overhead.

There were little campsites and wagons throughout:

And a SCA village area, where you could watch crafts people at work:

SCA stands for Society for Creative Anachronism. We spotted folks here demonstrating all kinds of skills, from making shoes and chain mail to metal smithing.

Best of all for me, since I love people-watching, was that most attendees at this faire were in costume! Everywhere we looked there were fairy wings and battle axes and goodness like this:

A foxy Robin Hood, Little John, and the Amazing Renaissance Spider-Man. YES.

Some fabulous feather wings:

And we spotted a fellow Knight Who Says "Ni"!

The coconuts were the cherry on top.

The meandering pathways had lots of little clearings off to the sides:

A mermaid tank near the entry:

This baby was so dang cute; you can't really see them, but she has leafy wings that match her crown:

Oh hey, and I spotted Emma Rubini debuting her new - and spectacular - mushroom fairy!

She made all of this herself, right down to casting the crystal daggers. Check out her IG to see more, she is so stinkin' talented.

If you've ever been to a ren fair in the US then you've probably seen the Washing Well Wenches. They are completely inappropriate and super hilarious. We stood in the back for half of a show, which John spent hiding behind us so they wouldn't flirt with him, ha.


This snail-rider's companion is telling him I wanted his picture here:



He gave me a most dignified nod:

Love it.

We had a nice chat with this lady:

She's holding back a smile because I told her to look as badass as possible. We got to chatting about her spear; apparently they don't peace-bond at this fair, so she was excited to show if off:

Awww yeeeeeah.

That's one thing that separates a ren fair from a con: a lot of the weaponry is real! Eep!


These Wanted posters were tacked up all over, and in true Flynn Rider fashion each one had a different part of the face exaggerated, like this big chin:


Whoever did this, bravo.

The crowds were intense with only a handful of folks wearing masks, but of course this was all outside. I'm still getting used to crowds, so I liked having my mask on, even if it's just a costume one.

This blue velvet gown practically GLOWED, wowzers:

Just stunning.


A random goblin statue:

John made it his mission to take as many photos of our little group as possible, so here come a few more pretties of our friends:

It was gray and rainy, so I had to edit in a lot more light and color, but I love this shot!


I also love this one of Traci:



Traci is dressed as Keyleth from Critical Role, and had 3 or 4 groups come up to compliment her and show off their own CR costumes. They were all so sweet and excited to spot a fellow Critter that I swear my heart grew two sizes. This is why I love being a geek. (If you're curious, go watch Critical Role! They just started a new campaign, and I think it's already the best one yet.)


You should know that John is ridiculous when taking photos: he tiger-growls, gives increasingly nonsensical "posing tips," and basically does everything he can to crack you up. So here's Karen half a second before telling him off, which is now my favorite photo of her:


Everything about this face says, "Really?"

Then she retaliated by grabbing John's phone to take photos of us:

Aww. We cute.

Speaking of cute, this little fairy is demonstrating how her wand works:

And this little dragon wasn't paying attention during the photo, but right AFTER gave me the most ferocious roar:

I just noticed she's wearing a unicorn shirt under her dragon cloak. I have a new fashion goal.

I am SMITTEN with this costume, the owl mask is everything:

And of all the gorgeous gowns of the day, this is my favorite:

So pretty!

I promise I'm almost done, but before I go I have to tell you about the joust. Have to.

So first, they spent forever hyping up the crowd and trying to convince us which knight was the good guy and which was the bad guy. Problem was, the "bad guy" knight kind of looked like Zachary Levi with a bigger beard and got all the funny lines, so I was immediately rooting for him:

Meanwhile the "good guy" knight looked like Jude Law in Captain Marvel and took himself too seriously, so, boo.

(They're both playing characters, of course, so this is all in good fun.)

Anyhoo, they did a whole lot of charging around yelling insults at each other, and then a tiny bit of actual jousting, before dismounting and trying to kill each other on foot.

YEAH!

I took a little video, stick to the end when it gets interesting:

The combat on foot was no joke, these gents are GOOD. Then they started the crowd chanting, "To the death! To the death!" which seemed both overly blood-thirsty and impractical for a ren fair.

They got to the end of the fight, and of course the "good" knight was winning, meh. He made a dramatic sword slash, and a HUGE gush of blood sprayed across the field(!!). Except it was obviously fake, because the losing knight got up and charged him again. And again. Each "death" had a comically timed blood spurt, to the point that the winner yelled in exasperation, "WHY AREN'T YOU DEAD YET?" Hilarious.

Nooo, Zachary Levi!

I like that they amped up the comedy for the kids' sake, and of course both knights would later walk off the field together, so it was clearly theater.

Anyway, best part, right here:

As the emcee of the fight was kneeling down to confirm the "kill," he reached down, smirking, and booped the dead knight's nose. You can kind of see they're both smiling at each other in this photo.

That's when I decided these guys are alright.

:)

I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to Lady of the Lakes with me! It was so nice to have a ren fair in the Fall when it's cooler, ahhh. Plus everyone we interacted with was fun and friendly. John and I will definitely be back next year, this one's going on the calendar.

Now get on out there and go medieval on your weekend, k? Except when you need to go to the bathroom. Living in the future definitely has some benefits there.

::flashes back to trying to use a Porta-Potty in a corset and full skirts::

Erp. Yep. Definite benefits.

K I love you byeeeeeee.


******


P.S. I've been shopping for the best Christmas lights to hang outside this year, and I think you'll like what I bought:

BrizLabs Color-Changing Christmas Lights

This is a 115 feet of LED lights, which you can change from warm white to multi-color to any combination of the two! They have 11 different settings like "slo-glow" and "breathing," a remote control, and even built-in timers. All for $27! This is the best price for the most features I've found, plus they have great reviews, which is a must.

I bought 3 strands since I have no idea how much we'll need, heh. John and I are hoping to install this weekend, so wish us luck!