Oh color, glorious, glorious color. You are so bountiful in this California wedding shot by the fabulous Kate Webber Photography and for that, our hearts are ever so happy. Plus the design and styling by Dream A Little Dream Events has the perfect amount of whimsy to compliment the aforementioned burst of bright hues. Yes, this fun loving wedding is enough to knock the winter blues, the Monday blues, and any other blues right out of the park. See the rest of this happy day in the gallery.
From the moment we started planning the wedding, our priorities were easy – to make sure guests had a great time, and to make sure the night reflected our personalities. First, we chose to host the wedding in San Francisco because both of us really consider this city ‘home.’ We met here, our life together has been built here, and we absolutely love it here. Stephen is from Vermont and I’m from Minnesota, so we wanted to create a very San Francisco wedding with a few shout outs to our hometowns. The venue was a great start – we chose the Log Cabin at the Presidio in San Francisco. Both of us are runners, and the Presidio is one of our favorite places to run on the weekends. The Log Cabin is perched right near the Golden Gate Bridge, tucked onto a quiet field with great views. Our ceremony was outside, and we were lucky enough to have 80 degree weather (a huge rarity in San Francisco as all locals know!). My oldest brother Splinter preformed our ceremony, which was hands down our favorite part of the day. He nailed it. He made things so personal to me and Stephen, and brought in his own wisdom and experience in a funny, caring way. We had a little ‘advice’ table where guests could write down their relationship advice to us on their way to sitting down. Splinter read a few of these as part of the ceremony, which reflected our wish to tell our guests that they were truly part of this whole deal! Without them, we’ll have a much harder time on this crazy journey…
I wanted the décor to feel eclectic, bright, and mismatched – just like our house. I found most of the decorations at the Alameda Flea Market and various vintage shops. Each table had it’s own letter or number – so I scavenged these markets finding all kinds of ‘E’s’ ‘A’s’ ‘5’s’ etc. All the napkins were different, also found at flea markets and on Etsy. I also got a big pair of vintage cross country skis to adorn the entryway, as a shout out to Stephen’s cross country skiing past. And during cocktail hour I used old windows to write the menus and drink choices. I loved how all the details came together!
My high school friend Emily Dreblow runs an amazing flower company in the city – Soulflower Design – and her bright arrangements made the tables look so bright and fun. Huge props to Em. Stephen and I never really thought we’d be the types who’d want a wedding planner. It seemed too fussy, and we’re big list-making type A kind of folks. But with a 4-month engagement, we decided to take the plunge. On a recommendation, we hired Brittani Waldman from Dream a Little Dream Events. We were floored by how quickly she made a huge impact on our wedding. She was more like a great, organized friend than a vendor, and on game day she and her team were fully (but not intrusively) in control of everything. After interviewing a few photographers we chose Kate Webber, a San Francisco-based wedding photographer with a mellow, creative approach. We also loved her unique style of combined mediums. On the big day, Kate was all over the place – covering all the details we wanted to remember, but also capturing the overall mood and happiness. She was so fun and easy…just like the vibe we wanted to capture for the party and it was a great fit!
The night was such a blast. Our friends and family made speeches that floored us – it made us feel so lucky to be surrounded by this huge amount of love in one place. A good sign of a successful dance floor is fully soaked-through dresses and shirts. And my dress (which I had made by a tailor on my block) was literally tied up in knots by the end of the night to let me dance a little harder! The big hit was the photo booth, which had a line all night! I wish we could have a party like that once a year!
Photographer: Kate Webber Photography / Wedding Planner: Brittani Waldman of Dream A Little Dream Events / Florist: Soulflower Design Studio / Caterer: Jersey Tomatoes / Invitations & Programs: Miss Pickles Press / Save the Date Cards: Etsy / Decorations, letters, napkins, skis, etc.: Alameda Flea Market / Dress: Townsend Street Tailors / Venue: Presidio Log Cabin / Ceremony Musicians: Courtney Janes / DJ: Denon & Doyle / Photo Booth: Magnolia Photo Booth