Japanese Influenced Wedding Design Among the Redwoods at Ventana Big Sur

Lauren Megerdichian
October 21, 2022
Categories: Contemporary, Real Weddings, The Blog

Middle school classmates turned husband and wife, from Tokyo to New York, Julie and Erik’s love story was written in the stars. Inspired by the venue’s dreamy locale, Big Sur and influenced by the bride’s Japanese heritage – their wedding planned by Jacqueline Hallgarth Events was the perfect blend of contemporary design and organic texture. Siren Floral Co. did what they do best, creating magic with unexpected floral pairings and complimentary hues to the idyllic autumnal setting. See all the pretty at the full gallery, all captured by Kurt Boomer!

From the bride… We originally met in middle school in Tokyo, Japan—we were classmates in the same grade from 6 th grade through senior year of high school at the American School in Japan. We didn’t date during middle or high school, and didn’t keep in touch after we graduated, but in June of 2018, after we had both graduated from law school (Erik from Harvard Law School and Julie from University of Michigan Law School) we matched on Bumble when we were both in New York City (Erik was studying for the bar exam there, Julie was working there). We both recognized each other and decided to grab drinks to catch up, and started dating soon after. We wanted to make sure to incorporate some Japanese elements into the ceremony and reception, and also wanted to incorporate some Japanese aesthetic elements by highlighting our natural surroundings and using clean, modern lines.

From the planner… At the start of the planning process, I was so inspired when Julie & Erik sent me pictures of Julie’s gorgeous country home in Japan. I knew Ventana was the idyllic setting for their wedding. The property has clean and contemporary architecture while being immersed in nature and iconic Big Sur redwoods – the most perfect dichotomy. It was important to Julie and Erik the wedding venue would have activities for their guests traveling from all over the globe such as hiking, yoga, and wellness treatments.

We wanted the guests to have an immersive experience true to the destination – Big Sur. Siren Floral Co provided stunning ceremony florals featuring garden-style floor arrangements compromised largely of golden ferns, interesting textural branch, and some natural elements such as rusty California buckwheat. We wanted the florals to speak true to Big Sur’s autumnal setting that time of year. We had an elevated wooden platform as the aisle runner. For the altar, Siren Floral Co provided an overgrowth surrounding the platform composed of autumnal foliage and textural elements with more height to where Julie and Erik stood at the ceremony.

The tabletop came from Theoni with Terra Linen charger plates, black Twiggy flatware, and Beckett Gold linens from La Tavola Linen. Our centerpieces were composed of delicate floral movements and interesting shapes. The vessels and votives were handmade ceramic bowls in our color palette. We had little Ikebana-style florals created with floral frogs and simple groupings of interesting shapes to bring the ikebana feel to the tables. Locally grown golden ferns accented the ceiling string lights. The dinner menu was quite extensive so Swell Press created a gorgeous menu booklet in slate grey to create a restaurant like experience for the guests. Julie’s family is from Japan, and we wanted to make sure that there were some Japanese elements incorporated into the wedding. Julie’s family knows 5 th generation lacquerware makers in Aomori prefecture, the Kimura family, who designed and made lacquerware cups that were used at the wedding. In traditional Japanese wedding ceremonies, the families of the bride and groom break a barrel of sake—the act of breaking open a sake barrel means the start of something new. The tradition is called “Kagami Biraki” and is over 300 years old. Once the barrel is broken, the guests all cheers and drink sake together. Each guest had their own lacquerware cup which they used for this tradition and which we also used as part of the table display (picture below).