A Fabulous Fall Wedding In California Filled With Inspired Ideas

Melissa Hammam
March 8, 2023
Categories: Fall, Real Weddings, Romantic, Seasonal Wedding Trend, The Blog

This fabulous fall wedding is full of special touches. Starting with a neutral palette for the ceremony and ending with bold bright colors at the reception, Morgan Events planned a day filled with style and fun. Floral design by Michael Daigian Design helped bring the couple’s Big Day vision to life, and Larissa Cleveland Photography captured every breathtaking moment beautifully in imagery that is sure to stand the test of time. Visit the full gallery for a closer look at all the lovely.

From Larissa Cleveland Photography… Emily and Essam met in 2015 when a friend of Emily’s invited her to try the cool new restaurant in town and said that she “knew the general manager so they could easily get in”. Emily jumped on the opportunity as they were both working in the restaurant industry at the time. Emily learned during that meeting that they actually had a lot of friends in common, but Emily was seeing someone at the time so never really considered Essam as anything but a new friend. Over the next two years Emily and Essam ran into each other frequently, remaining friendly, and always made sure to send a gift when one dined at the other’s restaurant. In 2017, two years after meeting, on Labor Day weekend, Emily and Essam ran into each other, each with a group of friends. The groups converged and Emily and Essam spent the entire night deep in conversation – maybe the first real time that either of them really connected. A few weeks later, Essam asked Emily to dinner, though she actually said no as she was focused on moving to New York. To which Essam responded, “its free dinner, how bad could it be.” Emily really could not argue with his reasoning and once he suggested her favorite restaurant and her favorite food, the yes came easily. After their first date, Essam turned to Emily and said, “Does this feel really comfortable to you?” two year later, they moved in together in February 2020, right before covid hit. But covid brought them closer together – spending their time hiking mount tam, cooking at home, and staying connected with close friends. In September 2021,5 years after they started dating. Essam embarked on a 450 mile hike with Emily’s brother and their close friend. From the hike, they called Emily and told her to prepare for a big welcome home feast with both families. Disguised as a slideshow, put together beautifully by Essam, he surprised Emily and proposed that evening in front of their families.

About the food and beverage…

• With 20 collective years between us in the restaurant industry, Friday night

was catered by a good friend, someone both Essam and i worked with. And Saturday night was catered by our friends and favorite restaurant

• The bar was tended by our friend Jackson and one of my best friends’

brothers! And technically also the reason Essam and I met

• Friday nights food was Spanish themed because exactly two years prior,

Essam told Emily “i love you” in Spain over the best meal of our lives

• The food was inspired by Essam’s Arabic culture and Emily’s Jewish and

Armenian culture – the goal was to find the intersection so we settled on

dolmas, hummus, and and kitbeh as well as baklava and kanafeh, foods

both the bride and groom grew up with

• Every single bottle of wine was handpicked by Essam and purchased

through his friends and community and sat in our basement for the entire

year, slowly growing in size!
About the music…

• Emily grew up singing, so the first dance was sung by three of her best

friends, all of whom she sang with at different parts of her life. Middle

school, college, and high school

• The Arab music was specifically handpicked by Essam’s father who grew

up in Nazareth

• Our first dance song was Tennessee whiskey because about a month into

dating, Emily and Essam were walking down an alleyway, and he

stopped, put the song on his phone, and we danced. From that moment

on, he would always randomly put the song on and we would slow dance

to it – we even did it in a snowstorm in New York one time.
About the venue…

• Bringing our own wine was a MUST since Essam is in the wine industry

• Hiking and the outdoors is extremely important to us so we knew we

wanted to get married outside. We wanted something beautiful, organic,

but not manicured. We also wanted it to be a little quirky to fit our

playful personalities!

• We really wanted to be able to relax and the bride specifically didn’t

want to have to get in a car for the entire weekend, so onsite

accommodations were also a necessity – the hope was for it to feel a little

like summer camp for adults

About the decor…

• Essam loves color and Emily prefers muted, so we made sure to do a little

of both. The ceremony was white and green with small bits of pink, Emily’s

favorite color, and the reception was brighter colors with yellows, oranges,

blues and greens.

• Essam always wanted it to be like “Gatsby meets the ranch” so that it felt

beautiful and sophisticated but very natural and organic. It needed to be

refined, but also effortless.

• Nothing is more special than when your FATHER and his team, people you

have known your entire life, and even worked on some weddings with,

are in turn designing YOUR wedding.

• The invitations were handled by my friend Lauren and purposefully

captured how playful we are

• In fact, it really started with an offhand comment from Essam “how about

dancing chickens”
About the vendors…

• Morgan Doan of Morgan Events, our fabulous, extraordinaire wedding planner has been a household name in my family, so getting to work with her was like fate

• Larissa Cleveland of Larissa Cleveland Photography, our amazing photographer was chosen specifically because of her history with my father and her stunning work

• The entire floral team at Michael Daigian Design were people I have

known my whole life

• All the food was from close friends in the restaurant industry

• We didn’t do a wedding party, but rather chose people to contribute in

different ways, through speeches, singing or officiating.

• The invitations were design by my friend, Lauren Brigham Design!