Floral Prints and Organic Texture at Black Swan Lake

We’ve both lived in San Francisco for over ten years, and when we got engaged we knew immediately that wine country was where we wanted to get married. We had spent so much time there over the years, and celebrated so many special occasions there, we knew it was the perfect place to gather all of our friends and family to celebrate. We loved the idea of using organic elements for our design inspiration, and really wanted to focus on florals and leaning into the lush landscape of wine country. Our design aesthetic was for the wedding to feel like an intimate dinner party in a flourishing garden setting.

After two years of dating, Noah got Sara’s father's blessing to ask her to marry him on a trip back to her parents’ house in the summer of 2019. He then worked with an old friend from New York and jewelry designer, Zameer Kassam, to design a custom engagement ring. The ring was finished at the end of 2019, and Noah was planning for the right moment in early 2020 to propose. COVID added an unexpected twist to his plans, but once things started opening up again, Sara and Noah planned a trip to one of their favorite places, Inverness, for Labor Day weekend. Noah told Sara he wanted to take sunset photos with their dog, Indy, on the pier at Manka’s Boat House where they were staying and caught her by surprise when he set up the camera and got down on one knee. After the shock settled in, Noah gave Sara a note he had her parents write for the special moment since they couldn’t be there in person. It was the perfect moment, and a celebratory champagne toast paired with local oysters (and lots of FaceTime calls to family and friends) followed to round out the perfect night.

Sara worked with Samantha Levis of The Bold & Bridal to create a custom gown with Laura Vassar of Brock Collection and Patricia Voto of One/Of. Sara had sketched out a rough idea of what she wanted, and the incredible design team was able to bring it to life. The lace gown was fit to perfection, with a low scoop back, structured bodice, and a delicate grosgrain ribbon at the waist that extended all the way down past the train of the dress for a feminine yet dramatic impact. Sara’s classic veil with blusher was custom made by Heidi Johnson of The Wedding Detailor. She complimented the gown with Aquazzura’s So Nude pumps and the Kate diamond studs from Verstolo.

We worked with her four bridesmaids and one bridesman to ensure that everyone felt comfortable and beautiful in a look of their choosing that still aligned with the overall aesthetic. Sharing the color palette and garden party-theme of the wedding with them, she was able to create a cohesive bridal party vision that still highlighted each individual's personality and style. Her brother and bridesman wore an ivory tuxedo jacket accented with a black lapel, while her bridesmaids chose various colorful and floral gowns from Cara Cara, Reformation, and Sabina Musayev.

To achieve a timeless look, Noah chose a classic American designer, Ralph Lauren Purple, for his black tie attire. He wore the Gregory Shawl-Collar tuxedo, paired with a custom tuxedo shirt from J. Hilburn. He elevated his look with the Dandelion patent loafers by Christian Louboutin and a Tag Heuer watch that belonged to his late father and served as a reminder of him throughout the day.

As an ode to some of their favorite desserts as kids, Sara and Noah worked with Alison Okabayashi of Pretty Please Bakeshop to create a nostalgic dessert bar featuring chocolate chip whoopie pies, chocolate ding dongs, key lime mini pies, and mocha, raspberry lemon, and pistachio lime twinkies. Sara had custom treat bags made featuring a gold embossed image of their dog and cat, Indy and Bruce, to use as “doggie bags,” so that guests could take desserts with them.

Kaella of M&Co brought our decor vision to fruition pulling together the rentals, decor, florist. Our florist, Amanda Vidmar, truly brought the floral vision to life. She and her team created the most stunning bouquets, aisle design, and arrangements for the ceremony and reception. It was everything we wanted and more, and with florals being our main design inspiration, we couldn’t have asked for a better execution of the garden party aesthetic.

-Custom Groom’s Cake: Sara worked with their friend and cake artist, Camisha Greene, to create a surprise groom’s cake of their dog, Indy, and cat, Bruce. To offset the light and airy lemon wedding cake, Sara and Camisha opted to use chocolate and red velvet, the groom’s favorite flavors, for the custom cake. It was a hit with Noah and was a fun way to incorporate our pets!

We were able to work with our DJ, Evan Phillips (@truthlive), before the wedding to talk to him about our style and what we were wanting for both the ceremony and reception. We love Motown, and incorporated some of our favorites into the ceremony for a non-traditional touch, like “Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry” by Darlene Love for the groom and bridal party processional, and “And Then He Kissed Me” by Stumbleine and Violet Skies for the bridal processional.  For the reception, we told him that we wanted it to be a party and we wanted all of our guests to feel welcome on the dance floor. He absolutely knocked it out of the park and exceeded all of our expectations with the music. No matter their age or where they were from, all of our guests were on the dance floor all night long. Evan’s mashups and transitions were incredible, and our guests couldn’t stop raving about the music and the atmosphere it created for our reception. It was exactly what we wanted, and we couldn’t be more thankful to Evan for bringing our party to life!

-Photos/Reserved Seats for Family Members: To honor loved ones who are no longer with us, we made sure to have some of our favorite photos framed and placed on reserved seats in the front rows so that they were there with us in spirit.

-Father/Daughter Dance: Sara’s father, Craig, has played guitar and performed for fun since he was a teenager. For their father/daughter dance, he chose to record a rendition of Alan Jackson’s “You’ll Always Be My Baby” and surprise Sara with it at the wedding. He coordinated the surprise with our wedding planner and DJ, and it was such a sweet and memorable moment during the reception.

-Wine from Scribe: Noah has been a member at Scribe for years, and has become good friends with Adam and the Scribe team. The winery was also the location for a very important early date for Sara and Noah, so it only made sense to work with them to create custom wine pairings for the menu. In addition to featuring our favorite wines from Scribe, we also incorporated one of Sara’s favorite wines, Two Kings, from Wonderland Wines. Noah’s Godfather: With the passing of Noah’s father in 2017, Noah’s godfather, Richard Poppa, has become a strong father-figure in his life, and stepped in to walk him down the aisle along with his mother. He also was an integral part of our ceremony, performing a reading titled “Blessing of the Hands,” by Daniel L. Harris.  Officiant: Our officiant, Greg Turnbull, was a dear family friend that was Noah’s youth pastor growing up in Indiana. He graciously became ordained in California just for our wedding, and it added an incredibly personal touch to our ceremony. Leading up to the wedding, we were able to connect with him multiple times and talk about our story, what we wanted for our future, and glean invaluable advice from him and his wife on the secrets to success for a long and happy marriage. It was so important to us to have a connection with our officiant, and having Greg serve as that person was such an important aspect of the wedding.  Bridesman/Best-woman: Adding another non-traditional touch, we decided to have each sibling in our own wedding party. Sara’s brother, Jeremy, served in the bridal party and Noah’s sister, Alison, was his best-woman. With Noah and Alison’s brother also having passed, being together in that way was extra special.  Our dog, Indy: We incorporated our dog, Indy, to walk down the aisle with our ring bearer and nephew, Chase. We decked him out in a new leather leash and collar from Sara’s bridesmaid, Allison, along with an ivory bow tie from The Foggy Dog (a local San Francisco dog apparel company). Chase was so excited to walk Indy down the aisle, but when Indy saw Noah at the other end, he pulled Chase faster and actually looped one of the maids of honor. It made for a very memorable and laughable moment for us and our guests.