Big Sur Wedding by Larissa Cleveland + Allison Weddings
Be still my heart. I am completely head over Jimmy Choo heels for this whimsical wedding by Larissa Cleveland and Allison Weddings. Big Sur is so magical and full of romance (I should know…I got engaged there!) and what better way to show it off than a foggy, al fresco reception packed with love-filled ceremonies and heartfelt touches. It seems like the stars aligned and the coastal sea breezes united to create a perfect union for this lovely bride and groom. Lucky for us there is more romance and enchantment in the full gallery!
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Location was a really important element for us. We wanted something outdoors in a natural setting, a place that was beautiful in an of itself and didn’t need much added to it. We knew we wanted the ceremony in a grove of trees and a field for the dinner table, so we were looking for a property with multiple locations to use throughout the day. We were incredibly lucky to find Rancho Rico, because in addition to the fantastic ceremony and dinner locations, their house had a big, high ceiling artist’s room upstairs with double doors that opened to a meadow — perfect for the after dinner festivities!
The ceremony was the critical part of the day — we put a lot of thought into how to make it personal and reflect us, rather than just going through the motions. We did a few things in particular:
1) We lit a candle in the beginning of the ceremony to symbolize our loved ones who weren’t there. This has special significance because my grandmother passed away a two months before the wedding and it was an important way for me to honor her on our wedding day. The candle followed us throughout the entire day, even to the after party!
2) In the beginning of the ceremony we did a “walk down memory lane” — Max and I dug into our email accounts and pulled out little snippets of our communications over the years, going back and fourth and reading them to our guests. It really set the tone for the ceremony, bringing everyone into our relationship in a very personal way.
3) We had the guests pass our rings to each other throughout the ceremony, to symbolize their blessing of our union.
The dinner was another key element, in fact much of our wedding was inspired by the images of a long table in the middle of a field from Outstanding in the Field dinners. The property had an incredible location for it — this little meadow that came up out of no where on the path, just big enough for the table, then dropping down to the ocean hundreds of feet below. The fog broke for just long enough to see the view when we arrived there after the cocktail hour. All of the food for the dinner was sourced locally, many things were from the ranch where we had the wedding itself!
We also had several fun, interactive elements for our guests. We had a tree of “keys to a happy marriage,” where guests would pick an old, rusty skeleton key, attach a note with their marital advice to it, and tie it to a tree. We’re turning them into a piece of artwork for our home. When guests arrived to the dinner table, we had a trunk full of eclectic, colorful plates where each guests chose one to use for dinner — Max and I spent the summer collecting interesting plates from garage sales and thrift stores.
Finally an unplanned element — the fog! At first we were upset that the weather was so uncooperative, but in the end it made the entire day truly magical.
At the very end of the night, Max and I carried the candle we lit at the beginning of the ceremony symbolizing our relatives from the after party to our room (I never imagined it would make it that far into the night!). It was really beautiful for us to end the night carrying this symbol of my grandmother, which stayed with us throughout the entire day.
Wedding Photography: Larissa Cleveland / Design + Coordination by: Allison and Lori of Allison Weddings / Wedding Venue: Rancho Rico / Catering: Outstanding in the Field / Florist: Hunt Littlefield / Hair and Makeup: SHE artists / Dress: Vera Wang / Shoes: Jimmy Choo
25 Comments about “Big Sur Wedding by Larissa Cleveland + Allison Weddings”
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Absolutely love this! The unconventional rings, the shrugs, really taking things you see when you're planning and infusing it with your own style. And the fog! THE FOG! Stunningly lucky, I can only imagine how initially disappointed you were and then to get photos and atmosphere like this. Truly unreal. Congratulations on such an amazing event!
beautiful light, beautiful setting, beautiful photographs! love this... the sort of images that make me wish i was a guest at the wed!
i love the engagement ring! what do you call the band? it looks like nugget?
Love the 'Keys to a Happy Marriage'! Such a great, unique idea.
Absolutely love these! So gorgeous!
I second the love for the engagement ring! Where is it from? So unusual and beautiful.
Whoa. I am totally in love with this one. It actually made me tear up a little! So completely beautiful and romantic! Swoon.
What a beautiful setting in Big Sur - LOVE the big table for the guests and the 'choose your plate' idea!
Love the "Keys to a Happy Marriage" idea! Where did you find all of those keys? Do you have any left you'd like to sell?
Oh so beautiful! I think the fog added such a romantic, magical touch to the day! Beautiful photos! Love all the personal touches, congrats and hope you have as beautiful a marriage as your wedding day!
Where on earth did you find all those skeleton keys? They are so gorgeous even just sitting in the box.
This wedding is a perfect example of outdoor elegance. The best of both worlds!
Absolutely stunning! So dreamy and romantic, I love all the old keys, what a great idea!
I love it! The keys are very cool! Reading about how they personalized it was very neat.
Thanks everyone for the compliments. It was an unbelievable day, and Larissa's ridiculously amazing photographs still make me cry every time I see them.
@clbryan1, @libby - my husband worked with an artist named Nina Basharova to make a custom engagement ring. He had given me a necklace and ring from her Milky Way collection on previous occasions, which inspired design of the band. He also worked with her to design a necklace and earrings to wear on our wedding day, as well as my wedding rings.
@Hilary, @aem1217 - I bought the keys from ebay. Mostly in batches of 20-30 which arrived steadily for weeks before the wedding. That was definitely the ridiculous thing I never imagined I'd find myself doing for my wedding :). We carried the keys project over to a second big reception we had in San Francisco, so there aren't many unused ones left. Now if we could only find the time to get them up on some sort of a board with our vows to put up on the walls of our new house...
What a beautiful and romantic setting taking in both natural and added elements! May I ask where you got your faux fur wrap? It is gorgeous with your dress (which is also amazing).
Awesome location for a wedding. I just love the personal notes attached to vintage keys. very nice.
I love National Parks and try to get over whenever I can, thanks for the great post. I'm off to Death Valley this weekend.
I was just wondering what the feet washing was? I've seen the bride and groom wash each others before but never the guest.
Your wedding was truly beautiful. I love everything about it.
Kacie, Our guests walked about a quarter mile down a dirt road from the ceremony site to the cocktail hour location. We provided flip flops for the ladies to make sure that they didn't have trouble if they were wearing heels. Since it was on dirt their feet would likely get dirty, so we had a basin to wash their feet when they reclaimed their shoes later in the day.
I actually started crying when I read that bit about passing the keys among the guests during the ceremony. What a beautiful idea.
This is UH-MAZING!
Does anyone have a link to the actual venue? I can only find secondary sites and other ranches/houses near by. I MUST look at Rancho Rico for our Wedding!! Yeay Yeay Yeay!! Thank you =)