This wedding is crazy beautiful. Like in a blow your mind, leave you speechless kind of way. Which is something we happen to be quite fond of here at SMP, so to say we’re excited to share every last moment with you would be a serious understatement. From the breathtaking ceremony (hello, Bluff Overlook) to the downright darling details to the bride and groom who were so obviously meant-to-be, it’s just one beautiful moment after another filling our hearts with happy. And the gallery captured by Melanie Duerkopp? Simply amazing. Join me there for all of the pretty.
From the Bride… My vision for our wedding started with a mood board. I wanted our guests to enjoy themselves and describe it as “simply beautiful.” I pulled pantone swatches, images of flowers, settings, colors, desserts, foods and people enjoying themselves. We married on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Mendocino. The MacCullum House, a bed & breakfast in the village of Mendocino was where we held the reception and where we all stayed. Since there was already so much natural beauty in our setting, I just wanted to keep things simple, but detailed. I wanted people to understand why we chose the place we did and I wanted to enhance the natural beauty of our surroundings. I chose coral for the main color and I used charcoal gray with bits of sage green as the neutrals.
The men and ushers dressed in charcoal suits accented with coral paisley ties. My Maid of Honor and Flower Girl dressed in coral dresses from J.Crew. My mother, sister and I made about 20 tissue paper poufs in all shades of coral and white to hang from a tree at the entrance of the ceremony site. This along with a wedding sign marked the entrance. Hundreds of flower petals in the same colors led people down the path to our site. We had our florist build a simple wooden arch for us to get married beneath. Mason jars with beautiful combinations of flowers (all soft, flowery and romantic) marked the chairs bordering the aisles. I bought an Anne Barge dress from a sample sale and completely altered the entire dress (save the skirt) with a seamstress. I wanted everything to be soft and romantic.
I bought about 50 white pillar candles and hundreds of votives that we filled the dining room at the Mac House with. The warmth of the light against the dark mahogany wood created an intimate setting for dinner. We chose long dining room tables for our guests to gather around. I chose centerpieces that were low and scattered in small mason jars across the tables. I bought simple white runners for our tables along with different shades of grosgrain ribbon in our colors to lay beneath them. We created signature drinks based on our favorite spirits also in our colors. Hers: the lady sipper made with vodka, peach and citrus; His: gin, dill, soda water and lime accented with grey swirl straws. Our favors were small boxes in charcoal grey accented with coral grosgrain ribbon personalized with our last name initial, J. These were filled with a traditional Lebanese gift of Jordan almonds. Additionally, we created gift bags filled with local treats made by local caterers. I put the hang tags together by stamping our initials along with the date on coral tags from the Paper Source. I even bought coral gingham wrapping paper for our jars of honey that we gifted!
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Wedding Photography: Melanie Duerkopp | Ceremony Venue: The Bluff Overlook in Mendocino, California | Reception Venue: The MacCallum House in Mendocino, California | Officiant: Dr. Rev. Habib Badr, Pastor of the National Evangelical Church of Beirut, Lebanon (family friend) | Wedding Coordination: Lori Squillace from The MacCallum House | Floral Design: Rosa Wyglendowski from L&R Farms | Event Design: the Bride | Catering: Executive Chef Allen Kantor from The MacCallum House | Desserts: Sharon Robinson | Honey: Mendocino Jams & Preserves | Sweet + Salty Treats: Jacquelyn Hewitt (paintblues@gmail.com) | Guitarist: Sergei Bassehas | DJ: Johanna Schultz | Favor Boxes: Simple Tastes | Wedding Dress: Anne Barge | Custom Tailoring: Szuszanna Rudolf | Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo | After-Party Dress: Diane von Furstenburg | Makeup: Amy Wall from Mendocino Beauty