Cindy has been my best friend since junior high, so when she called me in May to announce the good news that she got engaged, I asked her what I can do to help. It turned out that she already got her ceremony location in mind - the redwood grove in the Berkeley Botanical Garden. Having an available location picked made planning a wedding 3 month from the engagement quite feasible. Also, Cindy had pretty distinct ideas of what she wanted for her wedding, so coordinating for her wedding was a breeze! My only challenge was that I'm in Southern Cal and the wedding is in Northern Cal, and I am not familiar with the area, so unfortunately in selecting vendors, I could not contribute much. All I did was give Cindy some ideas.
Group photo at the redwood grove (picture by Jesse)
Cindy & Tom wanted a small and intimate wedding with about 45-50 people. They wanted a short, non-religious ceremony follow by a casual reception where everyone gets to party and enjoy the food. Being environmentally conscious, she sent her wedding invite with eVite, and almost all of her guests RSVP through that. She took my suggestion and had Greg, my husband, married her & Tom.
A few other things made her wedding really unique: she has no wedding party, she has a customized wedding dress that she designed, a band consisted of guitarist & violinist to play bluegrass music for the ceremony as well as the beginning of her reception, and she had none of the typical wedding activities like bouquet or garter toss, slide show, or party favors. Toasting was basically free-style.
As much as things are very casual with Cindy & Tom' wedding, there were still things to coordinate to ensure her wedding day went as smoothly and carefree as she wanted. It did, and I had fun being involved with her wedding by being the coordinator!
Congratulations again to Cindy & Tom. What a memorable wedding!
Credits: Photography by Dann Chen.
The "stage" of the outdoor mini amphitheater
Guests of the wedding waiting for the bride to march down
Here comes the bride with her beautiful bouquet!
Exchange of rings
The kiss
The violinist playing at the reception
Street view of the reception site - Adagia Restaurant (picture by Peggy)
The reception room & the centerpiece (pictures by Peggy)
The reception
The salmon & the steak were both delicious! (pictures by Peggy)
The flower and the cake
Cutting the cake
Thank goodness Peggy was there to keep everything running smoothly. We had a blast that day!
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