Seaside Big Sur Wedding: Katie + David

Big Sur Wedding

We have quite a treat this Friday morning, a beautiful Big Sur wedding with a super sweet story behind it! Planned + designed by Katie Rebecca Events and photographed by Evynn LeValley, Katie + David’s seaside celebration is a major inspiration and it’s filled with so much love + beauty.

Katie tells us, When David and I decided to relocate to Tokyo, we were about 9 months away from our October wedding. For the most part, everything had already been planned: we had a reception venue locked down, some vendors lined up and accommodations booked. We began the paperwork process for our Japanese Visas and quickly realized that our engaged status was a big, big problem. To make a very long story short, we ended up accelerating our wedding ceremony so that I could accompany David to Tokyo. We were legally married at the Marin County courthouse on a sunny Thursday morning in March, after which we headed straight to Napa to quietly celebrate our new title. We decided not to broadcast the news widely, as we both didn’t want to take away from the importance of the celebration we had planned with our friends and family. I remember at one point during the debate over whether or not to have the courthouse ceremony, my mother-in-law asked us if we felt that it would detract from the October wedding – and I told her that I was concerned it would. Luckily, I was very, very wrong…

invitation

gold rings

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur is a special place for David and I. We discovered it together on a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco while moving my belongings to our first apartment. It’s also where David eventually proposed to me. He had grand plans to pop the question at Pfeiffer Beach, a hidden stretch of Big Sur coastline enclosed by mountains and craggy, waterfront rock formations. But on that particular weekend a winter storm passed through and flooded the access road to the beach, leaving David to scramble for an alternative location (a hiking path at our hotel). Weather in Big Sur – and especially on Pfeiffer Beach – is wildly unpredictable. So when we decided to hold our ceremony there, you can only imagine my stress level. We planned for a very short, low-key ceremony and hoped for the best.

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Bride

red bouquet

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

I'll never forget walking onto the beach on our "wedding" day. There was barely a breeze blowing, and the coastline was covered in an unbelievable ethereal light. It truly looked like something out of a dream. We hadn't rehearsed the ceremony at all. There was no flower girl, ring bearer, bridesmaids or groomsmen - David and I wanted our friends and family to be able to relax and enjoy the day. I walked out alone, to a solo guitarist strumming the Hawaiian wedding song. Our officiant, Lauren, was a Big Sur local who had also spent time living in my little hometown of Denton, Texas. She read from a script that David and I had written together, including a favorite passage on the meaning of love from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. But it was during the readings that David and I had selected for each other that the magnitude of the day really hit me. I started to tear up as I read to David from Kiersten White's The Chaos of Stars, and at that moment I realized that it didn't matter that Lauren wasn't going to pronounce us "man and wife" at the end of it. It didn't matter that there wasn't going to be a piece of paper for us to sign. We had everyone that we loved standing before us, celebrating the relationship that we'd built together and the new family that had been born from it. I was overwhelmed to be surrounded by so much love and happiness.

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

escort cards

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

David and I love to eat, so one of the most important elements of the wedding celebration for us was the food we served our guests. This fueled our decision to host the reception at Big Sur Bakery, a welcoming little ranch house-turned-restaurant nestled against the woods along Highway 1. The Bakery also has special meaning to us, as our first experience dining there was a celebratory brunch just after David had proposed. The restaurant’s gorgeous garden patio was the perfect stage for a dreamy bohemian dinner party, with its weathered wood gates, towering cacti, rustic farm tables and glowing market lights overhead.

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

cake table

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

Big Sur Wedding

sparkler exit

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Although we planned most of the wedding ourselves, before moving overseas David and I made the smart decision to bring on planners who could help us source decor and eventually run the show on our wedding day. When our planners - Katie and Christine of Katie Rebecca Events - suggested that we invest in decor that we'd be able to incorporate into our home, I knew we'd made the right choice. As I type this, an incredible tie-dye macrame from our cake table display is hanging over my desk! Katie and Christine created an assortment of dream catchers and woven wall hangings - my favorite of which served as our escort card display - along with dip-dyed napkins for our place settings. David and I purchased a collection of cozy Mexican blankets from Gunn & Swain to cover the farm table benches, which we later gifted to our parents (after hoarding a couple for ourselves). The rest of our decor budget we put towards beautiful florals from Big Sur Flowers, who created vibrant centerpieces in antiqued brass containers and lush garlands for the restaurant's fence and fireplace mantel.

photography: Evynn LeValley // venue name: Big Sur Bakery, Big Sur, California // event design: Katie Rebecca Events // planning: Katie Rebecca Events // florals: Big Sur Flowers // bride's shoes: Frye // hair stylist: Kelly Jones // makeup artist: Kelly Jones // groom's shoes: Oliver Sweeney via Nordstrom // paper goods: Lost and Sound // cake: Whole Foods // officiant: Lauren DaCruz // wedding dress: A La Robe from LOHO Bride // kimono: Girl On a Vine // jewelry: head piece by Gypsy Junkies, hand piece by Litter, squash blossom cuff by St. Eve Jewelry, groom's wedding band by Catbird, bride's wedding band by Jennie Kwon via No.3, custom engagement ring by Shreve & Co. // suit: custom by Pacific Fashions // tie: Burberry // guest transportation: Barefoot Adam // ceremony musician: Richard DeVinck

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