Kate and Phil had a destination wedding in Sonoma, one of my favorite places in the world. If you’ve never been to Healdsburg, put it on your list – it’s an almost painfully adorable town. The wedding itself was up the road at Trentadue Winery, who make some of the best port around, and have a gorgeous event venue on site.

But beyond being gorgeous, Kate & Phil’s wedding was really marked by how thoughtful Kate and Phil are as a couple, and how apparent this was in every single part of the day. This spring’s partial solar eclipse took place during their cocktail hour, and the two of them bought eclipse glasses for all of the guests and the staff – let me tell you, Nature makes for great entertainment. How great are these photos?

The night ended in an epic dance party – this was definitely a crowd who knew how to have fun!

Congratulations again you two!

photos: the darling Emily Ivey of Bliss Photography

Kay & Brian got married at Coquelicot Vineyards* on the edge of the town Solvang, CA, which has to be one of the most adorable and one of the oddest places around – it’s a Danish theme town established in 1911, and is totally worth a visit if you’re ever in the Santa Ynez Valley. I had a blast spending the weekend there.

Beyond being a total blast, Kay & Brian’s wedding was really pretty, in large part due to all of the work that Kay and Brian had done. One of my favorite details was that they made button name tags for all of their guests – one button with their first name, and then a second button with a nickname or other inside-joke phrase on it. They put them in stemless wineglasses that doubled as both favors and placecards, and then guests got to wear their buttons (and hopefully remember each others names a little better!) Fun, funny, and pretty, which is combination that sums up the whole wedding as well as Kay and Brian themselves.

There’s a reason barn weddings have become rather iconic – they’re large spaces that work well for big events, but are much less corporate and cold feeling than a banquet hall. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to a dance party in a barn?

Congratulations again you two! If your marriage is even a fraction as much fun as your wedding was, you’re going to be in fantastic shape : )

photos: Tyler Branch Photo

*unfortunately Coquelicot is not doing weddings after 2012

Sophie is a life-long friend of mine (our moms are best friends from college, and she and her sister are more like cousins to me than friends) and it was such a total joy to get to be a part of their wedding – they’re simply one of the best couples I know.

May fifth happened to be the date that worked best for everyone involved and was available at the venue they wanted (the Piedmont Community Hall) – so we decided to run with it. It worked especially well because Sophie’s family has a long standing love of Mexico and Mexican iconography, and come on, who doesn’t love bright colors, Mexican food and margaritas?

After some worry about if their visas were going to come through in time, Ouma’s parents were able to make the trip from Kenya, and Ouma worked to get their DJs some Kenyan music – I think it’s safe to say that the dancing was definitely one of the highlights of this party.

Congratulations again you two – I’m so happy that you finally made Ouma an official part of the family! Love you both!

photos: by the lovely Allison Andres

Brandi and Joe got married in the morning in a small ceremony at San Francisco City Hall followed by champagne. Brandi had part of her mother’s dress remade into a new dress, which – can you even imagine a more perfect dress for a City Hall ceremony? The gorgeous flowers were by Natalie at Clementine.

Brandi & Joe really wanted their reception to just be a big party, and they totally rocked it. We were able to talk a gallery, Steven Wolf Fine Arts, into doing their first ever private event rental, and then talk the building owner into renting us the lot next door, and… magic. Which is also the word that could be used to describe the party dress that Brandi wore.

Permits from the city let us block the street parking for food trucks – Roli Roti, Kung Fu Tacos, and a churro cart, and a Mariachi Band came to entertain the guests for the first hour. There was no scheduling to the reception – just food, a bar, and then dancing, dancing, and more dancing, courtesy of DJ Teeko (with The Flashdance’s background visuals projected in the room of the gallery normally used to show video pieces. perfect.)

Congratulations again you two!

photos: the lovely duo of Paco & Betty

Ruchi and Dave’s Hindu/Jewish (a culture blend nicknamed “HinJew” by the couple) was a blast. Held at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria, the multi-part day was actually the culmination of a larger multi-day celebration.

The day started with the Baraat, and Dave riding in on horseback (well, actually processing around the block but it achieved the idea.) Fancy horses officially make everything more awesome.

The baraat ended with Ruchi’s family welcoming Dave’s family with sybols of food, flower garlands, and rice. It was and amazingly touching moment for everyone involved.

Ruchi and Dave spent a lot of time and did a lot of hard work putting together a ceremony that blended both of their cultures – Dave’s family Rabbi led the majority of the ceremony, huppah poles were decorated with marigold garlands (both Hindu and Jewish wedding ceremonies traditionally use canopies – in a Hindu ceremony it’s called a mandap, in this case the canopy symbolized both) both Saptapadi (Hindu seven steps around a fire, led at this wedding by a close friend of Ruchi’s family) and Sheva Brachot (the Jewish seven blessings), as well as some of the most heartfelt and amazing vows I’ve ever heard. I definitely cried at this one.

The Galleria is a stunning space, and instead of trying to compete with that when it came to centerpieces, Ruchi & Dave went simple and used a cake or a pie. Seeing the guests wandering to different tables to see (and swap) all of the flavors available was definitely a highlight.

However, the real highlight besides the ceremony was the amazing dance party that happened. Kicked off with a truly raucous and joyful hora, the floor stayed full all night.

It was one of those nights where everyone was just too full of joy to do anything but dance.

Congratulations again you two! I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of this day.

photos: the always rad Emily Takes Photos – see her blog post on the wedding here, and see the wedding featured on Offbeat Bride here.

Liz and Guy got married in Pacifica on what turned out to be a gorgeous day in February. The tiny Pedro Point Firehouse near the water is one of the best deals around (plus – llamas across the street!).

I loved the multicolored bridesmaid dresses and shoes, and the gift packs for the kids in attendance included fairy wings & coloring books, which made for lots of adorable little girls happily entertaining themselves.

Plus, their bowling after party was obviously one of the best ideas ever that everyone should consider stealing.

You can see more of Liz & Guy’s wedding over on A Practical Wedding (where it was featured as a Wordless Wedding.) Congratulations again you two!

photos by: the fantastic Christina Richards Weddings