UP! Themed Micro Wedding
Imagination, being crazy in love and putting your personal stamp on your wedding day are all some of the things that our couples have in common. Some people are more creative than others, and that's totally fine if the extent of your planning is, "we'd like a blue, white and silver theme wedding, and we're good. Let's just say I do and get on with it!"
But for those that love to totally customize, we are all about it! A and A love the movie UP! and had been inspired by some balloon bouquet images that they'd seen on Pinterest as well. They called me and asked if it would be alright if they brought a giant bouquet of balloons to their beach wedding session. Are you freakin' kidding me? YES PLEASE! I was practically jumping up and down, to be totally honest. Party stores are a great place to get the balloons already filled with helium, but if you don't have a store like that in your area, ask the floral department at your local supermarket! They're a great resource.
The location they selected is very near and dear to my heart. We met at the marvelous Muir Beach at sunset on a beautiful fall day. It's just up the street from the Pelican Inn, a great little English Pub style restaurant that would also be fantastic for a wedding brunch or drinks after your elopement. This is a more out of the way, secluded small beach, and it's a favorite with locals, but not as busy as nearby Stinson Beach which is full of surfers and bigger crowds. As they wrestled the giant balloons out of the back of their SUV, I was very happy with the color pallette they chose. It worked very nicely with the outdoor fall colors and wasn't out of place with the coastal California landscape. (We are very environmentally conscious and NO balloons were released at any time. Sure it's a romantic tradition, but we're all about wildlife)
We headed down the trail to the beach with lots of well wishers and surprised beach goers, not expecting our floating caravan as we headed to the surf. The sun was setting and at just the right angle as it sunk slowly below the earth's rim, we had plenty of golden light and shooting sunbeams, reflections in the wet sand and snuggles on the beach.
The main reason for our journey was their sunset ceremony and they'd brought to me the idea of the Muir Beach Overlook. During peak times this can be a somewhat busy place, but this year it was perfectly quiet except for two fabulous ravens dancing and skipping in the parking lot as we made our way to the ceremony spot. They had five guests with them, which is just the right size for their wedding destination. This was a stunning pop up micro wedding, and as the sun set and Reverend barbara performed their ceremony, it was completely right. Everything fell into place and was simply joyous.
Afterwards they had a little champagne toast and headed off to a fantastic dinner at one of my favorite places, D'Angelo's Restaurant in Mill Valley, California. It's located on a historic town square with very trendy shops and restaurants nearby, and plenty of towering redwoods, to set the scene.A picture perfect elopement.
