Vignettes from an unforgettably whimsical garden wedding at Beltane Ranch in Glen Ellen, Sonoma Valley, California.

Madeline and Matt

Her delicate dress of embroidered French cotton lace, buttons all down the back.

His whimsical olive linen suit lined with citrons.

Her crown of dried flowers affixed with a splash of orange ribbon.

The magical lane of Persian rugs leading down the aisle to the towering majesty of the live oak draped in a shawl of flowers.

The dulcet tones of their friend/officiant’s southern twang.

The ethereal light reflecting off her vows and onto her alabaster cheek.

The fine line between tears and riotous laughter that was crossed again and again as Madeline and Matt exchanged vows.

The air suffuse with dried flower petals as they ecstatically flew back down the aisle. As if all the world were filled with flower petals cascading through the air.

Whatever they told their guests to wear worked out just about right, cocktail hour a sea of floral prints and colorful summer suits scattered across the lawn, sipping Mavericks and Roosters.

Come Together, I Want To Hold Your Hand, And I Love Her, She Loves You, Here Comes the Sun, Strawberry Fields Forever.

Wally the sheep with his glorious floral crown somewhat bashful, nibbling the lawn, but also delighted by all the attention, especially from Madeline, his greatest fan.

The caricaturist hard at work sketching guests.

Her brother’s cow and sheep cufflinks.

The chickens promenading through cocktail hour, and round the reception tables.

Designed by Madeline, each escort card a flower petal, waiting to be plucked by a guest from its field of blossoms.

Stargazer, bluebell, marigold, poppy, peony demarcating each baroque tablescape with long paisley tablecloths, intricately detailed amber goblets. Everything designed and drawn by Madeline. One had the sense this was not the first tea party Madeline had hosted.

Chicken cake! Surrounded by holstein pops, cartons of cake eggs and cake chicks, mini hay bale cakes, carrot cakes in the shape of carrots.

A day so thoroughly governed by whimsy and the unexpected.

Delights at every corner.

Love Me Do, Eight Days a Week, Free as a Bird, Don’t Let Me Down, Octopus’s Garden.

Also, the pair of original songs with which Madeline and Matt serenaded their guests. Her gleeful recorder solo against the setting sun.

A rainbow of ombre tapers burning against the dying light of the head table.

And if all this, somehow, wasn’t quite enough, an exquisite sunset sidled in as Madeline & Matt’s wedding day came to it’s conclusion.

Who amongst us succeeds in bringing so many chapters of the magic of childhood into her wedding? Very few I say, none quite like Madeline & Matt in this past decade that I have documented.

Wedding Planning : Samar of Blissful Event Planning
Venue: Beltane Ranch
Flowers: Mae Flowers Sonoma
Sheep: Wally the Wooly Weeder
Rentals: Encore Events Rentals
Band: Ticket to Ride (Beatles cover band)
Catering: Sage Catering
Cake/Desserts: Supreme Sweets
Hair & Makeup: Santa Rosa Powder Room
Dress: Atelier Des Modistes