Whimsical Mountain Top Wedding
This wedding exhibits perfectly how to let the sheer beauty of your location shine through. Frances and Ben chose to have their wedding on the top of a mountain — need we say any more? Delbarr Moradi was there to capture the day, with Emily Read Bentley of the ever darling event design and planning company Enjoy Events Co. aiding with day-of coordination with invites by Printable Press — and gosh, we are so smitten!
From the bride, Frances: We let our locations do a lot of the work for us. Mt. Tamalpais, where we had the ceremony, is probably the most epic place in the Bay Area. The amphitheater was perfectly suited to a Zen ceremony. Jeffrey rang a bell as we walked in, which was haunting and beautiful in the mist of the forest-quiet. Our guests couldn’t believe how magical it was. The tiny, secret coastal village of Bolinas, where we had the reception, was also pretty memorable.
My very favorite part was the little gold animals we put on each guest’s plate. My awesome new sister-in-law spray painted about ten thousand plastic animals for me. My lovely husband used a laser cutter to carve escort cards out of wood for everyone. We love Lord of the Rings, so we used a hobbity font, and then he stained them all fuchsia. He also designed and made the table number cards, the programs, and the menus.
Some of our other DIY elements were: the ribbon curtain behind our table, which I made myself; all the brass animals and vases on the tables, which we collected from the flea market over the course of many months; and the table runners, which my awesome mom sewed for me. We go to estate sales and flea markets pretty much every weekend anyway, so I started picking up things I thought I could use for the wedding—vases, little objects for the centerpieces, fancy plates for the desserts.
One of my favorite memories of the whole weekend was actually setting up and decorating the hall the night before. All my wonderful Michigan family and some friends did a midwestern barn-raising. I just remember one of my aunts saying, “okay go!” and then within seconds 40 people were everywhere working, uncles were up on ladders hanging Christmas lights, little cousins were assembling foil stars, aunts were ironing tablecloths… it was like an instant beehive of totally focused activity.
View all images from this wedding in the photo gallery
Wedding Vendors (San Francisco Bay Area, CA):
Location: Mt. Tamalpais / Wedding Photographer: Delbarr Moradi Photography / Day-of Coordination: Emily Read Bentley of Enjoy Events Co. / Wedding Dress: Coan Couture / Bride’s Headband: Mignonne / Bride’s Earrings: Renna / Bride’s Velvet Bed Jacket: Lacis / Groom’s Suit: Maxwell’s Clothiers / Groom’s Shirt and Tie: Sean / Makeup: Paige Howie / Hair: Diane Beaver of Solid Gold Salon / Wedding Flowers: Ingrid Shoemaker of Blume Designs / Wedding Caterer: Sage Catering / Wedding Cake: SusieCakes / Stationery: Printable Press