This bride airbrushed her ombré wedding dress for a ceremony in a redwood fairy ring

Offbeat partners: Natalie (she/her) & James (he/him)

Date and location: Corralitos, CA | Amphitheatre of the Redwoods at Pema Osel Ling — 10/21/2023

We met in the back of 8th grade science when we were about 12 years old. It was the end of the school year, and my friends and I were working on a goodbye gift (folding 1000 origami cranes) for a friend who was moving out of the country. James came up to me and offered to help. We talked for the rest of the class, and then it was summer vacation. We spent all of high school a degree of connection away from each other, but too shy to drive anything further. By complete chance, we reconnected in the summer before college, and the rest is history. It turns out we lived just down the street from each other for years!

We had been together for about 12 years when we finally got permits to hike Mt. Whitney. We decided that getting engaged would be our “prize” for summitting. After some wind and a little altitude sickness, we did it!

We planned for 2 years. We knew we wanted a forested, outdoor space that was not too “manicured” — we spend a good amount of time outdoors, and we wanted our ceremony to be immersive & respect the forest in a more natural state. After exploring a few options, we immediately knew that Pema Osel Ling was it. It's managed by the Vajrayana Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist nonprofit, who care for the land so beautifully.

We mostly planned ourselves, with some great decor support from Natalie's mom and cousins. We didn't have many unexpected challenges. I think we did most of our worrying upfront so we didn't get too caught by surprise.

First, we need to talk about that ombre wedding dress!

I airbrushed my dress with paint, inspired by a gorgeous similar design by Taylor Ann (Canvas Bridal), another Cali-local artist (definitely go check out her pieces if you haven't heard of her, she's unbelievable!!) because I really related to what she said in an interview about “needing color” 🙂

Creative personal expression is such a deeply held value to me and and I never saw myself as a “pure-white-wedding-dress” kind of gal, so I knew I had to do something to make my dress feel more personal. Orange is my favorite color, so I went with a red-orange gradient and velvet orange shoes.

I also hand-painted the bouquets and boutonnieres, which were made with wood flowers. James folded origami cranes used for the guys instead of pocket squares, as a call-back to how we first met. My mother ordered us leis, which is a Hawaiian tradition, as she was raised a part of her life there, & we have family ties to Hawaii. Leis are a reflection of love and aloha, which was something we wanted to share.

About our ceremony:

Our ceremony took place in the middle of a “fairy ring” of redwood trees (the trees all sprouted from a single, older tree). Dappled light and rose petals were strewn along the deck, with wild songbirds in the trees and turkeys in the distance.

I played (piano) and recorded a version of Shelter (Porter Robinson & Madeon) for when I walked down the aisle, and our wedding party walked down to the title theme of Florence (mobile game published by Annapurna).

My sister was my maid of honor, and my bridesmaids were my cousins, sister-in-law, and close longtime friends. My nephew was our ring bearer. James's best man and groomsmen were his longtime friends. We chose to have both our parents walk us down simultaneously.

Our ceremony was masterfully curated by Santa Cruz Officiant, Naomi Ehrich. She specializes in customized and non-traditional weddings and ceremonies that deeply incorporate the values and personal journeys of the people involved. I can't express enough how beautifully she conducted and executed on every detail.

Our desire for the ceremony was for every attendee to feel connected, important, and equally included, and she made every bit of the ceremony reflect that. She quoted John Muir and recited other passages that drew parallels between the dynamics of our partnership and the rhythms of nature. She burnt incense near us to engage our senses and encourage our presence. She passed around a small bottle of cedarwood oil to each attendee, whom each shared one word they wished to send with us on our wedding journey.

About our reception:

Food was a fully-vegetarian menu, provided by the venue, chosen by us after a lovely on-site tasting! We had crudités and pita, 3 dips, mini grilled cheese & tomato bisque, moussaka, shepherds pie, toasted pecan-arugula salad, seasonal veggies, buttery mini potatoes, and fresh bread with roasted garlic butter 🙂

We had an open bar with craft beer, well drinks, and two signature drinks — “Happily Caffeinated” (a riff off an espresso martini) and “Bird Party” (a bright lime & fig cocktail).

Music was curated by The (amazing) Celebration DJ (Brandon Bosch). We listen to a lot of genres, so he brilliantly brought together all our requests in the smoothest way — acoustic punk-pop pre-ceremony, jazz during dinner, edm & classics for dancing, and everything in-between 🙂 We wanted to keep the vibe light, upbeat, unpretentious, yet classy, and gradually take the night into a celebratory dance party as we reached the end. He was flawless.

We rented out the site for the weekend, so we got to spend a little extra time with our loved ones before and after it all went down…which was great!

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?

I think the biggest challenge was feeling overwhelmed with good choices! I guess that's kind of a good problem to have, right? Haha… but we had to periodically remind ourselves, “okay, does this actually fit our vision and budget? Is this ‘us'? Does it make sense?”. We got a vision board going, gradually started mentally synthesizing how all the elements would play together, and ran through scenarios in our heads with different options. That was really helpful in our decision-making process.

Our advice would be: Prioritize the aspects of your wedding that are most important to you, and build around those elements. If you want a really meaningful and custom ceremony, or specific decor elements, or a certain photographer you've admired for years, start there, and planning for the rest will fall into place 🙂 Also, this is your day — weddings hold such a unique emotional and physical space, so no matter what people or forces are involved, hold space for yourselves and let this be a celebration of who you are. Slow down, take deep breaths, and be present. It will go by so quickly.

Our vendors

• Photography: Linda Abbott was our photographer, but she was more than that! More like a special friend that joined us on our wedding journey and graced us with her incredible expressive talent 🙂 Her work speaks for itself – we ended up foregoing a videographer entirely because the pictures she took captured just that much energy. We felt like we could be vulnerable and safe in her presence. Needless to say, we immediately jumped at the opportunity to work with her. She stayed onsite with us the whole weekend, and I'm so glad she did! She is a deeply intuitive artist and explorative soul. She breathes a special life into her work.
• Venue & Food: Amphitheater of the Redwoods at Pema Osel Ling (Facebook)
• Dress: Jana Ann Couture (@janaanncouture)
• DJ: The Celebration DJ (@thecelebrationdj)
• Invites: Greenvelope (@greenvelope)
• Leis: Hawaiian Flower Lei (@hawaiiflowerlei)
• Hair & Makeup: Bay Area Beautiful (@bayareabeautiful)
• Officiant: Santa Cruz Officiant (@santacruzofficiant)
• Small Desserts: Fancy Flavors (@officialfancyflavors)
• Cake: Natty Cakes (@nattycakes)
• Cake Topper: Fischer's Lovebird Design – POSL Shop on Etsy (@poslshop)
• Shoes: Chinese Laundry (@chineselaundry)

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