{"id":293077,"date":"2021-04-01T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T06:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=293077"},"modified":"2024-10-25T16:06:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:06:44","slug":"redwoods-elopement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/redwoods-elopement\/","title":{"rendered":"Magical Redwoods Elopement in Big Sur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Redwoods<\/p>\n

Having had to cancel their wedding four times due to COVID-19<\/a> Caroline and Pete decided to have a redwoods elopement<\/a> in the forest. They were married in Big Sur, California<\/a> in the US on the 2nd August 2020, just the two of them and it was simply magical<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The setting must have been utterly enchanting for exchanging their vows. Following their intimate ceremony, they had champagne on the beach and the joy radiating from these images by Heather K. Purdy<\/a> is completely infectious. They both looked absolutely gorgeous and I love that they had a first look too, just so special.<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods\n

\"Redwoods \"Groom \"Redwoods \"Redwoods<\/p>\n

Redwoods Elopement<\/h2>\n

The Proposal<\/h3>\n

My husband and I were less than acquaintances in high school. We knew of each other but never spoke, and graduated the same year. As most love stories begin, we reunited while in line for a bar and went on our first date the next evening.<\/p>\n

The proposal caught me completely by surprise. I had just finished one year of intensive training to become a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, which Peter supported me through. We had planned a trip to Ireland to celebrate before I started working.<\/p>\n

We arrived in Ireland and rushed to Dublin so we could explore the city. He had a park in mind that he wanted to explore, St. Stephen’s Green. He proposed in that park, within hours of getting off the plane, while I was still in my plane clothes and jetlagged. It was impressive to say the least! He had to sneak the ring on the plane and everything.<\/p>\n

The Vision<\/h3>\n

The inspiration\/theme behind our day was spontaneity, love, and making lemons out of lemonade. The colour palette behind our original day was sunset colours, but for this elopement, we wanted to focus on the greenery of the trees. Our officiant included an Irish Blessing in our ceremony, which was special to us because we got engaged in Ireland.<\/p>\n

We eloped in the natural landscape of Big Sur, so we didn’t need any decorations. We had gorgeous redwoods towering over us and a bed of lush clovers beneath our feet. Our reception consisted of a bottle of champagne, the beach, and the sunset.<\/p>\n

The Planning Process<\/h3>\n

The personalization of our day came down to our handwritten vows, and our decision to elope just the two of us. While we plan to have a traditional wedding next year when it is safe, we decided to make this special day just about the two of us, in love, deciding to spend forever together.<\/p>\n

Some of my favourite parts of the wedding include when my now-husband couldn’t hold back his tears, and the way the light trickled into the forest when we were taking photos. I also loved drinking champagne on the beach and sharing laughs with my photographer and officiant as they helped us make this day happen.<\/p>\n

\"Dress \"First \"Redwoods<\/p>\n

The Flowers<\/h3>\n

For the florals, my goal was to have a lot of greenery with a variety of blooms in different colours and textures. I had a flower crown as well that was mostly green with a few blooms. It was the perfect complement to the greenery in the background.<\/p>\n

Your Outfits<\/h3>\n

For my dress, I was going for something effortless, nature-inspired, and comfortable. My dress is A-line with a tulle skirt, with lace consisting of large roses trickling down the dress and vines crawling up my sides and back. In the end, I felt like a fairy princess in the forest and was not mad about it \ud83d\ude09 My husband went with a classic grey suit to serve as a nice neutral complement to my dress.<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Dress \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Dress \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Bride \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods \"Redwoods<\/p>\n

Memorable Moments<\/h3>\n

Being together just the two of us. We had no distractions and no outside noise. We got to share that whole day together and bask in the joy of getting married.<\/p>\n

Advice For Other Couples<\/h3>\n

My advice is to go with your gut and focus on what’s best for the two of you. There were a lot of setbacks in getting to this day (this was our 5th wedding date on the calendar). The pandemic has thrown us for a loop and changed a lot of things about our wedding day, but in the end, we decided to take back control and make it something special despite the circumstances.<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods<\/p>\n

Credit Where Credit Is Due<\/h5>\n
\n
\n

Photographer
\nHeather K. Purdy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Floral Designer
\nFleurs du Soleil<\/p>\n

Submitted via Two Bright Lights<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Simply wonderful! Caroline and Pete, thank you so much for sharing your redwoods elopement<\/a> and congratulations. I hope you have the best wedding ever when you are able to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having had to cancel their real wedding 4 times due to COVID-19, Caroline and Pete decided to have a redwoods elopement in the forest at Big Sur in California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":293109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6644,106,4],"tags":[814,1449,5255],"class_list":["post-293077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid19-weddings","category-outdoor-weddings","category-real-weddings","tag-california-wedding","tag-elopement","tag-forest-wedding"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":293109,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/whimsical-cdn.wedissimo.com\/2021\/03\/Redwoods-Elopement-Heather-K-Purdy-34-300x200.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}