Sometimes a wedding day is about the wedding.  Sometimes it’s about the couple.   And sometimes a wedding day, or in this case a wedding weekend,  offers an accurate reflection of the couple and functions as a form of personal expression. Imbuing a milestone celebration with your own personalities does make for an extraordinary and memorable event.

E. and J. care deeply for each other and their friends and families. They dream of a better and more just world, and have dedicated their lives to reflect that. Last Saturday, E. and J., subverting a few of the typical traditions to their own purpose, were married in Willits, California.

E. and J. were committed to making their low-impact wedding conscientious of sustainability and preserving the environment.  The camping wedding was at Camp and Sons, a 400 acre camp on Foster Mountain.  Guests gathered under a grove of trees for an outdoor ceremony.   A friend from law school officiated with a relevant and poignant service [I love the double lawyer weddings, where the legal implications of a civil marriage is explored and celebrated!].

Natural classics that suited them were in the details;  Ball jars brimming with good beer,  picnic tables lined with burlap, simple glass bottles stocked with dried flower arrangements, paper lanterns as overhead accents, and a curving wall of hay enclosing the dance floor.  E. even wore a green wedding dress.

The brilliant light of the sun slipped lower and lower until sunset, when the campground grew dark. It was ice cream and fruit pies for dessert.  E. and J. barely stopped dancing while they tasted it.  Hands clasped, heels of new Frye boots kicked in laughter, they whirled to the music.

Leading the way in sustainable celebrations? It appears so.  New beginnings are a very good place to start.

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A bridesmaid’s fiance deftly handled the make up on the wedding day.

A little diptych of the bride’s green dress and the grooms cuff-links.

The Sister-of-the-Bride gracefully buckles the bride’s shoes.

Seeing each other for the first time in the orchard at Camp and Sons.

Overlooking the mountain, taking a brief respite from the sun under the parasol.

Dappled light. Lovely.

A kiss under the kiwi arbor.

A tent from the weekend camping wedding, reflected in the pond.

Beautiful secular ceremony under the canopy of trees.

Flowegirl, perhaps a bit rambunctious, gives her hands a break.

The gorgeous bouquet, at rest, in the moments after the ceremony.

Dancing as the sun went down, in their new Frye boots.

The bride and groom barely take a break from dancing for their dessert – fruit pies a la mode.