Paloma & Josh

These two! We just love them.

Paloma is a nurse and Josh works in finance. And while they have serious lives and important work, they also know how to have a great time (and we love that about a couple!).

They got married in Sonoma, which is one of my favorite towns in all of Napa Valley, at the beautiful MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa.

All photos by Lexie Hand.

They carefully selected their menu with the help of Maricela and Angie from MacArthur Place, which was delicious.

During cocktail hour, they served:

Chicken Vesuvio Skewer with Meyer Lemon and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Golden Figs with Prosciutto and Mascarpone
Roasted Mushroom Empanada with Chipotle Aioli

For Dinner:

Flat iron steak | Valdeon blue cheese | Grilled late summer onions | Romesco Petaluma chicken w/seasonal vegetables

And Dessert:

Strawberry short cake w/sweet cream and mint (Josh’s favorite)
Churros! (We love wedding churros)

And I loved the tabletop that Paloma and I designed together at Bright.

During our design sessions, Paloma was sure that she wanted to lean toward elevated minimalism that complemented the easy-luxe vibe at MacArthur Place. But it was also important to her that her wedding didn’t look like an exact copy/paste of anyone else’s MacArthur Place wedding (when couples say things like this, I do handstands in my heart!).

During our mock-up appointment at Bright, Paloma and I decided to lean into a sort of Mediterranean-inspired design. She asked me, “If you were to go all-out, not for my wedding, but just for fun, and design a Mediterranean tabletop, what would you do?”

Oh girl, I love a design challenge! So, I put together a tabletop that mixed patterns, focusing on coastal blues and golds and added a chair that felt like something you’d find at a restful seaside restaurant.

Then she said, “Okay, but can we do that with a white linen?”

And so we did.

The result? Gorgeous Mediterranean-inspired minimalism. And I love the olive green napkin! It plays so well with our gorgeous florals from Muse.

Now, normally, the weather is gorgeous in September in Sonoma. You can generally expect bright sunny skies, warm days, and cooler nights. I am not typically nervously checking the weather every couple hours leading up to a September wedding day.

But the day before Paloma & Josh’s wedding, there was something like an 80% chance of rain. During rehearsal we discussed moving the ceremony and dinner inside, but Paloma & Josh had just come from a friend’s wedding in London where it poured on everyone and they were totally down to get married in the pouring rain (rain will never not be romantic in my world, by the way). So we decided that if we had a rainy ceremony, we’d have dinner and dancing inside, but they really wanted the ceremony they had envisioned, rain or shine.

Come wedding day, the forecast changed, there was no rain expected, and Angie from MacArthur Place said, as we were setting up the ceremony and dining tables outside, “You must be so relieved that it’s not going to rain today!”

I was.

But then the clouds started building, things were looking rather ominous, and the hourly forecast said “RAIN IS HAPPENING SAVE YOURSELVES!”

So we pulled all the tabletop items off the tables, pushed back first look by about 30 minutes, let the rain pass, wiped everything down, reset the tables, and the same thing happened again (hence the flopped over table number that you may have peeped in the tabletop photo above, so sorry, Mona, we tried so hard to save all your beautifully printed paper items!).

Once the second rain passed, we successfully held the ceremony outdoors (only 15 minutes behind schedule!) and the final spurt of rain happened while guests were indoors during cocktail hour.

Paloma & Josh were endlessly great about working around the rain. And I heard from a couple guests at the Murphy’s afterparty that they were endlessly entertained watching us, in suspense, set and reset three different times. One of them asked me, “How on earth did you guys do hours worth of extra work and the whole wedding was only 15 minutes behind schedule?”

MacArthur Place, we owe you so much. Every manager, and all available staff came out to assist in flipping the dining space, wiping everything down multiple times and making sure we hit our mark. We could not have made this gorgeous day happen without all of you. Thank you thank you thank you for your calm, kind, professional, and rain-soaked help!

In the end, Paloma & Josh had a beautiful wedding day!

Our incredible vendor team:
Planning & Design: Jen Harrison Weddings
HMUA: Alexis Nicholas
Florals: Muse Floral Co.
Photography: Lexie Hand
Venue & Catering: MacArthur Place Hotel and Spa
DJ: Andorian Ramsey, DJ Beatific
Videography: Brighter Lights Media
Signs & Stationery: Mona’s Lettering
Rentals: Bright 
Cold Fireworks: Bay Area Party Booths
Afterparty: Murphy’s Pub