Blair, Medical Assistant & Meg, Business Manager, Artist
Photographer: Shawnee Custalow
One sentence sum-up of the wedding vibe: It was exactly what we dreamed of—romantic, beautiful, memorable, and heartfelt, a quintessential San Francisco wedding that honored our quiet and private personalities and our deep bond.
Soundtrack for reading: “Here to Stay” by Lenka
Other Cool Stuff We Should Know About
For our wedding we knew we wanted to marry privately/“elope.” We thought about traditional weddings or larger ceremonies, but that just isn’t us. We are very quiet, very private people and to not honor that we knew would feel contrived to us and diminish what our marriage was all about. We did, however, want the most important women in our lives to be witness to our union. So we had our mothers and Meg’s sister come share in on our occasion. And we asked our dear friend Shawnee to come be our photographer. Shawnee is incredibly talented, and we wanted to have photographs of this day to share with others and to cherish forever. Also Shawnee attending the ceremony felt especially evocative, since the day that Meg and I had met four years prior we had spent the evening at Shawnee’s birthday party.
We wanted a quintessential San Francisco wedding, and so we wed at San Francisco City Hall, which is a magnificent location; the architecture, history, and grandeur of it all is just breathtaking. We managed to have all details of our wedding be either vintage, handmade, and/or local. Our rings (engagement and wedding) are all vintage circa 1930s. Blair’s dress was handmade by a local woman. The lace shawl was hand knit and crocheted by Meg, a piece that will be a keepsake forever. Meg’s outfit was all vintage, from her shoes to her shirt. Meg’s sister made her earrings. We did our own hair, makeup, and nails. We bought our flowers and our cake from a local florist and bakery the afternoon before the wedding. Blair’s mother wrapped the bouquets in lace. We made our own doily cake topper and doily “just married” banner. We had vintage floral handkerchiefs, and we wrapped our guests’ kerchiefs around handwritten love letters from us. Afterward we walked to lunch at Absinthe Brassier and Bar and then we went our separate way to spend an evening eating wedding cake, drinking champagne, and exchanging our personalized vows at an old downtown San Francisco bed and breakfast. The next morning we met up with everyone again to have a tea party at San Francisco’s Lovejoy’s Tea Room. All in all it was exactly what we dreamed of.
Favorite Thing About The Wedding
We were married on our fourth anniversary. The dignity that we felt to be able to legally be married after four years, well, the magnitude of that cannot be overstated.