What an honor to work with this Artist Bride, her creatively talented friends, and the amazing location of the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach, CA

As an artist who was born and raised in Maine, lived in San Francisco, moved to Laguna Beach and has traveled all over the world, this bride has definitely made quite a few friends. If you are ever lucky enough to meet Kate Cleaves you will know she is the Sweetest Soul. She has a love and respect for everything and everyone in our world and on our planet.

Originally, the plan was to have a destination wedding in Bali…in 2020. We know what happened, so delay after delay Kate and Nick decided to have their ceremony in the city that they live and work in. Laguna Beach. When I say work in, Kate is a full-time artist and muralist. She has a space at the Sawdust Festival every Summer and Winter. This was the perfect location and they fittingly chose Earth Day to celebrate. The heart of this wedding was really to bring everyone together as sort of a reunion. There were so many people from all over the United States, and from so many other countries. It was pretty amazing to see so many people from so many different places come celebrate with this couple.

I was so honored to be a part of this big day. Being that Kate is so creative, so are her friends. Everyone stepped in to help in some way regarding decorating, florals, photography, and music. Even Kate’s talented mom created the cake. She also made the Whoopie Pies (in Maine) and flew here with them. That is love. Mom also made the paper flower boutonnieres. Kate’s little Chihuahua, Buster, was escorted down the aisle to take his place up front. Love those Fur Babies!

With all this help, I was in charge of Wedding Management to make sure the day ran smoothly. Lascari’s Italian restaurant was the catering company. It was buffet style and I am never a fan because buffets can take a very long time, but let me say Lascari’s knows their craft! I have worked with them twice, in fact I recommended them for this wedding, and they never disappoint! They are a really great family restaurant in Whittier, CA and they go above and beyond.

They had a ceremony in front of family and friends, a cocktail hour during photos, then dinner was served. Each table was named after a different precious stone. During dinner they had a live musician playing guitar, after dinner everyone moved up to a different level of the property for dancing. There was a very cute and fun area for the kids, and they were in great hands with the sweetest young lady watching over them. Cake was served casually, along with those Whoopie Pies. Being Earth Day, seed paper was passed out as a guest favor.

Badass Moment: Just keeping up with everything and overseeing the whole day. Being that her friends contributed so much, I didn’t have vendor teams to rely on. I had to make sure everything was taken care of. This property is very hilly and there were so many steps involved.