Lisa + Sterling | August 12, 2017 | Calistoga, California
From the bride
We were married outside under a chuppah on the lawn, and our reception followed inside with an amazing band and hours of dancing! 150 of our closest friends and family joined us. Our day was so special for so many reasons. First, both of us are from the same town outside of San Francisco, so we knew we wanted to get married in California. We decided on Calistoga because we love the small town vibe and we wanted to be able to spend the weekend with everyone coming in for our celebration. Importantly, though, a factor we did not even consider – while we got married in August of 2017, not even 2 months later in October, Calistoga would be threatened by the North Bay Wildfires – the town was evacuated and we were on pins and needles praying for all of our friends up in that area and all the vendors who had worked with us. In hindsight we feel even more incredibly fortunate to have had such a gorgeous and amazing day – absolutely pristine and perfect – only such a short time before this terrible devastation.
Lisa’s Wedding Dress Search
Only a week after we got engaged, one of my closest friends from New York came out to visit us in San Francisco. Although we had no idea where we were getting married or when, I couldn’t resist taking her shopping with me! We thought we would just hit a couple of the places in SF to get a feel for what I wanted. After going to two shops where we saw some things that were ok but didn’t make me swoon, I said, let’s just stop into one more…. We had an hour and a half until my friend had a Soul Cycle class booked. Well, we walked into that third shop, I described some things I had seen and liked, and the girl pulled out a perfect dress – I tried it on, and I knew!! It was a sample and fit me perfectly. My mom lives nearby, but we didn’t even have time for her to come in and see it! So we FaceTimed her from the store, she agreed it was perfect, and in 45 mins we were out the door with my dress, and my friend made it to Soul Cycle with time to spare! I loved the dress so much I couldn’t wait to get married!!
How She Felt In Her Oscar De La Renta Gown
Elegant, like a fairy tale princess or a movie star
Why She’s Selling Her Wedding Dress
My husband is the more sentimental of the two of us, but he was the one who was totally on board with selling it – he loved my dress (and me in it!) but we decided it would be too sad to let it just sit in a closet forever and never be worn again. He thought the idea of sharing it so someone else can enjoy how beautiful and fabulous it is would be the best thing to do – we really hope to see a photo of someone else in it on their special day!
