A Five-Guest Cliffside Elopement at Duncan's Cove

Portraits Above the Cove

Because the walk down to the beach wasn't an option during their daughter's recovery, the couple kept portraits at the top of the cove, just the two of them for a few minutes on the cliff while the family stayed close by.

Duncan's Cove sits roughly halfway between Bodega Bay and Jenner, tucked beneath the cliffs of Sonoma Coast State Park. This stretch of coast was a lumber shipping point in the 1800s and is now some of the most dramatic shoreline in the county. The light was moving toward sunset the whole time, gold on the water past the railing.

Champagne, Cake, and a First Dance on the Cliff

The celebration stayed right there at the cove. Champagne went around, and the couple cut a small cake on a table set up on the cliff. Their first dance was to "Live Forever," the two of them close together with the ocean behind them and the sun dropping toward the water.

When the light went, Catherine and Christian drove a few minutes down the coast to a dinner reservation by the bay, the five of them and Snow. The Inn at the Tides sits right at the water's edge in Bodega Bay, the kind of bayside table where the windows look straight out over the harbor and the conversation goes long without anyone noticing the time. They ended the day the way they had started it: close, unhurried, and exactly who they wanted.