A 40-Guest Luxury Spa-Resort Wedding at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn

The Creekside Lawn Ceremony at the Fairmont

Rev. Kevin Tripp officiated on the Creekside Lawn. Mike stood at the altar while the wedding party came down, maid of honor, best man, a bridesmaid, and then Crystal walked in with her son while Kina Grannis's cover of 'Can't Help Falling in Love' played. The 40-guest Sonoma resort wedding filled the lawn, and no one was looking anywhere but at Crystal coming down the aisle with her boy beside her.

During the ceremony they mixed sand for their unity, pouring their colors together into one vessel. They walked back up the aisle to Jackie Wilson's 'Your Love Keeps Lifting Me,' and the guests followed the short path over to the patio for cocktails.

“Crystal walked in with her son, and the two of them poured their colors into one vessel at the altar.”

Portraits on the Grounds

After the ceremony the couple stayed on the lawn with a tray of hors d'oeuvres and their first drinks, a peach Bellini for Crystal, while the photographer worked through the wedding party and family groupings, then the couple portraits. The September light in Sonoma runs warm and long, and there was time to do it right.

The resort sits over the mineral springs at Boyes Hot Springs, where geothermal water first came up at 112 degrees in the 1890s, and the Mission-style buildings were rebuilt in 1927 after a fire. The arches, courtyards, and old trees give a wedding party a lot of ground to move through without going far, each setting different from the last.

Dinner and Dancing in the Sonoma Valley Room

Crystal's daughter, Sam, gave the welcome announcement and brought the couple into the Sonoma Valley Room for dinner, filet mignon and roasted chicken, with a Farmer's Market salad to start. A second cake marked the couple's anniversary alongside the tiered wedding cake, and they cut it before the first dance.

Their first dance was to Shenandoah's 'I Want to Be Loved Like That,' and Sam waved everyone onto the floor after. The best man and maid of honor toasted, the dancing opened up, and later in the night the party moved out to the firepits. The firepits and s'mores station were the final touch on a spa-resort celebration that had started with a copper arch on the Creekside Lawn. Crystal changed into a second dress after the sunset photos, and the dancing carried on from there until the evening wound all the way down.