Jacqueline & Andre — Two-Person Elopement, Anchor Bay | OLW
Real Weddings · Gualala, CA
A Two-Person Elopement at Wander Anchor Bay
Jacqueline & AndreOctober 2022Wander Anchor Bay · Mendocino
Jacqueline and Andre's two-person elopement at Wander Anchor Bay was just the two of them on the Gualala coast in October 2022, no guests, only the ocean and the Anchor Bay vacation rental they had booked for the weekend.
They married on a Saturday as the light dropped toward the horizon, getting ready in the house while the coast went quiet, saying their vows with only the officiant between them and the water, and closing the evening over a private dinner for two.
Getting Ready for Their Two-Person Elopement at Anchor Bay
Jacqueline and Andre had checked in the day before, so there was no schedule to keep. They got ready in separate rooms with the Pacific visible through the windows, and if they crossed paths in the hallway, that was fine by them.
Jacqueline did her own makeup and stepped into her dress as the afternoon wore on. A bridal bouquet and a small cake floral had come up the coast that morning and were waiting in the kitchen. Andre had his boutonniere pinned and was ready in his own time.
The house itself suited a Gualala coast elopement: set back from the water, surrounded by the native redwoods and ferns of the Anchor Bay gulch, quiet enough that the Pacific was the loudest thing outside. No hotel lobby, no schedule, no staff. Just the two of them and a house they had all to themselves.
Evening
A Gualala Coast Elopement. Walking In Together
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As the early evening came in off the water, Rev. Candace Leila arrived at the house to marry them. There was no aisle to walk, no procession, no rows of chairs to fill. Jacqueline and Andre walked in together to where she was standing, that was how they had wanted it from the start.
It was short and entirely theirs. They exchanged their vows with only the officiant between them and the coast, the water pulling the last of the afternoon light toward the horizon outside.
“No aisle and no procession, they walked in together, the two of them and the water.”
After the ceremony
Portraits on the Anchor Bay Coast
With the vows done, the couple went out for portraits as the sun finished its drop toward the water. Anchor Bay opens onto a secluded half-mile beach set in a narrow gulch of native redwoods and ferns, sheltered from the harshest coastal winds, a quiet stretch of the Gualala coast that gave them the whole scene to themselves.
They stayed out for the full turn of the light, the photographs about the two of them and the coast and nothing else.
In early October the Gualala coast goes soft at the edges, the redwood gulch shaded even in the afternoon, the beach sand darkened by the season. For a two-person elopement, that kind of light and that kind of privacy are exactly right. There is no crowd to manage and nowhere to be except in the frame.
Evening
Dinner for Two at the House
Back at the house, a private chef had set up in the kitchen and sent dinner out as the evening settled in, a plated meal for two, the Pacific going dark past the windows.
There was no first dance to announce and no toast to give. They cut their cake together instead, and the champagne was theirs to open when they were ready, the last quiet thing on a day built entirely for the two of them.
