The Largest Micro Wedding at Mavericks House on the Half Moon Bay Coast

Portraits Along the Half Moon Bay Surf Coast

While the cocktail hour ran on the deck, Julissa and Joe slipped out for portraits as the light dropped toward the water. The Half Moon Bay surf coast goes a particular shade of gold in late afternoon, and they had two photographers on the day, the kind of coverage that catches what the other misses. When they came back in, dinner was nearly ready.

Their guests had moved from the lawn to the cocktail hour, the harbor and the open coast outside the windows as the afternoon tipped toward evening.

Dinner, Open Speeches, and Dancing

Dinner was seated, the tables full, but no one had an assigned spot, eighty-eight people found their places and settled in. When it came time for toasts, the mic was open to anyone who wanted to stand up. People did, one after another, the room going quiet each time, then loud again when whoever had spoken sat back down. An open-mic format at this scale runs longer than a scripted program would, and the room let it. The crowd that had come together on a lawn at the edge of the harbor was still fully present hours into the evening.

Mavericks House wraps the room around its harbor views, the deck extending out over the water so the open coast stayed visible through the windows even after the sun had gone. When the last toast was finished, the tables came off the floor, the first dance moved into open dancing, and the bar stayed open until the room ran out of night.