A Cliffside Estate Wedding at Wind and Sea in Big Sur

Portraits Along the Big Sur Cliffs

Wind and Sea sits on a six-acre bluff that juts out over the Pacific along Highway 1, so the portraits had the ocean in nearly every direction — the offshore sea-stacks below, the deep teal water breaking white on the rocks, coastal mustard and manzanita along the paths where the hummingbirds worked the flowers. Family photos came first, everyone gathered at the point. Then Kristina and Matthew slipped off for portraits along the cliff terraces.

A self-serve bar went out on the deck while the photos ran, the Big Sur coast and the marine layer past the railing, a "CHEERS" bucket of drinks at one end, the guests spread across the terraces with the water below.

Dinner and Dancing at the Wind and Sea Estate

Dinner moved inside to the estate's great room — a high wood-plank ceiling, a small chandelier, string lights, the windows dark with the coast beyond. A private chef cooked the meal on-site, champagne toasts poured as everyone sat, and the maid of honor and best man spoke to the small room. Fourteen people under one roof on a Big Sur bluff makes for a particular kind of evening, every toast heard by everyone, the room both wide open and close at once.

They cut a single-tier white cake from Sweet Reba's, set behind a long garland of blush roses, yellow blooms, and greenery, the groomsmen in black tuxedos crowded in and a guest filming from the side. Then came the first dance, close and unhurried in the warm light of the room, a mother-and-son dance and a father-and-daughter dance after it, while the last of the marine-layer light went down over the water and everyone kept dancing.