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An adobe mission vineyard wedding at Cline Family Cellars gathered Sabrina and Wilson's twenty-one people at the historic Adobe Mission in Sonoma in September 2022, a late-morning ceremony under the eucalyptus with lunch to follow. The whole day held to one shaded corner of the property, so nobody had to move far to stay part of it.
They got ready on the grounds, said their vows by the little stucco mission with everyone gathered in close, and then let the afternoon spread out under the trees — a garden lunch that ran on through toasts, cake, and dancing while the September light came down warm through the leaves.
The morning began out on the property, in the dappled light under the trees. Wilson got into a light-grey suit and vest, and someone leaned in to straighten his tie and set the white pocket square while he stood there patient in his glasses. His boutonniere was a single white rose with a sprig of waxflower and greenery, tied off at the stem — small and clean against the grey lapel.
Sabrina's look came together nearby: her hair up in a soft twist with a beaded floral pin worked into it, her dress a fitted lace gown with a deep V front and an illusion back closed with a long row of covered buttons. LeeCe Stylz by Alicia Lau did her hair and makeup. The florals arrived from Vanda Floral Design in whites and blush with plenty of green. While the two of them finished dressing, a welcome bar was already going for the early arrivals — strawberry-raspberry lemonade and cucumber water — and by late morning the twenty-one guests were on the grounds with drinks in hand.
Lili Freitas of Weddings of Heart officiated at the Adobe Mission, the small stucco chapel that sits ringed with eucalyptus, landscaped garden beds, and the lotus ponds that give that corner of Cline its quiet. Wilson waited at the front, hands loose, and grinned as Sabrina came up. Then the two of them stood in close together, her lace back to the guests and his grey suit catching the light, an old stone wall and a wine barrel of loose roses just behind them.
The guests sat near enough to be part of it, family in the front garden chairs under a willow, pink roses and orange marigolds blooming right up to the edge of the seating. Vows, rings, a few laughs from the front row. As the ceremony wrapped, trays of hors d'oeuvres began to circulate — coconut prawns, filet of beef on Dijon crostini, and a wild-mushroom-and-asparagus pizzetta cut on a wooden board — while Sabrina and Wilson stepped off for photos.
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“Vows at the Adobe Mission, twenty-one guests gathered close under the eucalyptus.”
Portraits ran through the property afterward — the family groupings first, then the couple on their own with the gardens and the pale adobe walls behind them. There is a black-and-white one of Sabrina and Wilson nose to nose in a stand of bamboo, and another out on the flagstone with the flowerbeds going gold behind, that tell you how much room a small wedding leaves for this part of the day.
The site wears its history openly. Cline's grounds hold the California Missions Museum, where a full set of scale models of all twenty-one California missions is kept on display, saved from a 1939 exposition auction and looked after on the property ever since. Sabrina and Wilson had the run of all of it — the eucalyptus, the ponds, the mission walls — for as long as the light held.
Lunch was set out on one long wooden farm table under the trees, a white runner down the middle and a low arrangement of pink and blush roses at its center, white folding chairs lined up either side. The buffet came with warm sourdough and sweet-cream butter, a Napa Valley greens salad, roasted root vegetables, rosemary potatoes, sage-butter pesto raviolis, braised short ribs, and sliced tri-tip, and the twenty-one guests settled in as it went around.
Toasts followed — one guest in a blue shirt on his feet with his notes in hand while Sabrina and Wilson listened from the head of the table. Then the cake: two smooth tiers of white textured buttercream with a gold "Mr & Mrs" topper and a cluster of blush dahlias down one side, made by Sweetie Pies Bakery, served alongside cheesecake bars and mini strawberry shortcakes with coffee. The dancing came after, out on a round flagstone patio ringed with flowers, and the small crowd stayed on into the early afternoon before the day wound down. Viera Photographics carried it all through, morning to last dance.