A timeless Sonoma wedding at MacArthur Place

Elegant Sonoma MacArthur Place Wedding – Hannah Berglund Photography – Bridal Musings 1

If Napa Valley offers wine country couples glitz and glamour, then Sonoma Valley is its wild and nature-loving sister.

With a quaint and charming downtown, overgrown flora and restaurants to boot – Sonoma is a food and wine lover’s paradise. MacArthur Place, smack-dab in the center, is the ultimate venue for a timeless and natural wine country wedding.

Having spent a lovely long weekend at the inn and spa myself, I can confirm it all to be true. Walking distance from celebrated farm-to-table restaurants. Just minutes from some of California’s best and most nuanced wineries (I just have to recommend Hanzell, it’s amazing). MacArthur Place is a dream wedding venue engulfed in fragrant jasmine.

For this elegant wedding day, the team at MacArthur Place really saved the day. Having planned their Lake Tahoe wedding, then re-planning due to Covid, Hisha and Chanh found their new plans ruined by a devastating wildfire just two weeks before their day. With a late cancellation, MacArthur Place was not only able to accommodate their wedding plans, but make it absolutely beautiful in a remarkably short span of time.

Our Love Story

On our first date, Hisha was coming to San Francisco from a far away place called “Milpitas.” Chanh wanted to make her travel worth it. So, he agreed to go to his least favorite place in the world, the bar. They had talked on the phone before, but this was the first time that they were meeting in person and Chanh wanted to make a special first impression. Like most young males’ first date ritual, after 30 minutes of hair styling and texting his friends for last-minute advice, he finally got dressed. Before the Uber was there to pick him up, he reached for two shots of vodka and a Redbull. If you know Chanh, that was one and a half shots too many.

Twenty minutes later, they finally met. Chanh’s first impression of Hisha was he thought she looked amazing! She had really gorgeous curls and a dark leather jacket with boots to match. They shared stories of family, food, and travels. It was going well until Hisha asked, “Why aren’t you drinking your drink?” Chanh felt embarrassed and expected the date to end, so he told the truth. To his surprise, Hisha suggested they should leave and go on an adventure for pizza and ice cream. That moment was the true start of their first date.

Five years later, they are still continuing on that adventure.

The Proposal

It was a rainy workday in December. Chanh knew how much Hisha loved camping, so he chose a “camping and movies under the stars” theme proposal to surprise her. While she was at work, he put up a teepee in the living room and decorated it with flowers and fairy lights. He added stars to the ceiling and had a projector that played all of their favorite moments in the background.

The Planning & Design

I couldn’t wait to start planning for our wedding once Chanh had proposed. I already had a Wedding Pinterest Board since highschool. I really like a timeless and classic overall look. Our color palette was gray-ish blue, silver, and white. I love to craft and wanted the things I made for the wedding to be things that I can repurpose. I made all the decorative signs, seat arrangement signs, paper decor, pamphlets, sign-in book, and even the wedding arch. For the things that I wouldn’t want to keep, I tried to rent them. This mainly included table settings, china, cutlery, glasses, linens, and flowers. The overall wedding look had to really represent who Chanh and I are as a couple. We like the simple and clean traditional look, but we are extremely goofy with one another.

For the style of the flowers, I wanted them to be more whimsical and fun since everything else was traditional. A quick good tip for flowers is I had my florist make a lot of small floral pieces. Together they look amazing and apart they were easy to transport or move around. This way we were able to upcycle the flowers from the ceremony to the banquet. This also meant everyone could take home a vase or two.

“I wanted to have my wedding on Labor Day weekend as that is also my parents’ wedding anniversary. I am very close to my mother, so it means a lot to me to share the same wedding day as hers.”

– Bride Hisha

The Fashion

For our outfits, I always loved the luxe look of velvet and how velvet translates in pictures and videos. My vision was to dress my bridesmaids in velvet dresses and the groomsmen in velvet blazers. I wanted my bridesmaids to feel glamorous and lovely, so getting them custom velvet dresses were a big hit! For the groomsmen, I knew that not many of them had a velvet blazer so it would be a great addition to their closet for future holiday parties.

Elegant Sonoma MacArthur Place Wedding – Hannah Berglund Photography – Bridal Musings 3

The Venue

By early August of 2021, 95% of our South Lake Tahoe wedding (the downsized iteration and second version of our wedding plans, due to Covid) was planned and ready to be set in motion. I had chosen all my vendors and arranged for accommodations for everyone to stay with us at the chalet as a weekend getaway. Two weeks before the wedding date, we heard on the news about the Caldor Fire that was very close to South Lake Tahoe. We decided to wait a week to see what the outcome would be.

We wanted to remain hopeful that all of the hard work we put into planning would not go to waste, but seven days out there was an evacuation warning for the area. My husband and I felt that it was not right to subject our wedding guests to potentially dangerous conditions, so we requested a refund to make alternative plans. Since it was only labeled as a warning and not yet mandatory, the original location did not grant the refund request. I wanted to give up right then and just elope instead.

Luckily, my sister-in-law came in and saved the day! She helped me comb through a long list of alternative venues in San Francisco, Napa, and South/East Bay to see if there was availability for Labor Day weekend. She then remembered that there was a place that would totally fit my aesthetic. That was how we found the MacArthur Place in Sonoma. I called the venue and explained my situation. The staff was so sweet and got back to me right away. It just so happened that they had an event that was canceled and could accommodate my wedding! My husband and I jumped into our car the next day and drove up to Sonoma to check the place out.

The moment we stepped through the lobby and into the garden, we knew this was the place for us to get married. As the stars would have it, everything started to align. The whole team at the MacArthur place was so accommodating. They provided setting up help with all the tables and chairs, as well as the menu and cocktails. The MacArthur Place team was a dream to work with! Perhaps it was because of the Napa fire a few years back that they understood how distraught I was and were all in to help me make my dream wedding happen.

Eventually, due to the Caldor Fire, South Lake Tahoe did issue a mandatory evacuation and we were able to get a full refund. Either way, I think my husband and I were meant to have our wedding at MacArthur Place. It was everything and more of what we hoped our wedding would be.

The Photography & Videography

We chose both Hannah and Taylor because of their body of work. In my mind, I could see them being the perfect pair for the style that we wanted to have at our wedding. It was really important to make sure that the final product would be something that was timeless and could really capture the moment.

For Hannah, I could tell right off the bat that she has a great eye for taking amazing photos. I loved her vision in capturing candid and tender moments. After seeing a lot of her photos, I knew we would be a great fit. Both my husband and I did not care for dramatic or super posed pictures. We wanted photos that would look great now as well at 50 years down the line. She spent the time making us feel comfortable and it really came through in the photos. I cannot stress how important that talent is for a photographer and Hannah is an incredible talent! She was also beyond accommodating with our wedding planning no matter how often it seemed to change.

For Taylor, her sense of storytelling was what really intrigued us. You can tell from her videos that she understands what are the most important memories for her clients. From watching other videos, her timing and music choice is superb. She cuts certain sequences to match the music and is able to have a buildup. It’s absolutely lovely. I also liked her editing style in terms of keeping the video colors crisp, clean and timeless. Also, who doesn’t love a good slow-mo scene?

My husband and I were both so pleased with the final work from both Hannah and Taylor. They were so professional throughout the whole process by sending us email updates and little care packages. Plus, they complemented each other so well on the day of the wedding.

Favorite Moments

Honestly, since we had such a small intimate wedding everyone who was invited had to help put the wedding together. That was one of my favorite parts, seeing all of our loved ones working together to make our special day happen. I always knew that deep down I wanted a smaller wedding because I really wanted to spend time with the people I love. At a few other big weddings that my husband and I have attended, we would be lucky to get one photo with the bride and groom. Here, everyone was working as a team and bonded with one another.

Besides that, I was very happy with our speeches. We carved out time for speeches for our family and friends to share their favorite moments with us. Each moment was so special because that was what made our wedding so intimate. We rarely in life take the time to speak from the heart, but doing so at a wedding really leaves a life-lasting impression.

Elegant Sonoma MacArthur Place Wedding – Hannah Berglund Photography – Bridal Musings 2

Cultural Tradition

Chanh and I also are both Vietnamese. It was really important for us to include our culture in our wedding. Chanh’s father gave his speech in Vietnamese and my father gave his speech in English. Chanh’s mother-son dance was to a traditional Vietnamese song and my father-daughter dance was to a fun English song. We had a wide range of music which also included Vietnamese music. Although most of the guests might have not understood, it didn’t mean they couldn’t appreciate it. I loved how everyone embraced the music choice and grooved to everything.

Advice for Other Couples

Advice for future couples is to definitely have a wedding budget, but remember to be flexible and communicate with each other. Truth be told, things can change when you least expect them to. All you can really do is figure out what you want your wedding to truly be about. We had so many changes and if we were only worried about the monetary value, then the wedding would not have happened. What mattered most for us were the experience for the people there and our photos and wedding video to capture all of the precious moments.

Do a first look and golden hour portraits. You will be so glad you took the time to do these. Spend some time alone on your special day. It was so worth it!

Don’t leave your vows to the last minute. I originally planned a week before my wedding to write my vows but due to the last-minute change in location, all of my time was spent on updating all the decor and logistics. On the day of the wedding, I was still working on my vows and did not get to spend as much time getting ready with my bridesmaid as I wanted.

Plan out how you are getting to and from venue locations. Since it was a holiday weekend, the Macarthur Place did not have an extra room for the groomsmen and groom to get ready in. They ended up staying at another nearby hotel. The volume of Uber and Lyft cars in small areas like this is low, so they were almost late because they could not call an Uber or Lyft.