Stemple Creek Ranch Wedding - Marin County Wedding // Genevieve & Juoko, Tomales, California

“What would you tell yourselves (as a couple) in 40-50 years from now?” Genevieve & Jouko: Don’t forget to take your teeth out at night and don’t forget to put on your night diaper.

Now, that is love and this is marriage. A commitment to knowing, learning and facing the realities of truths of growing old together. Dealing with whatever life throws at you. Together.

Genevieve & Jouko bonded over otters (her spirit animal and he happened to be a wildlife photographer who love capturing these little critters. He grew fond of her obsession with cats, bonded more over food, hiking, reading and all things creative. Their wedding at the beautiful Stemple Creek Ranch in Tomales, California (which also is one of my favorite ranches for organic grass-fed beef) is the perfect template to celebrate and put on a display of their personalities and union of love.

These two are definitely unique and sweet individuals who are unapologetically themselves. They love each other exactly as who they are as individuals- accepting all the great things and flaws that comes one another. Like with every couple on their wedding day, I had the privilege to witness and observe how effortless their relationship was. Their wedding in Northern California reflected their unique taste and vision. All of the thrills without the frills.

Check out their engagement video by Yukio Studio to catch a glimpse of their personalities and relationship. This will help further understand their wedding day and offer a deeper insight into the emotions of this day. There was no posing these two and they wanted to celebrate the only way they know how and I was just privileged to be there to celebrate and document their day with them.

Okay, let’s take a bit of a deeper dive in the the wedding venue that is Stemple Creek Ranch and the other wedding vendors. Genevieve and Jouko put a lot of thought and planning to bring together such awesome vendors and they definitely deserve the shoutouts. I know if I was planning my wedding, I’d use them! Samar from Blissful Events, based out of Petaluma, California helped put together and organized everything. It’s not unusual for wedding day plans and timelines to have to be adjusted on the day of, but with Blissful Events in coordination with the wedding venue manager, everything went off without a hitch.

The beautiful wedding cake maker is Megan, a friend of Jouko. She runs the River Otter Ecology Project, a non-profit organization devoted to….well, otters! To see her build the cake from the bottom up and the dedication she put into it was inspiring. It’s also another example into the type of people Genevieve & Jouko surrounds themselves with.

The stunning floral arrangements? None other than B-Side Farm Flowers in Sebastopol, West Sonoma County, California who grows their own flowers. They use sustainable and organic methods to grow a wide variety of old-fashioned, fragrant flowers for their design studio, workshops and of course, weddings. By going this route and putting in the back-breaking work, B-Side Farm Flowers is invested before even planting the seed all the way down to the putting on the finishing touches on the bridal’s bouquet just before walking down the aisle.

Bohemian Ranch Events, a vintage rental company who curates art pieces for events, handled the beautiful art nouveau touches - such as the furniture in the cocktail and welcome area, the stage set-up and the couch in the barn where the reception was held. They also constructed the beaded curtain and canopy for the ceremony. Just wait til you feast your eyes on that!

Genevieve’s extraordinary dress is from a bridal store in San Francisco called Wild Bride. They describe themselves as a bridal boutique for the unique, unconventional, and free-spirited bride. I will not argue with that. Seemingly, the designers of Wild Bride bucks modern traditional trends and if for a bride that is not of the conventional type, unconstrained by societal expectations. The flower embroidered pattern on her dress along the veil was the perfect wedding dress for Genevieve.

Melissa Wagner, owner of Secret Agent Salon & Supply in San Francisco, California was Genevieve’s makeup and hair artist.

It wouldn’t be a Genevieve & Jouko wedding if they didn’t include knitted cat-shaped book marks as their wedding favors. All of them (some 120 plus) were hand-knitted by Genevieve, her mother, mother-in-law, step mother-in-law and for the final stretch on the last days or wedding prep, Genevieve enlisted the help of some friends to get ‘er done. Also, notice the otters as their wedding cake toppers? What a special touch!

And lastly, they had to include their cat, Mildred into their wedding as part of the family. But in the form of a cardboard cutout. Why is Jouko making that expression in the image of them holding Mildred up? It was in response to what Mildred would be doing if he were actually there with them on their wedding day. 😂

I’m sure I’ve missed a few important details. So please wedding vendors, feel free to correct me and add to the conversation in the comment section below. Maybe even reach out to Samar at Blissful Events!

I mean, just check out this stunning natural wedding ceremony site at Stemple Creek Ranch! What a beautiful grove of Eucalyptus trees. And the stunning arrangement of florals by B-Side Farms in coordination with Bohemian Ranch Events beaded curtain and canopy made for the perfect scenery to get married under.

One thing I loved about how Genevieve & Jouko made this wedding about them was during the walking down the aisle. Their respective parents walked them halfway down. And from there, Jouko and then Genevieve would walk themselves to rest of the way to the alter. To them, this signifies them being their own person walking into the next phase of their lives.

The wedding ceremony itself was truly a beautiful one. Their personal vows to one another was well-written with a poetic vibe. Nothing but support and encouragement for one another. Jouko’s father flew in from the Netherlands and gave a beautiful tribute to his son and new daughter-in-law. The officiant, Michael DePaul, is dear friend of the couple. He’s a fellow civil rights lawyer and is also a poet/writer. So it came to no surprise when he came off as well-spoken with words of wisdoms for the newlyweds on the windy hilltop. The cowboy hat was a nice touch as he displayed a true gentleman that he is - ducking back “out of the shot” whenever possible. Thank you for that, Michael.

Something about that California light at sunset and especially at Stemple Creek Ranch’s rock outcrop. The venue manager mentioned it’s a popular spot for wedding portraits and I can see why! Can you? And as I mentioned earlier in this blog, there is no posing Genevieve & Jouko. They are unapologetically themselves and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way on their wedding day.

I was sad that I wasn’t contracted to stay into the reception, but I’m sure it was filled with nothing but love, celebration and a beautiful tribute to these two wonderful and unique individuals. Happy One Year Anniversary, Genevieve & Jouko!!!