My Big Fat Gluten Free Wedding

Hey All! I know it has been awhile again, and I apologize for that. Life has been so hectic since moving to California. To top that off, if you haven’t heard already, Sam and I officially got married on May 21! Yay!!!

I wanted to talk to you a little bit about being both a COVID and a GF bride and show you what we chose for our meals!

The Guest List
As everything was organized while California was still under executive order, we were limited to 12 people for our event including staff. As you can imagine it was a nearly impossible task to cut our nearly 200 person guest list to 12 so we decided it would be immediate family only to avoid any hurt feelings. 

We did broadcast it live online to the rest of our guests and sent out cute postcards to those who had originally received invitations before we postponed and created a Facebook page for those who were in a later invitation group.

---

Was so nice having everyone togehter

The Rehearsal Dinner
Since it was just “us” we really didn’t have a rehearsal. The ceremony was so short and simple that there really wasn’t anything to rehearse. But that didn’t stop us from having a Rehearsal Dinner! The night before the wedding we drove up to Kenwood to listen to live music and have dinner outdoors at TIPS Roadside. It just so happened to be their “Steak House Night” and almost everything on the menu was available gluten free! How cool is that?

---

The Lobster was YUM!

The chocolate hazelnut gelato was the perfect finish to the evening

The Ceremony
While there wasn’t any food at our ceremony since it was so short, no wedding blog post would be complete without at least mentioning the ceremony. We had a couple of lovely bottles of sparkling white wine from Gloria Ferrer. Naturally, our wedding venue made sure we were drinking their wine. Their wine is one of the reasons we chose to get married there, so that wasn’t a problem at all!

Our ceremony took place overlooking the vineyard and there wasn’t a dry eye to be found. I’m so glad I used my new setting spray as I only needed minimal touch ups after!

---

I thought I was pretty funny

In true Melissa form, I changed the playlist at the last minute and Rick Rolled everyone for the recessional including my new husband. I found it quite funny and from the look on Sam’s face he did too!

---

The cake of my dreams!

The Cake
There are quite a few amazing GF bakeries out there nowadays, especially in the Bay Area, but we had something special in mind and were so excited that we were able to book the very first bakery we did a tasting at all the way back in July of 2019 and they were able to make a smaller version of our original cake choice.

Patisserie Angelica knocked it out of the park with a truly unique wedding cake! It was spectacular. Called a “Gateau Parisian” it had 2 layers of a french-style rustic almond macaroon layered with a beautiful whipped praline buttercream. It was absolutely amazing and as you can see from the photo it was visually stunning as well!

If you are ever in Sebastopol this bakery is worth a visit as their Macarons are out of this world!

---

Dress #2 for me and even better: flats on my feet.

The Luncheon

As our wedding approached things began to open up a bit more and we decided that it might be nice to invite a few more family members to a post-wedding luncheon. We were able to secure a reservation for 16 people at Seared Steak and Seafood in downtown Petaluma.

They were fabulous at organizing the event and had our favors on the place settings and appetizers on the tables when we arrived. The staff was amazing and super accommodating for dietary needs. Their menus were clearly marked and the waitstaff was very friendly and easy to ask questions to.

I had the ribeye, while Sam and his best man David chose the prime rib. Everything was excellent, and not a speck of gluten in sight at our table (the shrimp appetizer dish at our other table being the only real exception). We are a little light on pictures for this part as everyone was having fun, but here are a couple:

---

Oysters are always a grat choice at Seared!

Sam's Prime Rib

The Waygu Ribeye was beyond!

We spent our wedding night at The Metro Hotel in an Airstream called "The Honeymooner"

​So there you have it! My Big Fat Gluten Free Wedding happened with nobody getting glutened which feels like a huge success.

Cheers,
​Melissa (and Sam)

---