When the venue whispers the dress code

The art of showing up to a beautiful wedding and enhancing the celebration with your presence can be one of life’s joys, though more often than not it’s also a challenge. And while we don’t actually know if a subtle dress code was ever suggested for Kate and Pearson’s glorious wedding in the Barndiva Gardens on June 7th, what was abundantly clear from the moment guests began to gather was a shared and ebullient understanding of them as a couple.

Women arrived in luxurious, flowing dresses, many with halter tops and peek-a-boo slits, bare shoulders catching the light as it filtered through the arched green canopies; gentlemen proffered a relaxed elegance of sockless loafers and open collars, a few carefully chosen ties, softly structured linen suits in shades of soft blues, grays, cream. Classically demure yet artfully seductive, the brides wedding dress perfectly informed the day’s aesthetic with its flowing semi-sheer, beautifully sewn panel’s of silk moiré that revealed a slimmer outline in shadows of the satin sheath below.

For us Kate and Pearson’s wedding was the perfect expression of what happens when couples with great taste allow their surroundings to inspire their wedding day. Zack Schomp’s wonderful photographs don’t just capture a tableau of stunning attire but a glorious summer day alive with beautiful jewel tones, extraordinary light, visible joy.

Kate & Pearson sealing the moment with a kiss in the Barndiva Gardens, their parents in the front row.

Every corner of Barndiva offers a romantic backdrop, every detail is curated to honor both the heritage of wine country and the beauty of Sonoma County. What we’ve discovered in our two decades hosting Healdsburg’s most memorable weddings is that when the wedding couple chooses colors and a textural palette that invites the guests to participate, those that ‘bring it’ for love of the couple they’ve come to honor don’t just attend a wedding here - they become an integral part of the beauty and art of celebration.

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The depth of detail Kate planned for her wedding reflected the inherent beauty of place and space - perfectly captured in the florals she choose for her bridal bouquet and the manner in which Clementina Florals dressed the antique gates, our ‘alter’ by the wild grass verge. The table arrangements in the Studio Barndiva Gardens spilled over with native and natural flowers and grasses, including scabiosa, love in a mist, delphinium, bachelors buttons, wild mustard, fennel, and ammi (aka Queen’s Anns lace). With just a touch of yellow, all florals extended the cream and pale blues of the color pallet, drawing with elegance and ease from the surrounding landscape.

Barndiva Event Director Susan Bischoff worked closely with the excellent wedding planners from Kismet Events. Susan@barndiva.com

A quiet moment in The Hotel Healdsburg, where the wedding party stayed and prepared for the day ahead. One of the joys of a wedding at Barndiva is the promenade through the Plaza to the ceremony Gardens. We are so grateful the larger community of Healdsburg embraces family celebrations.

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“Central to our use of all systems thinking is the recognition that self-reflexive consciousness is a function of choice-making. Whatever the limitations of our life, we are still free to choose which version of reality – or story about our world – we value and want to serve. We can choose to align with business as usual, the unraveling of living systems, or the creation of a life-sustaining society.”
***Joanna Macy***

CWH Resources

Studio Barndiva has long been known as the memorable space where we host our extraordinary weddings and parties, but we have always stolen time from this, our ‘day job,’ to put forth events we feel of cultural interest to the community. Through photography, paint, film, wire, sculpture, soil, ceramics, literature, wine, food, farming and yes, even the making of cheese, our evening soirees, dinner parties and exhibits all rest upon the belief Joanna Macy elucidates so eloquently in the quote above: the freedom to choose which version of reality - or story about our world - we value and want to serve.

The conceit of hosting a series called CONVERSATIONS WORTH HAVING now, as barndiva enters its 20th year, rests upon the assumption that our most indelible stories are drawn from human interactions we value, especially through conversations that excite, intrigue, and nourish us. In our role as cultural scouts, my CWH partner Dawnelise Rosen and I hope to bring to Studio B inspirational speakers committed to creating circular economies that engender true sustainability in how they approach the future, on both a local and planetary level. Because they are intricately inter-connected. Because conversations about those connections are, in this present moment, imperative.

Our goal beyond listening, and hearing your reactions to what is presented, is to ignite the combustible joy that comes from great ideas and invigorating one on one discourse.

To find out more about Conversation #1, take a scroll below. Future events will be posted here and @barndivahealdsburg.

Eat the View with us!

Jil, Geoffrey, Lukka

CONVERSATION #1 : Gorgeous Garbage

In Northern California, in Sonoma County, right here in Healdsburg, we are blessed to live within a food shed that provides the raw ingredients for some of the most exciting dining in the country. Not only do restaurants make sourcing a priority, but local markets and the proliferation of farmers markets allow us, whether dining in or out, to eat at the very tippy top of the food chain.

But for far too long our attention- wherever we live - has been captivated by what’s on the plate with little or no attention paid to what happens after we push off from the table, happy and sated from a delicious food moment.

We all understand on some level that to grow nourishing food one needs good soil, along with water and sunlight; we get that there is a circular process taking place. But it is hard for most of us to look at a plate of food as we raise our forks and truly see, much less feel admiration for what we scrape into the trash when all the sourcing, cutting, cooking, plating, and dining is done. We call it garbage, what the Oxford English dictionary defines as “wasted or spoiled food and other refuse… a thing that is considered worthless or meaningless.”

But is it?

In every scrap of organic waste we throw in the bin after our meals, in every ton of garbage trucks haul away in the early mornings is the potential, at almost at no cost, to grows the food we need to thrive. With no carbon footprint left behind. Compost is an essential component in regenerative farming, it sequesters carbon and converts it into energy. But while SB-1383 – the ‘’compost law” – is now in effect for all residences, restaurants, and food banks in California, that potential is only vaguely understood; in Healdburg alone, like too many cities and towns across California, SB-1383 lacks the essential support systems that could take organic waste and turn it into compost, into soil.

On Nov. 2, for our first Conversation Worth Having, we have gathered some esteemed guests at the top of their game in permaculture, winemaking, farming and social action to talk through how we might best transform all our glorious garbage into compost and nutrient rich soil for the benefit of our community and – if we are successful – create a blueprint that might be of use to other towns.

Join us if you can, stay in touch if you can’t. With this cast of characters and the subject at hand, It promises to be an illuminating - and surprisingly delicious evening, with more to come!

Warmly,

Jil Hales, Co-Owner, Creative Director, Barndiva/Studio Barndiva/Barndiva Farm

Dawnelise Rosen, Former Co-Owner Scopa/Campo Fina; Co-Founder, CorazónHealdsburg; Director, Farmpreneurs