Caroline Cuse knew just what her ideal
wedding locale looked like, though she
wasn’t entirely sure it existed. “I grew up
hiking the hills around Los Angeles and
dreamed of getting married overlooking
the ocean,” says the photographer and
floral designer. By her side in the search?
Sean Duncan, a financial technology strategist, whom she
met in 2009 while both were students at Harvard. Hailing
from the UK, Sean had never been to Southern California
before he met Caroline, but soon fell in love with its wild
landscape too. In 2016, he proposed on a hike in the Santa
Monica Mountains.
The couple looked at venues, but nothing felt quite right
until Caroline received a text from her mother that simply
read, “I think I found it.” Attached was a photo of a lush,
grassy hill in Malibu with views of the Pacific. “It was per-
fect,” she says, but the remote area had no infrastructure,
so everything from electricity to decor had to be imported
to Black Sage Mesa, named to reflect the abundance of the
aromatic evergreen on the site.
On the afternoon of July 28, 2018, the couple met before
the ceremony for an emotional first look (“We both cried!”
says the bride). They had chosen the date to say their vowsC
WILD BLUE
Yonder
“We wanted the wed-
ding to feel true to the
location, a beautiful
untouched piece of
land,” says Caroline,
who called the overall
look “elegant, wild,
and natural.” Far right:
The bride scanned
flowers to border the
invitation. Stationer
Lotus & Ash added
a handful of real
pressed flowers to
each suite.