Vegan Weddings!

Heidi Grosskamp & Dennis Crean
Redwood Valley, Calif.

Guests: 110
Pricetag: $11,000
Honeymoon: New Zealand
Words of wisdom: “Don’t worry too much about what your non-vegan guests will think. Just offer them delicious food, and they’ll love it.”

Their story: Heidi and Dennis met when they were both working for Parallax Press, a Berkeley-based publisher of Buddhist books. After four years as friends and co-workers, they began dating and moved to Redwood Valley together to be closer to Abhayagiri Monastery (where they would eventually hold their Buddhist marriage blessing ceremony). Both ethical vegans, they find their shared philosophy strengthens their bond as a couple. On Heidi’s birthday in 2008, Dennis designed one of his most audacious projects to date—an advent-calendar-style birthday card that served as a treasure map. Each pop-out window on the card revealed a new direction for the day, which turned out to be a tour of Mendocino’s best veg destinations. At the final stop, Mendocino Headlands Park, Heidi opened the last window, revealing a picture of a ring. When Dennis proposed, Heidi gave a tearful yes, saying she was “surprised and delighted this day had come.”

The wedding: Heidi and Dennis’ wedding philosophy was simple: Why settle for one day of festivities when you can have three? The couple began their triple celebrations with an afternoon picnic featuring vegan versions of all the summertime staples. Giving guests just a day to recover, they held the Western-style ceremony and reception the next day at Frey Vineyards organic winery in an ancient redwood grove. The guests may have been overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the setting, but the bride and groom were totally blown away when all the wedding guests began to do a line dance in unison. It turned out that Dennis’ brother had secretly created an instructional YouTube video, and all the guests had been rehearsing for months ahead of time. On the third and final day, Heidi and Dennis celebrated their union in a Buddhist marriage blessing ceremony at Abhayagiri Monastery. It’s hard to imagine how much more merriment could fit into a three-day time span, but in the midst of it, the bride also managed to make 375 vegan cupcakes, ensuring the celebrations would be a sweet success.

The Menu

Picnic
German Potato Salad
Purple and Green Cabbage Coleslaw with grated carrots, green onion, and a garlic-dill vinaigrette
Pesto Penne Pasta Salad with vegan pesto dressing, sun-dried tomatoes, and kalamata olives
Three Bean Salad
Barbecued veggie burgers with all the fixin’s
Watermelon & fresh strawberries
 
Reception
Appetizer
Mini pizzas with sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, spinach, and fresh marjoram
Apple-onion-celery stuffed mushrooms with fresh sage and thyme
Fresh seasonal fruit cornucopia
 
Main Course
Layered polenta bake with portabello, eggplant, peppers, and zucchini, layered with tofu sausage and fresh herbal marinara
Penne pasta with homemade garden pesto
 
Side Dishes
Hot white beans with rosemary and garlic, garnished with a spiral of extra-virgin olive oil
Local steamed vegetables with vegan dill butter
Warm country French breads with olive oil garlic-rosemary Dip
Nonalcoholic Sangria, with local grape juice from the vineyard
Frey Organic wines and locally brewed Red Tail ale
 
Dessert
German chocolate, Lime coconut, Peanut butter, Cookies ‘n’ Cream, and Toasted Coconut with coffee buttercream frosting cupcakes
 
Blessing
Appetizer
Steamed dumplings
Spring rolls
 
Main Course
Sweet & sour seitan
Seaweed rolls with cucumber, carrots, and Thai-style tom yam sauce
“Chef’s Special” tofu
Stir-fried broccoli, black mushrooms, bell peppers, and cashews
Japanese-style noodles and mixed vegetables

Meet all of our 2010 Vegan Wedding Couples:

Sadaf Hussain & Brandon Juhl (Mercer Island, Wash.)
Traci Medeiros & Patrick Bagan (Riverside, Calif.)
Heidi Grosskamp & Dennis Crean (Redwood Valley, Calif.)
Kathryn Fangsrud & Steven Carpenter (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Emily Shapiro & Matt Pascarella (Brooklyn, NY)
Candy Tolentino & Josh Black (Beverly Hills, Calif.)
Leslie Ramos & Jason Carmona (Austin, Texas)
Danielle Distefano & Matthew Miller (New York City, NY)

For a complete list of caterers, dressmakers, and photographers from each of this year’s wedding couples, visit our 2010 Guide to Vegan Weddings.