Cal Fire is investigating whether the 6,800-acre Pickett Fire was caused by an outdoor fireplace at Hundred Acre Wines in Calistoga during preparations for an upcoming wedding. Weddings have been banned at wineries in Napa since 1990.

As the Chronicle reports, Sam Singer, a spokesperson for Hundred Acre Wines, confirmed in a statement Friday that the smoldering ashes produced by a fire in the venue’s new outdoor fireplace could have sparked the Pickett Fire. However, Singer claimed that the event that was scheduled to take place at Hundred Acre, which ultimately moved to a venue in St. Helena after the wildfire began, was merely a “family gathering.”

Alas, per the Chronicle, social media posts of the said “family gathering” on the property of the former Kelham Vineyards featured the bride, Emilyn Smith — daughter of Hundred Acre’s first employee, Burges Smith — walking down the aisle. Comments from friends congratulate the newlyweds on the “beautiful wedding.”  The Chronicle writes that around 85 guests attended the wedding, which was hosted pro bono by former Kelham co-owner, Hamilton Nicholsen.

The Chronicle notes that Napa County implemented the Winery Definition Ordinance in 1990, which forbids wineries from hosting non-wine-related social and cultural events, but plenty of wineries ignore the rule.

Jayson Woodbridge, the founder of Hundred Acre, has a history of flouting regulations, as the Chronicle writes. The Napa County District Attorney’s Office alleged he was producing wine without a permit in 2006, filing a criminal charge against him, which was dropped. In recent years, Woodbridge has been embroiled in various legal battles with the county, including a code violation case in 2022.

“I’m not afraid to speak up,” Woodbridge told the Chronicle at the time. “We shouldn’t have to be told by the county what we do with our private land.”

As the Patch reports, Cal Fire is investigating several potential causes of the Pickett Fire in addition to the ashes from Hundred Acre Wines. The outlet writes that the Pickett fire has caused $65 million in damage, which has mainly impacted wine grapes and beehives, according to Napa County Agricultural Commissioner Trace Cleveland.

As the Weather Channel reports, the fire was at 65% containment on Sunday night, with very limited damage and no reported injuries or death, thanks to the huge amount of firefighters sent to battle the blaze. The Weather Channel writes that a total of 176 engines, nine helicopters, and 35 bulldozers have been deployed, along with 2,064 personnel.

Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Congratulations to newlyweds Lenora and John, who were married over the weekend on a moving BART train, with the bride’s bouquet fashioned from paper BART tickets, and flower garlands decking out their train car.

You may have noticed that the BART system is not having a good day today, as this morning’s electrical fire under the San Leandro station tracks means “There is currently no Blue, Green or Orange line service between Lake Merritt, Berryessa and Dublin Stations,” according to a BART announcement. So riders in those areas will be relegated to buses, and BART estimates that regular service at those stations won’t resume until at least 4-6 pm.

So who could use a whimsical BART distraction?

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A post shared by SFBART (@sfbayarearapidtransit)

KQED reports that a couple just got married on moving BART train, which was all documented in an Instagram video posted Monday. We can see that the wedding court is clearly dancing to Too Short’s “Blow the Whistle” while boarding the train at MacArthur station, but BART appears to have made the very brilliant insertion of “Love Train” by the O’Jays themselves in the video above.

“Congratulations to Lenora and John on their transit-oriented nuptials,” BART says in the post. “The happy couple met on BART years ago and now they’ve tied the knot on a real-life in service train.”

And as BART points out, Lenora’s bridal bouquet was fashioned from old paper BART tickets. Apparently those things still have some use!

Meanwhile, the moving train on which their service was performed was well-festooned with floral arrangements.

The couple apparently met on BART, when evidently Lenore had taken a fall at a BART station.

“My dearest John, it all started on BART,” Lenore says during her vows. “Who knew my knight in shining armor — well, slightly used armor — would be a guy who risked his life and limb carrying my clumsy self down those stairs. I knew then and there you were either incredibly chivalrous or slightly insane.”

So mazel tov to the new newlyweds. And if you can’t get enough of these types of stories, the BART blog has a whole section on now-married couples who first met on BART, with story titles like “Couple who met on BART tie the knot with whimsical BART-themed wedding at Fairyland.”

Related: Photos: Diehard Giants Couple Weds Outside AT&T Park [SFist]

Image: sfbayarearapidtransit via Instagram

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the It Boy of the tech world last year and one of the most visible figures in the artificial intelligence space, just married his partner Oliver Mulherin in a small ceremony on an undisclosed tropical beach.

We don't have a lot of clues as to where in the world Sam Altman had his first wedding. The only clue, maybe, is this tweet below with four photos from the ceremony which says "Sam Altman just got married today" and was posted at 5:14 a.m. PT. That timing means it probably wasn't Hawaii or Tahiti, where it would have been 3:15 a.m. — though maybe the party was just winding down!

It probably occurred further afield in the Pacific or across the International Date Line, or maybe just the person posting who saw the photos on a locked social media account is in some very far off time zone.

Posts like that one and the one below are flooded with comments from Xitter users along the lines of "Sam Altman is gay??", perhaps because Altman has never been super, vociferously homosexual in his public dealings. But he's never been in the closet, really, as a professional adult, and even took Mulherin as his date to a state dinner at the White House last year.

Altman, 38, was also profiled by New York Magazine last fall, and in it he talked about how he and Oliver are looking to start a family.

The tweets about the wedding are, amusingly, also filled with comments suggesting that the photos were AI-generated.

Mulherin, a former software engineer for Meta originally from Australia, has been living with Altman for some number of years — the two have homes in Russian Hill and in Napa.

NBC News picked up the wedding photos and subsequently so did the Chronicle, after Altman texted confirmation to NBC that the event had indeed happened.

Altman remains CEO of SF-based OpenAI, after that crazy shakeup in mid-November in which the company's board fired him, and then some board members were fired, and then he was reinstated within days.

Altman called the debacle, "a 10-out-of-10 crazy thing to live through."

Altman has not yet posted about the wedding on his own Xitter account, but he was posting Wednesday morning about the launch of the GPT Store, where various applications with specific niche uses, leveraging ChatGPT, can be accessed.

There was a lavish to-do this past weekend — a whole weekend of parties, actually, that kicked off on Thursday — to mark the nuptials of 26-year-old Getty heiress and model Ivy Getty.

In case you didn't get an invite — neither did I! — there's a whole spread today in Vogue about everything that happened and what everyone wore. Getty was marrying her beau of some years (?), Tobias Engel, and her best pal the actress Anya Taylor-Joy was a bridesmaid (possibly maid of honor), and there were some 14 bridesmaids in all, who all got decked in custom gowns by John Galliano for Maison Margiela, and Getty wore a Galliano for Maison Margiela Haute Couture gown with broken mirror shards on it to walk down the aisle.

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Did I mention that Nancy Pelosi was officiating at the SF City Hall wedding?

Vogue contributing editor Hamish Bowles was an invited guest and describes getting to stay in the Getty manse in Pacific Heights, just a year after its main decorator Ann Getty passed away.

"It’s one of the great treasure houses of America, suffused with Ann’s alchemical touch," Bowles says.

(Ivy's dad, musician John Gilbert Getty, also died last year of an apparent accidental fentanyl overdose while in San Antonio. And Ivy said she wanted to be dressed by Galliano like her grandmother often was, and to celebrate in the house that her grandmother created.)

There was a welcome party Thursday at the Palace of Fine Arts that was British Invasion/60s mod-themed, and Mark Ronson DJ'd, naturally. There was a Friday picnic at the Log Cabin in the Presidio, and a rehearsal dinner at Quince on Friday night.

And after the City Hall ceremony there was a no-doubt lavish affair at the Getty Mansion.

Taylor-Joy posted a few photos on Instagram of the behind-the-scenes revelry, and Ivy posted some glamour shots as well. And there's a whole separate Vogue piece just about the dress.

Who says San Francisco doesn't do high society in high style anymore?

San Francisco is known for a lot of things. High-fashion just might not be one of them. We have beautiful architecture, unique culture, and some of the world's best food. Add into that many of the most recognizable names in tech & business, and you might think San Franciscans would be dressed to the proverbial "Nines." Of course, we have our own styles, but high-couture isn't generally in the repertoire. SF is rather recognized for its mash-up of hippies, techies, Deadheads, and Bay Rap enthusiasts. You're more likely to find hoodie sweatshirts or hipster attire than high-heels when swimming through our fog.

That doesn't mean we don't also have top fashion designers to dress you in a stunning wedding dress for your special day. These SF bridal shops will drape you in the finest and make you look as gorgeous as any bride should. Why is this list free to read?

San Francisco is almost always rated among the top cities for tourism in the USA. By measure of travel data, it consistently ranks in the top five destinations in the country. With SF's natural and architectural beauty, it's no surprise. An area with a unique history, the city itself is a known destination on the bucket list of many, but surrounding areas like Sonoma, Napa, and the South Bay draw people from around the world for their respective sights, tastes, and business opportunities. Wedding planners in and around SF can help you begin the process of organizing your celebration of love. SFist has done a deep dive into event planning companies which specialize in weddings to help you narrow your search below. Why is this list free to read?

Two Perfect Events
Best SF Wedding Planners
★★★★★

Website Call

Mandy Scott Events
Leading Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

Limelight Productions
Top-Notch Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★★

Website Call

Jenni Grubba Events
Top SF Wedding Planners
★★★★★

Website Call

Sealed With A Kiss Events
Leading Wedding Coordinators in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

Tosca Productions
Top-Notch Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

T.D.E. WEDDING
Best Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★★

Website Call

A La Francaise Events
Leading Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★★

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Sydney Camille Events
Top-Notch Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★★

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Fine Events by Zoe
Top SF Wedding Planners
★★★★★

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Event Solutions
Leading Wedding Coordinators in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

Boheme Events
Top-Notch Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

Pretty Occasions
Best Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★★

Website Call

Inspire Events
Leading Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★★

Website Call

Despina Craig Events
Top-Notch Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★★

Website Call

A Monique Affair
Top SF Wedding Planners
★★★★★

Website Call

Dream A Little Dream Events
Leading Wedding Coordinators in SF
★★★★☆

Website Call

Simply Elegant by Diana
Top-Notch Wedding Planning Services in SF
★★★★☆

Website Call

Aurice Guyton Events
Best Wedding Planners in San Francisco
★★★★☆

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The above list includes SF Wedding Planners that SFist believes actively provides superior services. In some cases, they are among the most successful teams in San Francisco. In some cases, variable, sponsorship listing fees or commissions effect the ranking position of the teams, but every one has a history of providing great services. To learn more about SFist's classifieds listings read more here.

SFist / Best of San Francisco / 19 Best Wedding Planners SF

For many couples, the wedding process kicks off by speaking with one of the top wedding consultants. For others, the adventure starts by finding the perfect venue. That's certainly how my partner and I did it.

We found a beautiful wine country wedding venue, but not before researching options throughout the Bay Area. There is a virtually uncountable number of weddings venues around the Bay because wedding come in all sizes and many find creative spaces that fit the aesthetic and energy that suits themselves as a couple. Here in SF, venues vary greatly. As such, we've prepared a relatively large list of locations that fit events from shabby chic to high-end, and everything between. Why is this list free to read?

A wedding reception for 700 at a banquet hall in Fremont descended into chaos around midnight Saturday when a small group of men tried to crash the party, and then apparently called in more of their friends who, perhaps all drunkenly, decided to pick fights with some of the wedding guests and allegedly left several severely injured. One arrest has been made, and the story has made it to the Associated Press. In total, the brawl was said to involve 70 people.

"They were outsiders, a bunch of boys my husband and I did not know, who found out about the party and were harassing the girls, so somebody kicked them out," the bride, 25-year-old Manjeet Kaur of Fremont, tells the Mercury-News. "They were really pissed off for being asked to leave, so when the party was over, they jumped some of the guests outside and started fighting."

Some of the altercations, outside the Royal Palace Banquet Hall on Stevenson Boulevard, were caught on video, as was the apparent getaway car for two of the suspects, a white Maserati.

The raw video below and, warning, it contains offensive language and is audio NSFW:

The Chronicle reports that initial calls about the fighting said that 10 to 15 men were involved in the brawl that spilled out into the parking lot of the banquet hall, but by the time police arrived, 35 to 60 men appeared to be involved and ten victims were found injured and needed treatment for head trauma. Reportedly at least three of the victims were over the age of 45.

The Mercury-News reports that two victims remain in critical condition, including Dalit Gill, who is suffering from "massive brain trauma. 23-year-old Amritpal Singh is accused of hitting Gill, but Singh told authorities that he was drunk and does not remember the incident. He has been charged with felony battery, and he was arraigned Wednesday with his bail set at $100,000. He'll return to court Friday to enter a plea. 25-year-old Gurpreet Singh, whose relation to Amritpal Singh is unclear, was arrested and released as his role in Gill's injuries remains unclear. The two men were said to have fled together in the Maserati.

It reportedly took 20 minutes for police to arrive, and at the sound of sirens, many people fled the parking lot.

The bride claims that the banquet hall had promised seven security guards for the event, but only two showed up. According to witnesses, the two guards did nothing to break up the fight and told some of the guests, "That's not our job."

Kaur, the bride, tells the Merc she suspects some of the guests at the party had alerted the first five party crashers that the event was going on, and then their numbers multiplied. "They ruined our party," she said. "It was a huge disappointment."

With the passage of legal recreational marijuana use in California, the full marijuanization of each aspect of our lives and culture walks further down the aisle each day. Couples who are engaged in regular, daily tokes and smoke-outs now have their own boutique strain of weed-friendly wedding planners and bridal industry vendors, many of whom rolled up to the Westfield San Francisco Centre on Sunday for an I-swear-to-god-I’m-not-making-this-up event called the Cannabis Wedding Expo. More than 50 marijuana-specific wedding vendors and exhibitors packed the Westfield’s Bespoke space to cater to couples who wish to remember their special day with bong rips and pre-rolls, though may not necessarily remember their vows.

"To-be-weds who are engaged realize that it’s a non-negotiable for them, they don’t want to budge on including cannabis in their wedding or reception," said wedding planner Ivy Summer, whose Voulez Events offers marijuana-friendly wedding packages. "They really want it to be part of their day, it’s a huge part of their lives and lifestyle."

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

Every one of those dresses above is a hemp wedding dress (a silk-hemp blend, actually), designed by Janay of High Vibe Bride, who drove here from all the way from Kansas City with 14 of these hemp wedding dresses in her car. “It’s not heavy, it’s not itchy at all,” said one of the models above Brittany Janae, describing these silk-hemp wedding dresses that go anywhere from $1,500-$5,000.

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

"Most wedding dresses are made unethically overseas, basically out of plastic,” said High Vibe Bride designer and owner Janay. “Our dresses are made in the U.S., made locally by seamstresses.”

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

You definitely want to catch the bouquets from Flowers on Flowers, who create floral wedding bouquets with actual marijuana buds in them. “We do real arrangements with real weed or fake arrangements with fake weed,” Flowers in Flowers CEO Leslie Monroy told SFist. (That’s fake weed in the dank floral crowns and earrings seen above.) “The nugs are completely fake, you can travel anywhere in the world with them.” But their ‘real nug bouquets’ feature five different strains of kind bud that have all won a High Times Cannabis Cup award.

Marijuana papel picado from Canna Reign Studios. Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

“Mother’s Day is huge for us,” Monroy said of the marijuana flower bouquet business. “We also have an ‘I’m sorry’ line. Anyone wouldn’t be upset anymore if they got those flowers.”

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

We did not see a full-on, marijuana-infused, three-layer wedding cake at these proceedings, though there were bakeries who create high-octane single serve macaroons, petit fours, and other edible treats. Above we see the THC-infused cotton candy of B-Edibles, who make organic, medicated cotton candy for cannabis dinner parties and private events. “I take the machine, the infused sugar, and whatever flavor the event is requiring, and I spin cotton candy onsite,” B-Edibles founder Vanessa Corrales told SFist.

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

But this was a legit “canna-free” event at the hoity Westfield Mall, so the cotton candy was not medicated and the phat nugs were for display purposes only. The strict ban on consumption was a Westfield requirement, but surely helped legitimize the event. “One of the prouder moments of today for me has been for Bespoke and the Westfield Mall to allow us to have outward-facing signs throughout the mall for a cannabis event,” Cannabis Wedding Expo founder Philip Wolf told SFist. But the quarter-ounce of prevention helped ensure the marijuana-themed wedding event was made of honor.

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

Related: 4/20 Draws 15,000 to Make Hippie Hill Go Up in Smoke

A fairly amusing viral video, uploaded by a videographer at a San Francisco wedding reception in 2015, has caused so much embarrassment for the couple involved that they're suing the photography firm that uploaded it. As NBC Bay Area first reported, the couple filed the lawsuit anonymously as Jane and John Doe, and the bride shown in the video wouldn't even appear on camera for the TV station.

The video, a clip of which you can watch on YouTube, shows the very drunk groom first straddling and grinding on his new bride, falling on the ground, and then ultimately, in the extended version that is harder to find online — but which you can see images from on the Daily Mail — going under his wife's dress and failing to get her garter off. According to the suit, the extended video also shows "a series of sexually suggestive and other inappropriate acts."

What would have just been a funny memory among friends and family, though, has turned out to be a huge embarrassment with global reach and millions of views, and Jane Doe tells NBC Bay Area, "It hurts," and "A friend of my husband’s in Ireland — who wasn’t even at the wedding — saw the video online.”

Chicago-based George Street Photo & Video, which advertises itself as being "Wedding photography experts," has a presence in 40 cities, and they issued a statement saying, "In our 12 year history of capturing, editing, and delivering thousands of wedding photos and videos, we have never experienced anything like this. We are very disappointed and upset by this situation, and we have spent considerable time removing our video from the internet."

But, to be clear, they still own the copyright to the video and the photographer was within his or her rights to upload it. Nonetheless, the couple involved is suing for damages, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Bombastic "Save the Date" videos are, it seems, the new choreographed wedding entrances. Take, for example, this insane "Save the Date," care of a local lawyer couple, which made the rounds today. It looks like the trailer for a straight-to-Encore action flick. Behold:

Bambo + Janice Epic Wedding Trailer from Major Diamond Productions on Vimeo.

Above The Law has the details:

Want to see what it looks like when a fourth-year Weil Gotshal associate plans to marry a family law practitioner from a small firm? It looks like it’s going to rival the epic display of elegance and class that is the upcoming Kimye wedding...They met at U. San Francisco Law, and they’ve been together ever since. Here’s their wedding website — bosswedding.com — no details, no registries, just their save the date video, which is virtually indescribable save for its res ipsa loquitur flair.

Congratulations and best wishes to Bambo and Janice. Res ipsa loquitur to all!

[Jezebel]
[Major Diamond Productions]

Looking to get hitched tomorrow on 11/12/13? Well, you won't be able to do it at San Francisco City Hall. If you want to get married on Tuesday's special consecutive-number date, you will have to try elsewhere.

You can Santa Cruz. That would be lovely. "Already 10 of the 13 openings have been filled," reports SF Appeal. Give them a call tomorrow at 831-454-2800. You can also try Alameda County. An Oakland marriage sure would be hip, wouldn't it? Indeed. Give them a call tomorrow at 1-888-280-7708.

By the way, today is Veteran's Day, so city offices are closed.

The next date with consecutive numbers will be next December (12-13-14). Which isn't as ideal as today because 1) that date falls on a Saturday, which is when county offices are typically closed, and b) the 13th is just too spooky.

Well, this should be interesting. The Mayor's daughter is getting married in the City Hall rotunda next Saturday right in the middle of the skateboard/BMX showcase known as the Dew Tour, which will be happening right outside in middle of Civic Center. It is indeed possible they'll be hearing some thumping electronic music in the Rotunda over "Here comes the bride."

Brianna Lee, who lives in New York, is marrying her fiance Mark Chen, and Matier & Ross report that it won't be much of a political "who's who" sort of wedding, with very few city officials invited. There will be 270 guests, however, and the whole gang will be doing a ceremony around noon and then relocating to the Olympic Club for a reception.

Meanwhile, thousands of BMX, skate, and FMX fans will be gathering in the plaza around various courses and replicas of iconic S.F. skate spots, like Hubba Hideout and China Banks (Portsmouth Square, Chinatown). The Dew Tour's now annual City Championships in S.F. follow the Beach Championships in Ocean City, Maryland in June, and the Mountain Championships in Breckinridge, Colorado in December.

They actually closed off part of Harrison Street a few weeks ago to show off some Skatebaord Streetstyle with some famous skaters. See below.

[Matier & Ross/Chron]
[Allisports]

It's a slow news Friday, and thus we remain obsessed with Sean Parker's ridiculous, over-the-top, Lord of the Rings-themed wedding in the woods in Big Sur, which happened on June 1 but the photos only emerged via Vanity Fair yesterday. There was the lavish medieval feast tent pulled off by S.F. caterer Paula LeDuc, there was a lounge area in the forest with fur-covered beds, there was Olivia Munn holding a bunny. But we and everyone else can't stop going "WTF?" about the 364 costumes that Parker and his betrothed, Alexandra Lenas, had designed and made for their wedding guests. Did everyone have to go for a fitting with LOTR costume designer Ngila Dickson? Today we see that there was a detailed measurement chart that everyone had to fill out and submit six weeks before the wedding, including head size, shoe size, and wrist size.

Female guests, also, could specify if certain colors didn't look good on them, etc.

"How many times do you get to dress up 364 guests in crazy costumes?” Parker asks. Well, never, unless you're a movie director or a crazed internet millionaire with money to blow. Parker previously wrote a screed defending himself and his new bride against attacks on the internet that included calling her a gold-digging whore and him a "douche canoe." Of course, everyone was quick to attack the lavish wedding in these post-recession times, but no one actually had any good intel on the production itself until Vanity Fair's exclusive.

And what was up with Renaissance Faire maiden Olivia Munn and that bunny?

Well, Gothamist's own Jen Chung took to Twitter to ask that very question, and you can see Munn's own response below, which arrived at 2 AM, slightly type-o-laden.

[Jezebel]
[Vanity Fair]

By Sharon Knolle

About 20 years ago, I took some photos of two newlyweds on Upper Haight. They were dressed in vintage clothes, the groom in an old-fashioned tie and glasses, the bride in a lace dress with a small veil. They were somber in some photos, ecstatic in others. Sadly, I never got their names. They've never seen these photos. I've always wondered what happened to them.

I wish I knew the exact date but it was somewhere in 1993 or 1994, somewhere between in the 1400 block of Haight. I only printed the two best photos I took that day but I took at least four photos of them, including one of them kissing.

If you recognize this couple, please share these photos with them and please email me or let me know on Twitter (@sknolle). I assume it was an informal wedding (if it was a real wedding at all) and that maybe they never took that many photos themselves. I know, in the age before digital phones and cameras, I certainly never took enough photos.

Most of the street photographs I took when I lived in San Francisco didn't turn out: The film was the wrong speed, the lighting was all wrong. But these two turned out okay. I'd like to think the newlyweds did too.

Sharon Knolle writes for LAist.