An Intimate Wedding Weekend at Fitzgerald Manor

Days after Christian Murray proposed to Nadine Thibault on a secluded Northern California beach, the world shut down because of COVID-19. The big traditional wedding Nadine had always thought she’d have turned into an intimate weekend wedding with 16 guests—and “we truly could not be happier with how it all unfolded,” Nadine recounts. Everyone stayed at the Fitzgerald Manor B&B on the North Shore. The long weekend included hiking, campfires, and brilliant autumn colors and a dip in Lake Superior added to the outdoorsy vibe. The bride’s lush, unstructured bouquet in deep greens and buff continued the rustic look, as did the groom’s pine-green suit. Nadine honored her grandmother, who had passed away four months before the wedding, by using her fine china and crystal—another perk of a small wedding, she says. “Above all, the intimate nature of our wedding allowed Christian and me to really focus on what was important,” Nadine says: “Celebrating our marriage and committing ourselves to each other for life.”