Mark & Dara

There is currently a major wildfire going on in Big Sur, to the scale and magnitude that has not been seen in a couple generations. Mark’s family’s property, the site of the wedding, is in the middle of this. We just got an update a few minutes ago from someone onsite: the main ranch house has been saved by major efforts from the fire crews, but it appears the fire ravaged the property, has burned the barn, and the other residences on the property may have been lost (the canyon was too hot from the fire to walk down the driveway.) The neighbors to the immediate north and south have lost their homes. The Big Sur valley is threatened now too, camping and lodging facilities are currently being evacuated. The Big Sur community is experiencing a tremendous amount of loss right now, and is working hard to save what can be saved. The highway is closed from Ventana southward and many areas to the north are either evacuated, or are being evacuated now. There is a lot of chaos as a result. As you can imagine, this is causing us to change our plans. If you want up to date information on the fires, Google “Big Sur Gallery Fire”. The fires started as a result of extremely hot weather followed by a freak lighting storm that came through Saturday afternoon.

We are still getting married and still having a wedding extravaganza. Several beautiful locations have been offered to us and we are in the process of choosing the best option. Most likely it will be in Carmel Valley now instead of Big Sur.

We will still have a camping option. If you planned on camping, you can still expect to.

People planning on lodging in Big Sur should no longer expect to stay there. Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and Campground have been evacuated, as well as Ventana Inn and Post Ranch. The central part of Big Sur is now threatened by the fire.

Please follow these important next steps.

1) Check our web site frequently for updates about our new location and other details. Http://mark-n-dara.blogspot.com (there are no updates but we’ll have some soon!) For people who need to re-book lodging, a good local resource is a website called http://resort2me.com you can also call them 1-800-757-5646. Tell them you’re looking for lodging near/around Carmel. Be warned, there is a Blues Festival happening in the area, and availability will do down and prices will go up as we near the weekend. Again, if you were planning on camping, you’ll still have that option. If you were lodging, and are willing to camp at this point, you are invited.



We are terribly sorry for these last minute changes. We hope that you’re able to be flexible and work with us to make this wedding weekend wonderful and beautiful. As you can imaging, we’re dealing with a lot of chaos right now, and the damage to Mark’s family property and neighboring homes/community is truly heartbreaking, and makes the loss of our original vision for our wedding seem minor.

We know you’re sending your love and support, and we look forward to seeing you this week/weekend.