Our kayak looking back towards the Marin Headlands

We knew that this weekend needed an adventure, so we reserved a ZipCar for the day (a swanky volvo) and headed out to Tamales Bay early this morning. Once there, we rented a 2-seater sea kayak from Blue Waters Kayaking in Marshall for 4 hours, and spent the day zig-zagging across the Aurelia Jellyfish, Cormorant, and Oyster filled bay.

Horse in the spring time

California Poppies

An old electricity meter

The oyster bar

A captain and a boat

Flags hanging at Sutro Heights Park

When we visited Leh, Nik and I were both taken by the prayer flags hung by pilgrims at temples to bless the surrounding land. They stood for so much, but they were also stunning. The red, blue, green, yellow and white flags strung between peaks flying in the wind created a magical scene.

Fast forward a year or so to Nik and I trying to decide how to make our wedding ceremony special. We had already decided to have it at Sutro Heights Park looking out towards the Pacific Ocean, which is quite beautiful all by itself. But it needed something special. Something that would make it more than a couple in love standing in a park.

We could use flowers, or construct some kind of archway. But I wanted something simple that wouldn’t take very long to set up and something that we could keep to remember our day. When I thought of prayer flags, they made sense on several different levels. One, they are gorgeous. Two, I could sew them myself, and might even be able to convince some friends and family members to make some too. And finally, nearly all of our guests will be traveling…or making a pilgrimage…to share in our day.

Above, you see the first sample of our flags, and below are instructions of how to make them. It is super simple, and the results are amazing. Seeing the little one above hanging on one of the most gorgeous trees ever at our wedding site made me giddy…I cannot wait to see a couple 50 foot long strands flying in the wind on our wedding day!!

White Wedding Prayer Flags

White Prayer Flags

If you would like to make prayer flags of your own, here is a little tutorial:

Prayer Flags Tutorial Diagram

To download the tutorial in pdf form for both 60″ fabric and 44″ fabric, click the diagram above.