A California Coastal Wedding Reopens Bel Air Bay Club After Palisades Fire

Nov. 17, 2025 1:50 PM PT

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Summer Secrest and Nathaniel Obler were the first couple to get married at the Bel Air Bay Club following this year’s devastating wildfires. It only took emailing the governor, lobbying the city and a host of flexibility from vendors to guests.

The club had been shut down because the Pacific Coast Highway was closed in the wake of the Palisades Fire. Even though it would re-open in May, many couples who had planned weddings at the venue had switched to other locales.

Secrest and Obler held firm.

“We loved the BABC and very much wanted to bring back love and celebration to the Palisades,” Secrest said.

In the end it was the right move. The couple married at the Bel Air Bay Club on June 7, 2025, capping off a weekend of gratitude, heritage and love.

(Danijela Pruginic)

The couple met in New York City three years earlier, where both had settled after college graduation. They were at a party hosted by Obler’s dentist. The first thing that struck Obler was Secrest’s beauty.

“ When I went up and I said hello, she told me that she was about to go on a hiking trip with her girlfriends on Catalina Island,” he said. “ And I was just so impressed because I had not met someone who was so beautiful and into the outdoors, hiking and camping like I was.”

She then revealed she played softball at Columbia University, and that sealed the deal for Obler. Smart, athletic and pretty all in one package. He was hooked.

The feeling was mutual. “I just loved Nathaniel’s energy,” Secrest said. “I felt like he had such a lust for life and we kind of just stuck to each other the whole night. I don’t think I talked to anyone else that night.”

The pair quickly became a mutual admiration society, reveling in the similarities they shared —athletics, the outdoors, a sense of adventure—and the things they did not. Obler was raised by two moms, a judge and a professor, in Boston, and while Secrest had many lesbian friends, she’d never met anyone with two moms. She grew up in San Clemente, where her parents worked a real estate executive and a fisherman. But she loved that she and Obler both had ties to strong LGBT communities.

(Danijela Pruginic)

A little over a year after they started dating, Obler was ready to propose. The pair went to Israel in October 2023 for a friend’s wedding, and Obler imagined he’d propose there. Several family members also made the trip. But the vacation - and the proposal - were thrown into chaos on October 7, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage, and launching a war that only recently ended in a cease fire.

The couple planned a camping trip to Catalina Island two months later, inviting both of their families. It was important to Obler that everyone be there.

“ I’m so close to my parents and she’s so close to her family,” he said. “So I knew they needed to be there.”

Unfortunately, the trip, and that proposal, were a bust; heavy rain had forced the closure of the trails.

That’s not the end of the story, of course.

(Danijela Pruginic)

“We just got some hotel rooms in Avalon and we went up on a beautiful bluff overlooking the harbor,” Obler said. That’s where he popped the question. The surprise was a success.

“I was just so blissfully in love,” she said. “I thought we would just, I don’t know...” She pauses. “I didn’t see it coming, but I was very excited when it did happen. It was the best day of my life.”

Even though they were living in New York, there was no question they’d marry in California. Secrest says her heart is always in the Golden State, and the couple eventually wants to move to Los Angeles.

They looked at several venues, but the Bel Air Bay Club was their number one choice from the second they laid eyes on it. They loved its location on the stunning bluffs, the panoramic ocean view and the old Spanish architecture. They knew it might be a long shot to get the space, given the complications in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire. Sensitive to the situation, they were planning for a cancellation. They were elated when they found out the wedding could go forth there.

“ We’re infinitely grateful to everyone who helped us make this happen,” said Secrest.

It was important to the couple that their personalities and backgrounds were represented at the wedding. The Bel Air Bay Club already fit the bill, representing their love of the outdoors. There was a Venice Beach style fruit cart, because the couple love California produce. Nathaniel designed custom napkins featuring the family’s dogs.

(Danijela Pruginic)

And then there was the softball game.

“ it was important to us to do something athletic and fun,” said Secrest. “And then it was important to me to win,” she laughs.

Secrest designed custom jerseys for the bride vs. groom game, with 60 people easily rotating in and out of play. Most of the game was slow-pitch, but Secrest said she did fast-pitch to Nathaniel. Final score: bride’s team 7, groom’s 6.

“ Nathaniel has a lot of competitive athletes on his side [of the family],” said Secrest. “So it was actually a really competitive, fun game.”

(Courtesy Summer Secrest)

At their reception, the tablescape featured hand-woven lace from Malta, where Secrest’s family is from, and the dessert table was an intentional representation of her family and cultural heritage.

Secrest also made their wedding cake, a Berry Chantilly cake decorated “pretty modestly with just berries and frosting.” She said her family loves baking, and she wanted the wedding desserts to feel authentic and made with love.

“It was a little over-ambitious, but I’m happy I did it,” she said. “I made the cake at 1 a.m. the day before the wedding. Nathaniel fell asleep on the couch, trying to support / stop me, but ultimately he realized I couldn’t be stopped.”

Here’s the kicker, though: the couple forgot to cut the cake!

“It was entirely consumed by guests, just how I wanted it to be,” said Secrest.

(Danijela Pruginic)

They took a honeymoon to Africa, with stops in Kenya and Rwanda. In Kenya, they went on an eight-day safari that they said was “magical.”

“ Summer and I both love animals,” said Obler. “When we landed in the park in Kenya where we started, and drove from the airstrip to our camp and she saw all the elephants and giraffes right there, she literally started crying. She was so emotional at seeing them.”

In Rwanda, the couple followed a gorilla family, observing how they interacted with each other and learning about the majestic creatures. They also went scuba diving, giving them a chance to see wonders under the ocean.

“Our whole trip was sort of oriented around seeing amazing animals,” said Secrest. “It ended up being very special.”

They currently live in Greenwich Village, where they love citi-biking, tending to their rooftop garden, hosting Shabbat dinners, traveling, running, yoga and volunteering at the Bowery Mission. They hope to continue traveling, and are looking forward to starting a family someday.