The weddings of Santa Barbara Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo
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It is in March 1988 that the scenes of the much awaited wedding of Eden Capwell and Cruz Castillo were shot. A ceremony which marked the audience’s heart, but also those of the whole team on the show. It is near Carmel, in an enormous property overlooking the ocean, in the Monterey peninsula, that the scenes were filmed. The property, in the intrigue of Santa Barbara, is named Pebble Creek, and this is an old very romantic hotel, with a past charged of love and emotion, but more especially of an undeniable magic which no one seems to resist.

The magic seems to operate from the arrival of the guests in Pebble Creek. The charm is very strong for the Capwell family because it is a very particular place. It is here, in these walls that on the return of their honeymoon, C.C. and Sophia Capwell, still a young married couple, spent a few days. Perhaps there they spent the most romantic moments of all their life. Moreover at the time of their return to Pebble Creek, at the time of the wedding of their daughter Eden, they open with pleasure the sheets of their memory album. C.C. sees himself dining with candles with his wife, requiring of her to offer another child to him, a daughter, who would be the faithful portrait of Sophia, since they already have two boys. On her side, Sophia sees herself running in the stable and finishing lying on the hay, at the side of her husband. Her heart then, filled with love for this man, feeling ready to offer to him this daughter he wished for so much.

It is with huge nostalgia that they both wander into Pebble Creek. There is not one place at this property which does not remind them of a pleasant moment. During these moments, C.C. forgets Pamela, and Sophia, on her side, forsakes her young lover, T.J.. They each seem to follow the way which will lead them into each others arms, as if, after so many years, they really found themselves again. In these sweet hours, they feel all the force of the love which links them. No consideration for Gina and Pamela in C.C.'s life. They do not count. And no consideration for Lionel and T.J. in Sophia’s life. They do not count either. They are made for one another, and everything here seems to show it to them. And, whereas C.C. does not manage to knot his tie correctly, it is Sophia he asks for some help. C.C. even forgets his pride and his self love to clearly say to her that he needs her. And Sophia needs him as much to tie her dress. And by a subtle insinuation, relating to the difficulty of getting dressed correctly in the 19th century clothes, C.C. makes Sophia understand that he wants her to live with him again. According to him, it is for that marriage was invented, so that man and woman can help themselves (to get dressed). Sophia and C.C. end up exchanging a long look which says much more than one kiss.

Until the wedding ceremony, they will float in a world of memories. Unfortunately, following a phone call from T.J., C.C.'s authoritative nature quickly comes back. And even if he ordered Sophia not to call him back, she phones him, but not for the reasons that C.C. believes. Sophia, during this diving in the past, had felt her heart to live again in contact with C.C.. And she phoned T.J. to make him understand that many things have changed, because she had just re-found C.C., the man she loved for so many years. But here is, C.C., as a wounded man, forgets the magic of the place and all the good things which it offered. More betrayed than ever, he smashed the door of Sophia's room and criticises her to have contacted her lover, whereas he had asked her not to do it. Also forgotten for Sophia the sweet hours she had just spent as a free woman, she stands up for the first time against C.C.'s authority. Only seeing his authoritative side, and while  forgetting his wounds, Sophia moves away from C.C. a little more. The magic which had brought them closer is finished. And alone, C.C. and Sophia go back to Santa Barbara. They did not know how to forget and forgive, in spite of Pebble Creek and all the memories.

There are other ones who did not know how to understand themselves, in spite of the huge chance which was offered to them. Reunited together around their daughter, Samantha, Mason Capwell and Julia Wainwright forgot in Pebble Creek all that usually separated them. Even the presence of Victoria Lane Capwell, Mason's previous wife, does not manage to tarnish their blue sky. Since the celebrations of Christmas 1987, they have opened their hearts to one another, and the outline of a nearest union seems to be profiled at the horizon. Julia is superb. She is finally completely loved by the man with whom she wants to share her life. As for Mason, for the first time since the death of Mary DuVall, he seems perfectly happy. Alas, the ghosts who haunt Mason's life are not far. The alcohol, which for a long time brings force and comfort to him, is there, still and always to lighten his fears. At the time of the wedding reception, Julia catches the bouquet launched by Eden and Mason collects at his feet his sister's garter, launched by Cruz. Mason knows very well what that means. And even if he sincerely and deeply loves Julia, he is still not ready to get engaged to a woman. Especially if he loves her. Perhaps he did not forget that one day his father drove out his mother, Pamela, from the mansion for another woman. And perhaps he is afraid, one day, to do the same ? He did not forget either that for a lot of people for a very long, he was regarded as a loser, the eternal second one who always arrived behind Channing Junior. And Mason, more than anything in the world, seeks his father's recognition. Then, fearing of disappointing him or of showing him that he is right, he prefers not to take risks. And then especially, since Mary's death, he knows that life is cruel, that death can constantly come to steal the one you love. So, not to suffer, he prefers not to love anymore, not to open the doors of his heart anymore, fearing one day of finding there only the vacuum of absence.

As for Julia, it is all the opposite. She is so loving that she does not conceive to follow a road without going the whole term. She loves Mason deeply, she is happy that he is the father of her daughter, but she does not understand his run to alcohol every time he has a problem or a doubt. She would prefer that he turns to her. But especially, Julia is afraid of what could happen if he does not choose her. She knows herself well and she knows that she will not become his wife as long as he will have like today a whisky bottle on him. How could she accept that he lives at her and Samantha's side, if he continues to drink? Julia, inside of herself, knows that one day it will be necessary that she obliges him to solve it: he cannot have both anymore. And if, by misfortune, he prefers alcohol to her, she will have once again to throw him out of her house and of her life.

Whereas happiness seemed to have fallen down on them, it is without talking that they leave Pebble Creek. Before leaving, Mason forgets Julia's bag. Then, before letting Julia boarding in their car, he throws the bags in the back and he bangs more than he closes the door. It is without an exchanged word that they go back to Santa Barbara.

Extremely fortunately, some other ones spend more good times thanks to the magic of Pebble Creek. After having crossed many periods of doubt, Cain Garver and Andrea Bedford seem to go in the same direction. Happy to find themselves at their friends' wedding, they form part of those who fully feel the force of the love which haunts Pebble Creek. Although for a little time, they publicly show their love, neither one nor the other cut down the ramparts which protect their hearts. This is why, by observing the perfect communion of Cruz and Eden's souls and hearts, Cain and Andrea realize that they do not know each other very well. For this reason, Cain proposes to Andrea to leave for a long trip: they will first go to Europe so that she can show him and speak to him about the places of her childhood, and so that Cain can do as much, they will finish their pilgrimage in Virginia. And this is with a lot of hope and love in the head and the heart that they leave Pebble Creek.

Hope and love. These are also the feelings which live in Kelly Capwell Perkins Conrad and her husband, Jeffrey. Indeed, married recently, they were never so much in love and happy than in these days. Kelly is pregnant. For the first time in her life, she will offer a child to the man she loves. This child is the future, their future. When they go back to Santa Barbara, Kelly and Jeffrey look far in front of them, towards the future life which awaits them.

A little apart of this sweet magic which brings the couples closer, the only person not to feel it is Victoria Lane. Or it is rather the magic of these moments which is held far from her. She came alone to the wedding of her former lover, and she leaves still lonelier, in the back of a cab.
Even those that everyone in Santa Barbara consider as bad people seem to be caught up by the magic of the place. Gina Blake Capwell and her fiancé Keith Timmons came with the objective to mess up the wedding. Gina dreams to be avenged of the Capwells and for this she is ready for everything: not fearing neither to be ridiculous, nor to break the solemn nature of the wedding. But prevented from coming to disturb the ceremony by an unexpected event, they end up rolling in mud. There, like children, they speak with their true nature. Then follows a great moment in Santa Barbara: in 19th Century costumes, Gina and Keith fight in the mud. Then, charmed by this moment, they nevertheless decide to join Eden and Cruz's reception.

And while they change their clothes in the hotel, Keith recognizes in front of Gina that if he came, it is not to achieve her twisted plan, but to try to understand this quite mystical bond which links Cruz and Eden. Keith is not sure anymore if he is right and he fears to perhaps pass beside something. Gina is of the same opinion as him. Perhaps do they take a false road? Then, touched by the grace, they decide to seek inside of them the origin of this magic link.

As Eden and Cruz appear in front of the ocean : Pebble Creek is a marvellous place. One feels here, perhaps more than elsewhere, the diversity of the elements: the force of the ocean which comes to break on the cliffs and the calm and the peace which emanates from the park. Each thing is in its place. Time does not seem to have any influence here. This feeling of timelessness is accentuated by the fact that Eden and Cruz decided to marry with costumes of the 19th Century. Eden wears a sumptuous dress in taffeta with lace. As for Cruz, he wears a navy captain costume of the last Century. In the same way, all the guests wear costumes of the same time. Sumptuous costumes certainly, but costumes charged of history. It is Fielding Coe, the owner of Pebble Creek, who lent these costumes to them which were until now locked up in a trunk, in the attic.

Much more than from the marvellous place, the magic seems to be born from the costumes. Whereas Cruz has a fall during a horse ride, he falls on a strange man, dressed and speaking like in the last Century. At the same time, Eden, who hopelessly tries to get dressed, receives the advice from a girl who gives the impression to get dressed every day of this kind. They are, as Eden and Cruz suppose it, the ghosts of Amelia and her Captain.

Years earlier, a girl named Amelia should have married a navy Captain, in the clothing that Eden and Cruz wear today for their wedding. At the time, they remained in Pebble Creek. Amelia awaited there her fiancé, a Master mariner, who was to come back to marry her. The evening when the boat of the Captain approached the coast, there was a terrible storm. In the house, the young woman heard the rain, the thunder and the waves which were crushing against the cliffs. On the sea, the boat fought a long time not to sink. But, at one moment, the waves and the wind get the strongest. Submerged by a wave, the boat lay down on the water and sank. In the morning, while walking on the top of the cliff, Amelia discovered the drama. She went back to the hotel to dress herself in her wedding dress. Then she regained the cliff and threw herself into the ocean. The following day, their body were found laid on the beach.

Today, as Mr. Coe tells it, Amelia and her Captain haunt Pebble Creek, and it is certainly for that that all the force of love can be felt there. If for years, no one saw Amelia and her Captain again, M. Coe does not have any doubt about their existence. They are indeed there. Eden and Cruz can testify, although they really do not know if they dreamt their presence or not. And yet, they really exist. It is the Captain who sabotaged Gina and Keith's harnessing, thus preventing them from coming to disturb the wedding. And once the union of Cruz and Eden celebrated, these are their ghosts who, having just found peace, go far away, and dressed in their wedding clothes. Amelia and her Captain are the soul of Pebble Creek. If here, much more than elsewhere, everyone feels the force of love, it is because not having been able to live their fully, they transfer on the others their unused love. C.C. and Sophia found each other again. Julia and Mason get closer.

 Gina and Keith give up to the wind their impure thoughts. Kelly and Jeffrey live the magic of their wedding again. Cain and Andrea dare to cross another step towards one another. But when Eden and Cruz pronounce their vows, it is also Amelia and her Captain who reunite. Their hearts recognize and find each other again. And the love they gave to the others ceases to run. Now, they can love each other again like in the past. As if death had never come, that night of storm, to destroy their hopes.

Fortunately, this love, their love, continues to live in Eden and Cruz. More in love than ever, they are united. And Eden becomes Mrs. Cruz Castillo. In this moment, all the past does not have importance anymore, it is just little hitches which moved them away the one from the other, but which never separated them because, they both underline it, from the beginning they belong to one another. At the first look, they knew that they were made for each other, that they were the two parts of a whole. That the obstacles named C.C. Capwell, Kirk Cranston, Santana Andrade, Victoria Lane, Elena Nikolas, Cain Garver, are only tests which allowed their love to grow richer, to become stronger, purer.

Trustful and sure of their love, Eden and Cruz know that they will be the strongest, forever. They already passed so many tests that in the bottom of their hearts, they know that they will be eternally linked to each other, forever. No matter what the future reserves for them, all the bad clouds will not be able to separate them and end their love, they have already surmounted too many obstacles. And if they move away for one moment, it will be for the better finding the other thereafter. Because love is and must be the strongest, forever.

Text written for this site by Lilian

Eden's dress, made of twenty meters of silk taffeta, cost the moderate amount of 16 000 dollars! It is costume designer Richard Bloore who undertook to draw all the dresses and costumes of the guests, based on the style "old south" of the last century. The shooting took place in fact in the property of the castle of Stonepine, North California, not far from Carmel. 110 hectares were rented especially for the occasion, as well as the superb residence, overhanging the Pacific ocean.
The episode of the fateful "I do" has been the most watched of all Santa Barbara in the United States, but also the one which brought more money to NBC : having envisaged the high ratings, it had increased the tariffs of the advertising during the episode !

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