Organically Elegant Wedding by Hannah Suh Photography
We’re bringing another fabulous guest blogger to SMP this afternoon. We’ve had a crush on her gorgeous design blog for some time now, so we could not be more excited to have her on board… give a great big warm welcome to Erin of Apartment 34.
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Upon first glance at Courtney and Brandon’s northern California wedding I was immediately taken by the beautiful setting, the glamorous touches, and the obvious attention to detail. But when I read that, from the moment they got engaged, Courtney and Brandon’s goal was to have the wedding feel like “the best dinner party we’ve ever hosted” I knew I was absolutely going to love this wedding and the darling couple behind it! When you take a look at Hannah Suh’s gorgeous images, I’m quite sure you’ll agree when I say I would have loved to have experienced such an charming fête in person. You can see every beautiful detail in the gallery!
See more of this delicious party in the image gallery
From the bride:
When Brandon and I first got engaged, I remember talking with him about how we wanted our wedding to feel. Nearly immediately, we could describe it – we wanted it to feel like the best dinner party we’d ever hosted. For us, that meant our absolute favorite people, great food and wine, and for the environment to feel like our home.
My Mom and I had been talking for YEARS about the vision we had for the wedding day, but when the time actually came, it seemed the words, the descriptions, and text just didn’t work. So we began to put together a folder of all the images that I loved from various blogs and a common thread began to appear. Rustic but elegant. We coined the “Organic Elegance” as the theme for our wedding. The constant themes seemed to be beautiful lighting (and lots of it), dreamy washed out sunset colors, and organic textiles.
We had the wedding at the home of my parents’ friends, which dates back to the 19th century (really old by California standards!). It’s an old farmhouse with huge old growth trees and incredible late afternoon light that streams onto the property.
I started scouring local stores for lanterns, burnt out chandeliers and glassware to hang from the huge oak tree and help curate and anchor the space. My mom took charge of the table settings, sourcing burlap for the table runners, framing old family photos and finding more candelabras than we could count! No two place settings were alike – it was perfect.
We had decided on three somewhat separate areas, the pre-wedding, cocktail area by the pool, the ceremony site and the reception area. We tried to group like items in the three spaces so “eclectic” didn’t become anarchy! We spent four long weekends of yard work at our venue, finding “barn wood” and painting signs, moving and arranging and then putting it all back for our wonderful hosts.
The only vendors we worked with were our lovely photographer (Hannah Suh) and our caterer (Blue Sage Catering). Everything else was, in one way or another, homespun.
All in all, we got exactly what we wanted – our favorite people surrounding us as we fused our lives, complete with candlelight and amazingly delicious dinner.
Photography: Hannah Suh of Hannah Suh Photography / Catering: Blue Sage Catering / Rentals: Stuart Rentals / Venue: Hillside Farms, San Ramon CA
36 Comments about “Organically Elegant Wedding by Hannah Suh Photography”
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the concept of the best dinner party ever for a wedding reception is awesome. i love how beautiful and intimate their wedding looks!
Feels so intimate and full of love!
This venue is just down the street from me and never knew! Amazing and this wedding is gorgeous!
Just beautiful! I love that you added how long it took to do the set up. So often that gets overlooked, and is especially important when diy!
Loving the emotion in these images. The lighting and detail work is wonderful
Melting! I love the varying shades of pastel bridesmaid dresses and all those little girls in their tutus are just precious!!!
Wow the details in this wedding are so beautiful!
I live in Ran Ramon and had never heard of this place. It's lovely.
Ooops, San Ramon
I want to go back in time and have this exact wedding. I am in awe.
I love the picture of the flower girls!
What a cute couple! And the decor is to die for. Nicely done all who participated!
I was a bridesmaid in this wedding and it was breathtaking at every turn!!! So intimate and so much Love was there and you can see it in the photos!
LOVE the bride's look! Her dress, the hair, the makeup-- all flawless. I am getting married in week and have yet to buy my makeup! YIKES! Courtney- Do you know what brand/shade of lipstick you wore? I also have fair skin and think that your lip color would just do the trick!
Oh my goodness....those flower girls are to cute!
Thank you everyone - to say I'm flattered by the responses would be an understatement. :)
Katie - this lipstick is the holy grail - it stays on ALL DAY and the color is awesome (plus, it's only $7 - can't beat that!): http://www.maybelline.com/Product/Lip/LipColor/superstay-lipcolor.htm (color is 743, RED).
So intimate, so gorgeous. Every post makes me want to redo my own wedding!
Breath taking to say the least. Being at this wedding was a day that I will never forget but these pictures captured moments that were missed by most of us. Amazing couple and they are so in LOVE! What a beautiful day that they can remember, Always.
What a gorgeous event, with beautiful photography! I would love to know what dress is she wearing?
This wedding appears truly effortless, yet so elegant and unique! Love the organic touches & natural setting.
Caroline -
The dress is a modified Maggie Sottero (we removed the corset back and altered the neckline). Hope that helps!
Totally dig the centerpiece!!
Thanks Courtney! I am going to have to snatch that lipstick today! SO happy it's so affordable! Your wedding was out of this world. What I would have done to party hardy with the rest of you!
All those little girls in those tulle dresses - soooo adorable! I love the feel of this wedding - simply elegant.
This bride is beautiful and looks so full of joy.
I think this is my dream wedding in many ways. Unforgettable.
Simply BEATIFUL!!!
OK, Courtney: your bridal look is exactly what I am going for: hair down, red lips, defined lashes.. you look absolutely gorgeous. I emailed this to my mom to convince her the look IS bridal (she thinks I need some hairsprayed and curling ironed updo to look like a bride) and she's finally come around. Thanks!
Thanks again, everyone! Regarding the flower girls - we actually made the tulle skirts (SO EASY!) and just had them wear white leotards and tights. Comfortable, affordable, and totally adorable.
Katie - I'm sure it's going to be gorgeous! :)
Peanut - It took some convincing on my end as well. But when you know, you know! So glad she came around!
i love your venue! is there any possibility of renting it out for my wedding?
WOW Court! UNBELIEVABLE and SO YOU! So sad I missed it. You looked absolutely STUNNING, as always and the decor is off the charts amazing! Hope you two are enjoying married life and miss you tons!!!
Love,
Ryann
Dearest Courtney! I change my mind EVERYday about what color my bridesmaids should wear. I keep coming back to your gorgeous wedding and want to mix it up like you did! Can you please share with me the designers of the girls' dresses??
Thank you so much!!
Hello everyone!
Teresa - I've reached out to the owners and will let you know as soon as I hear back about the availability of renting it out. :)
Dessert Darling - *blush* of course! it's funny - the way we got everyone's head around the color pallet was getting paint chips and making everyone a fan of colors to choose from, and those were sent with the 'be my bridesmaid?' cards to all the girls. looking at the photo above, the dress designers (l-r): macys, jcrew, davids bridal, (me), jcrew, nordstrom (maggie london), jcrew.
hope this helps!
palette. gah!
Hello~
What part of the home was the reception held at? I'm wanting to host my wedding at a friends home as well. The only issue is the reception tables will have to be set-up on there old driveway. I'm trying to get create of how we can make it pretty and not just old cement. I was thinking a few vintage rugs but those can get $$$$$$. Any ideas?
Thanks!
i would have DIED to get some vintage/kilim rugs in there - that is a fantastic idea. you might try to scout craigslist or goodwill for some finds?
also, i know it sounds crazy, but we 'borrowed' a lot of stuff from my house/my friends' houses to help curate the space (aka stealing my favorite duvet and pillows for the hammock, etc.). If you can't find a ton of friends with cool area rugs (maybe just a kind few), you could cluster them around the common areas to still get a similar effect.
good luck!
also - forgot to mention - ours was outside in a huge cement area too, so we did floor length tablecloths which seemed to really break up the gray of the cement.