This, loves, is exactly why navy blue and yellow happens to be one of my favorite color combinations. It’s the perfect mix of fresh and sophisticated, and when you pair it up with some of the prettiest details you will ever lay your eyes upon, it’s also all sorts of amazing (I’m looking at you, beautiful blooms from April Flowers). See all of the pretty captured by Kelsey Stewart in the full gallery.
From The Bride… Chip and I are both Southern California natives, so we wanted to celebrate our wedding in a beautiful location that gave our guests a chance to get out of town for a bit. We chose San Luis Obispo for its gorgeous landscapes, open spaces, and perfect formula of proximity and distance from our hometown. We planned our wedding to be a reflection of the love and appreciation we have for one another, but Chip and I also wanted the day to be a celebration of the amazing friends and family that supported us through nine (nine!) years of dating. This meant our number one priority was to have the night of our lives with all of our favorite people – so if something didn’t fall in line with that initiative, it was quickly nixed. Simple strategy!
We found Spanish Oaks Ranch through the suggestion of my mom’s cousin, and didn’t waste any time in booking our date. From there, the flurry of wedding planning began! Chip and I prefer a simple, clean aesthetic with one or two funky touches for style points, and that resonated across every aspect of the wedding. We gave polka-dot ties to the groomsmen to wear with their gray suits, and I gifted a different bracelet to each of my bridesmaids, who were tasked with finding their own floor-length dresses in either navy or grey. I wore a flower made of antique lace in my hair to go with my drop-waist Nicole Miller gown, and Chip looked great in the navy 3-piece suit he had custom made.
April Flowers did a phenomenal job working with my mom and I on the flowers – she created gorgeous boquets for myself and my bridesmaids, but the thing I loved the most were the tablescapes. We opted for family-style dining (greens, salmon, tri-tip, brussel sprouts & cous cous!), so April had to balance the reality of space restrictions with my request for uneven, mixed arrangements, lots of mercury glass, and candles. It turned out even more perfectly than I had imagined it.
Aside from our families getting together to set up the dining room the day before, we were able to incorporate quite a few DIY projects, with my sister designing and printing the programs, table numbers, and place cards (they doubled as wine charms!). Our wedding favors – jars of Chip’s delicious BBQ spice rub – were also homemade, and to his delight, we received multiple requests for the recipe. And, instead of a traditional guestbook, we asked friends and family to sign our old winemaking picturebook which we now leave out on our coffee table.
Our wedding day went by in a flash, but I remember reminding myself to savor as much of it as I could. The best part (aside from getting a kickass husband out of the deal) was feeling the immense love of the most important people in our lives, and watching them come together and party down in our honor. Greatest day ever!
Photography: Ken Kienow Wedding Photography | Coordination: Spanish Oaks Ranch | Flowers: April Flowers | Catering: Debbie Duggan | DJ: Phase One DJ | Venue: Spanish Oaks Ranch | Rentals: Got You Cover'D