Our Wedding Story - Grand Entrance
Get ready for another long wedding post — I just can't help myself! Phil and I had so much fun reliving our wedding reception by going through our countless photos by Katrina Jayne and at a certain point, it became impossible to narrow them down any further.
Rounding up some of our favorite shots here! Our reception felt like it was right out of a fairytale and we are so thankful to our venue, McCkormick Home Ranch, for helping to curate the chic look with rustic elements that we were dreaming about.
Our Grand Entrance & Decor
After our cocktail hour (photos here), our wedding party, Phil and I, made our grand entrance into our reception. Our guests were all seated on the lush front lawn of McCkormick Home Ranch and we entered from the side of the beautiful vintage house.
We felt like we were walking out onto a movie set. It was the first time we were able to see everything we had planned for over a year come together--from the flowers to the table settings and all of our DIY projects.
It was also so incredible and humbling.From there, our first dance was magical. We thought about choreographing a dance like some of our friends who had recently gotten married but it ended up being the one thing we were not able to cross off of our "to-do" list before the big day. We totally winged it but had a blast.After our first dance, our eyes kept fixating on all of the beautiful flowers around our reception area.
Our florist, Jenn Sanchez, arranged all different fresh spring blooms with pops of color. She placed them in vintage jars and vases that Phil, my Mom and I collected for months before the wedding. I love that our centerpieces ended up all being mixed and matched and that we included all different sized bouquets on each table. Throughout our planning process, we were reminded time and time again that giant centerpieces can be really beautiful but also really expensive. We had a lot of fun creating more cost-effective arrangements to act as our centerpieces without going overboard.
Our DIY Wedding Elements
Phil and I added a lot of DIY elements to our special day. If you scroll down, you'll see a number of pieces that we made including "love birds" art. It was from paint and sip night in Los Angeles before our wedding. If you've never been to a paint and sip, you have to go! You basically drink wine and paint for a few hours and it's a lot of fun. We were each supposed to paint one side of the picture but we ended up helping each other a little more than we were supposed to (or I may or may not have stepped in to make sure our sides ending up really matching!).
It was fun to have them on display at our wedding and we now keep them in our home for inspiration.Phil and I created a memory table which we placed off to the side of our guest tables. Included on it was a hand-written note I'd written to the people we loved and who made us who we are--but who could not be with us on our special day. One of the most touching parts of our wedding was seeing guests go up to this table and start crying. I didn't realize it would have such a powerful effect on everyone and it definitely made me tear up too.
The Tablescapes
We ended up mixing long tables with round ones so that we could have the best of both worlds in terms of our tablescapes. We wanted our guests to be able to talk to one another and the mixture of the two ended up working out really well in terms of space. Blush was our accent color and we added doilies beneath blush napkins and hand-made menus from a talented friend of ours.
Everyone was gifted "seed bombs" that were tiny little seeds wrapped up in blush ribbons that our guests could plant back at home.We had a talented friend create a seating chart, menus, and table settings so that all of our wedding graphics and handouts matched. Rather than numbering our tables, we decided to name each one after a big event or something special we had endured in our lives as a couple.
For instance, one table was named "Buddha" after one of our dogs and another was named "The Joshua" after the apartment I lived in when Phil and I had our first kiss. On the back of the table card was a short story telling our guests how each respective table got its name. It was a lot of fun for Phil and I to brainstorm all different ways of infusing our love story and journey into our wedding day.
THE LOOK: Vera Wang Tuxedo / Florist: Jenn Sanchez / Photography: Katrina Jayne / Hair and Makeup: La Rouge Artistry / Catering: Tarte Catering