Rancho Santa Fe Wedding from Troy Grover Photographers
When I get my hands on a wedding as beautiful as this one from Troy Grover, my heart starts to beat a little faster and my brain becomes crowded with adjectives that never seem good enough to describe what my eyes are seeing. How could they really? As hard as they try, those little adjectives could never possibly describe the way this couple infused their personalities into every pretty little detail. And this color palette? I can't think of a single word that's worthy. So I'll let it all speak for itself, but I must warn you - prepare to be blown away. See so much more here.
From Troy Grover Photographers... The groom, Mike, is a graphic designer and created all of their wedding stationery himself. The bride, Chelan, was also very much a part of the wedding design - she hand dipped every napkin for their reception and made all of the special men in her life unique boutonnieres (see the ring bearers, so cute). :) In lieu of gifts, the couple asked everyone to donate to charity: water - we thought that was such a neat and selfless idea.
From the Bride... I was never the type of girl who knew from childhood exactly how she wanted her wedding to be. Mike proposed to me on a tiny island in an Alaskan fjord with a ring he'd carved from a branch, and as thrilled as I was to say yes, I was a little lost after that. One thing I did know was that we wanted our wedding to be outdoors. We live in Seattle and love it here, and while there is nothing more beautiful than a Seattle summer, they're none too reliable; so it was either give up on the great outdoors, or have the wedding somewhere with consistent sunshine. In the end, we decided on the beautiful Inn at Rancho Santa Fe just outside San Diego, and everything after that just kind of fell into place.
Mike is a designer and self-professed type-geek, while I'm a lover of all things vintage, printed and/or handmade, and I think our wedding was a lovely mix of both of us. Mike designed our wedding invitation suite, our escort cards and other paper fancies, and I took of care of a lot of the rest. I handmade everything from the “Here Comes the Bride” banners, to the bunting, the flower girls’ dresses and headbands, goody bags for the kids, dip-dyed ombré napkins, my veil, the dessert stands, and our dads’ boutonnieres. My father is a fly fisherman, so his was made to resemble a salmon fly, complete with a real, vintage hook. Mike's dad was meteorologist and composes haiku, so his included vintage velvet leaves from the ‘30s and a haiku by Basho about clouds. One of my favorite details was the old wooden letterpress blocks we used for table numbers. They tied in beautifully with our invitation style, our escort cards, and our love of type. When if came to our wedding colors I chose a variation of peaches and blue-greens, showing off the range in the ombré napkins, my sisters’ dresses and the groomsmen’s ties.
It was an incredibly special day in that my parents and most of my siblings live in Ireland, and this was the first time we had all been together at the same time in over 10 years. I felt like our entire wedding was a huge family effort. My big sister and Maid of Honor, Tia, was responsible for some of the most amazing touches: the vintage croquet set, the glassybabies, and the amazing old settee she had reupholstered in our wedding colors. My brother-in-law hosted and cooked all of the food for our huge rehearsal dinner, my brother's girlfriend made all of the beautiful dessert pastries when I couldn't find exactly want I wanted from a local baker, Mike's cousin brought Mike's favorite Grand Marnier cake down from a bakery in Los Angeles, and we were married by our dear friend Jim. I can honestly say that our wedding was everything we wanted it to be. Beautiful and relaxed, full of friends, family and love.
Wedding Photography: Troy Grover Photographers / Venue: The Inn at Rancho Sante Fe in Rancho Santa Fe, California / Floral Design: Adrianne Smith Floral Design / Wedding Day Coordination: Events Uncorked / Stationery: Mike Davidson + Evolution Press / Desserts: Nikki Schiebel (pastries) + Paris Pastry (cakes) / Music: Gypsy Groove / Wedding Dress: Anne Barge via The White Dress / Bride's Ring: Vintage Tiffany via Alexandria Rossoff / Bride's Right Hand Ring: Vintage from grandmother / Bride's Earrings: BHLDN / Bride's Shoes: Badgley Mischka / Bridesmaids Dresses': Free People + J.Crew + Custom Design / Hair + Makeup: Kacee Geoffroy / Suits: Michael Kors + Calvin Klein + J.Crew / Guest Donations: charity: water
From the Bride... I was never the type of girl who knew from childhood exactly how she wanted her wedding to be. Mike proposed to me on a tiny island in an Alaskan fjord with a ring he'd carved from a branch, and as thrilled as I was to say yes, I was a little lost after that. One thing I did know was that we wanted our wedding to be outdoors. We live in Seattle and love it here, and while there is nothing more beautiful than a Seattle summer, they're none too reliable; so it was either give up on the great outdoors, or have the wedding somewhere with consistent sunshine. In the end, we decided on the beautiful Inn at Rancho Santa Fe just outside San Diego, and everything after that just kind of fell into place.
Mike is a designer and self-professed type-geek, while I'm a lover of all things vintage, printed and/or handmade, and I think our wedding was a lovely mix of both of us. Mike designed our wedding invitation suite, our escort cards and other paper fancies, and I took of care of a lot of the rest. I handmade everything from the “Here Comes the Bride” banners, to the bunting, the flower girls’ dresses and headbands, goody bags for the kids, dip-dyed ombré napkins, my veil, the dessert stands, and our dads’ boutonnieres. My father is a fly fisherman, so his was made to resemble a salmon fly, complete with a real, vintage hook. Mike's dad was meteorologist and composes haiku, so his included vintage velvet leaves from the ‘30s and a haiku by Basho about clouds. One of my favorite details was the old wooden letterpress blocks we used for table numbers. They tied in beautifully with our invitation style, our escort cards, and our love of type. When if came to our wedding colors I chose a variation of peaches and blue-greens, showing off the range in the ombré napkins, my sisters’ dresses and the groomsmen’s ties.
It was an incredibly special day in that my parents and most of my siblings live in Ireland, and this was the first time we had all been together at the same time in over 10 years. I felt like our entire wedding was a huge family effort. My big sister and Maid of Honor, Tia, was responsible for some of the most amazing touches: the vintage croquet set, the glassybabies, and the amazing old settee she had reupholstered in our wedding colors. My brother-in-law hosted and cooked all of the food for our huge rehearsal dinner, my brother's girlfriend made all of the beautiful dessert pastries when I couldn't find exactly want I wanted from a local baker, Mike's cousin brought Mike's favorite Grand Marnier cake down from a bakery in Los Angeles, and we were married by our dear friend Jim. I can honestly say that our wedding was everything we wanted it to be. Beautiful and relaxed, full of friends, family and love.
Wedding Photography: Troy Grover Photographers / Venue: The Inn at Rancho Sante Fe in Rancho Santa Fe, California / Floral Design: Adrianne Smith Floral Design / Wedding Day Coordination: Events Uncorked / Stationery: Mike Davidson + Evolution Press / Desserts: Nikki Schiebel (pastries) + Paris Pastry (cakes) / Music: Gypsy Groove / Wedding Dress: Anne Barge via The White Dress / Bride's Ring: Vintage Tiffany via Alexandria Rossoff / Bride's Right Hand Ring: Vintage from grandmother / Bride's Earrings: BHLDN / Bride's Shoes: Badgley Mischka / Bridesmaids Dresses': Free People + J.Crew + Custom Design / Hair + Makeup: Kacee Geoffroy / Suits: Michael Kors + Calvin Klein + J.Crew / Guest Donations: charity: water