A weekend in wine country is amazing in and of itself. That’s a given. But when you add a perfectly planned wedding to the mix, you know it’s going to be out of this world. And with a true understanding of style, this graphic designer bride let the day’s design come together organically thanks to her simple inspiration for a relaxing, fun-filled weekend. onelove photography packed an entire gallery with pretty that just mustn’t be missed.
From the bride…We knew that we wanted our wedding to celebrate our amazing friendships and give those we love a fun-filled wine country weekend away with great food, wine & views. Healdsburg was the perfect fit! I think our wedding day turned out to be authentically us, relaxed, fun and beautiful; everything we strived for. I found the whole process of designing the wedding day exhilarating. But I definitely didn’t follow all the “rules.” When people would ask me what my “colors” were I would get frustrated. Because to be honest, I didn’t know what they were! As a graphic designer I felt it was important for the style and look of the day to come together organically. I let the venue inform the dresses, the dresses inform the flowers, the flowers inform the paper goods and so on. I used a lot of complimentary colors and didn’t have any standouts until only weeks before! In the end I suppose I ended with up those “colors” but I tried hard to not have everything fit the mold.
I happened to be an extremely decisive bride. We booked the first venue we visited, I bought the first dress that I truly LOVED when laying eyes on it in a magazine (sure, I tried on others but refused to purchase anything until I tried on THE dress) I only spoke to one florist and two caterers. The truth is, I did my research. I read reviews, paid attention to the credits on my favorite blog posts and most importantly, trusted my gut. And once I made a decision I stopped looking at alternatives. We made sure we had what we thought were the best vendors we could afford in the areas that mattered to us most. And you know what? I think we nailed it. Oh, and STOP looking at blogs at least 2 weeks before your wedding. If you’re like me you’ll just see a dozen more projects that you want to do but don’t need or have the time to execute!
We opted to do a first-look and are so happy we did! We had so many different emotions leading up to seeing each other for the first time and we really appreciated and enjoyed being able to share them in private. Being able to take a bunch of pictures together before the ceremony was an added bonus! Having a first-look allowed us to be by each others sides right up until the ceremony. We were with our entire bridal party in this adorable cottage next to the ceremony site. We could see all our loved ones arriving from this little window, sipping champagne and laughing with friends. This was such a treat and a real culmination of the planning we had done over the past year together. It was also fun to send Dave off with a kiss. Even if my mom was in the background yelling “noooooooo!”
We also broke away from the dance party, as hard as that was, to take some sunset shots with our photographer. This was amazing. Not only did it produce some of our favorite photos but being able to look down at the reception and hear everyone having such a great time truly brought a smile to our faces. My personal fav – The day ended up being really windy. While taking pictures with our bridal party before the ceremony my veil was flying all over the place. Before heading out the door of the cottage to walk down the aisle I was debating taking it off. My mother and grandmother felt strongly that I should leave it on. I really didn’t want the distraction and didn’t care that I was “supposed” to wear it, but decided to leave it on. Within two minutes of reaching my place at the ceremony it blew off my head. I turned to the crowd and said “I didn’t want it anyway” and everyone laughed. That really set the mood for a light-hearted, fun day.
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Wedding Photography: onelove photography | Wedding Design + Wedding Day Coordinator: Elsa Vera | Venue: Healdsburg Country Gardens | Floral Design: Floral Theory | Catering: Grapevine | Cinematography: Vernon Legakis | Stationery: Antiquaria | Hair and Makeup: The Makeup Dolls | Cake + Pies: Kozlowski Farms | DJ: Golden State Productions | Wedding Dress: Amy Kuschel | Groom’s Attire: Hugo Boss + Christian Dior | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Amsale | Bride’s Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Place Card Display, Menus, Program and Signage: DIY