With Ambient Event Design in charge of the ambiance, Seasons Catering in the kitchen, TEAM Hair and Makeup on beauty duty, and Michael + Anna Costa behind their lens’ the fabulousity of the day is a no brainer. Throw in a bunch more talented vendors and you’ve got a wedding that is effortlessly perfect!
From the beautiful bride… We took almost two years to plan our wedding, and the bulk of that time was choosing just the right location. When we finally found Zaca Creek Ranch we fell in love with the seclusion, rustic atmosphere and beauty of the surroundings. The ceremony site was perfectly perched on top of a hill overlooking the valley and acres of trees and golden rolling hills. The property had horses, cows, chickens, a cat and dog and even a lama so there was personality galore.
Our guests were bused onto the property so they could kick back and enjoy. I described my vision for the wedding as rustic yet understated elegance and all of the vendors seemed to know exactly what my husband and I were looking for.
The ranch hand even lured the horses near the cocktail area (outside of the fencing!) with some hay so the guests could pet them while drinking mojitos and wine. I was worried about the heat in September, but there was a nice light breeze that started at the end of the ceremony, just in time for cocktail hour under the trees with live music by Justin Claveria.
Guests moved into the barn for a fantastic dinner by Seasons Catering, with music/DJ by Gavin Roy Presents. After that the guests moved out onto the back patio for dancing, smores, drinks, desserts and cake! It was a fantastic evening and Tonya Szele, our wedding planner helped make the day flawless. Special thanks to Michael Costa, our photographer who seemed to completely understand our love for this special venue and helped my husband and I work through our awkwardness to capture some truly breathtaking pictures.
We tried to make as many of the decorations ourselves as possible. My aunt lent us the vintage windows and my mom and I wrote guest names and table numbers on them to form the seating chart. My husband and I cut each gold rope and paper wrapper to put around the bread loaves and wrote the names on each name tag ourselves. (and melted the end of each rope to create a rustic look!) We printed the names in a fancy font and traced them onto each name tag. We also made the save the dates ourselves with burlap, paper stock, a stamp and a gold embosser. The “smores station” was also a DIY project. We used a plastic flower box, spray painted and filled with lava rocks with catering burners to flames. Finally, we found a great company on Etsy to create the guest book. Guests wrote short messages on hearts that were later made into a framed collage.
As the new Mr. and Mrs. Frost, we chose snowman cake toppers for the wedding cake (Frosties) because snowmen are hugely popular in the Frost family.
Photography: MICHAEL + ANNA COSTA PHOTOGRAPHY | Wedding Planner: Soigne Productions | Florist: NLC Productions | Dress: Erin Cole | Cake: Decadence Fine Cakes & Confections | Brides Shoes: Vera Wang | Rings: Tiffany & Co. | Catering: Seasons Catering | Hair and makeup: TEAM Hair and Makeup | Lighting: Ambient Event Design | transportation: Santa Barbara Airbus | vintage car: Classic Motoring Car Rentals | Guest Book: Celadon Home -etsy | Music -Dinner and Dancing: Gavin Roy | Music -ceremony and cocktail: Justin Claveria | Photobooth: Thought Box Photo Booth | Rentals: Classic Party Rentals | Rentals- furniture & props: Tricia Fountaine Design | ceremony and reception: Zaca Creek Ranch | linens: BBJ La Tavola