Clary Pfeiffer never fails to capture weddings in a way that makes me feel like I was right there, dining under the twinkling lights with the Bride and Groom. And oh how I wish I actually attended this stunning wedding at Rancho Buena Vista Adobe. Filled with a gorgeous fall-inspired color palette and lots of love, this gallery is most definitely worth raising a glass to. See it all here.
From the Bride…After my husband and I got engaged and decided to hold our wedding in San Diego, our first priorities were choosing the venue, the photographer, and the band. The idea of a backyard style wedding appealed to us – we’re sort of home bodies and wanted a wedding that felt like a backyard barbeque with our closest friends and family. I was delighted to find the Rancho Buena Vista Adobe. When I first toured the venue, I was immediately in love with all the texture and character: the stone walls covered in vines, the arched doorway with its antique wood door, and the large verandas with vaulted wood beam ceilings surrounding the main building of this historic adobe. It’s also very private, unlike a hotel, and definitely had that intimate backyard atmosphere.
I wanted our wedding décor to be unique but also reflect our personalities and our relationship. I came up with the idea to play up our love of real estate and old Craftsman homes which fit well with the backyard feel of the Adobe. We’ve dreamt about owning a Craftsman house one day, and are currently living in a Craftsman-style duplex. We also like to go to open houses for fun! We started with the idea to use street signs for the table centerpieces. We chose the specific street names by picking streets we’d lived on, together and individually. To make the table names more meaningful for our guests, each table had a 5×7 gold-edged sign explaining why we chose that particular street.
For the rest of the table décor, we bought old brass door knobs from Ebay, and saved green and brown bottles to display cut flowers. I picked out quilted Ball jars to convey the texture of stained glass and historic homes, and we spray painted them gold. To add architectural elements to our home theme, I bought faux-brass mail boxes and we used one as a box for wedding cards; my husband built wooden bases for the other two. We set them out at the ceremony to greet guests; one was stuffed with flowers and the other held our programs. For the florals I chose a mix of different blooms in vibrant colors to convey a farm fresh look; I loved how they popped against all the greens and gold vases.
My dear friend and bridesmaid Kimberly, a graphic and package designer, started on the inspiration for our paper suite by doing an original sketch of the craftsman duplex we live in, which was used on our invitation and the street description signs on the tables. We incorporated other architectural elements into each item: the “save the date” was a sketch of a front door with a Tiffany lamp, a mission style foyer table, and waiting luggage, and our reply card included a sketch of a mailbox. I also used custom rubber stamping on our paper goods to highlight them with gold ink. I hand painted all our wooden signs in order to stay consistent with our wedding font. For our escort card display we chose an old window to fit with the home theme, and I printed all our escort cards myself in an ombre medley of greens.
We both wanted our wedding celebration to be fun (for us, that means informal) and to reflect our tastes in food and drink, so we skipped a lot of the traditional things like a wedding cake and champagne toast. Instead, we stocked the bar with our favorite craft beers and guests were treated to an ice cream sundae bar. The ice cream was a HUGE hit with our guests, and perfect for summer weather! We chose an organic caterer that served food sourced only from local farms. For wedding favors we gave our guests mini quilted jars filled with local wildflower honey. We walked down the aisle after saying “I DO” to “Home is Wherever I’m with You” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and our guests danced the night away under market lighting to an amazing band.
Photography: Clary Pfeiffer Photography | Coordination: Eventity Inc | Styling: Anne Martin | Floral Design: Flowerchild San Diego | Wedding Dress: Alfred Angelo | Ceremony Venue: Rancho Buena Vista Adobe | Reception Venue: Rancho Buena Vista Adobe | Bridesmaid Dresses: Janice Martin | Catering: Eco Caters | Makeup: Ann DeNicolo Makeup Artist | Band: Jordan Music Entertainment | Groomsmen Attire: Jos. A. Bank | Officiant: Matthew Christensen | Bridal Party Bangles: Frosted Willow on Etsy | Bridal Party Hair Pieces: Petal Blush Love on Etsy | Bridal Sash: Acute Designs on Etsy | Bride’s Bracelet: Bijoux by Meg on Etsy | Bride’s Earrings: Componere Gallery | Bride’s Engagement Ring: Antique | Custom Pennant: Cocosailore on Etsy | Custom Ring Box: Oh Dier Living | Hairstylist: Lisa Soke | Ice Cream: Mariposa Ice Cream | Paper Suite: On Brand Designs | Rentals: Platinum Party Rentals | Wedding Rings: The Diamond Connection