Rustic + Elegant Caballo Estate Wedding
This bride has amazing advice, and the second you see her wedding, you're going to be scrambling for a pen and paper to take notes. She planned a wedding that is quite possibly more beautiful than California itself (I know.), brought in Estate Weddings and Events to manage it so that she could enjoy it, and hired This Love of Yours Photography to capture every single moment. Genius.
From the stunning bride... I had such a blast planning our wedding that I used to tease my husband that I wasn't sure I every actually wanted our wedding day to come. The best advice I can give to anyone starting the planning process is to have fun, find great vendors and TRUST the vendors that you hire. We decided to start by identifying the aspects of our wedding day that were our top priority and go from there.
For us, location was number one. We wanted the venue to have wow-factor without being pretentious and to be luxe without being stuffy. The Caballo Estate was absolutely perfect. They only do a handful of weddings a year (it's a private residence) so we knew none of our guests had been to a wedding there before and we loved that it was an unexpected upscale twist on the idea of a "barn wedding." The estate and it's staff definitely delivered!
The next question we asked was - how do we make our wedding live beyond that one day? So photography and how I was going to look in those photos was our next priority (there, I said it!). I could not have been happier with This Love of Yours Photography and Maria Lee Makeup and Hair (and her agency artists!). I vetted a LOT of photographers and had multiple hair & makeup trials before finding these industry gems. They were able to capture the soft, natural feel against the gorgeous backdrop of the property so well. We couldn't have been happier.
My overall planning advice would be:
1. Don't be discouraged by vendors who don't list prices on websites. It doesn't necessarily mean they are more expensive than those that do.
2. Decide the things that you are really important to you (location? food? ability to serve your own home-brewed beer?) and let that help guide your vendor search, planning and budget allocation.
3. Find creative ways to have friends/family contribute - one of my best friends' family owns a bakery in Chicago and they flew out a signature cheesecake for our wedding cake. It made it so special and personal.
4. Hire a videographer, it's my one regret!
5. If possible, get ready on-site at your venue. I can honestly say that I do not have the feeling of "it all happened so fast" because for me I started my wedding day bright and early! Being able to see the finishing touches going up, the chandeliers being raised, and the flowers being set, built up an excitement and anticipation that I would have wholly missed had I showed up just in time to walk down the aisle.
The best part of the day was definitely our ceremony. I don't remember what anyone said, but I know it was perfect. And I've never seen my husband smile at me like that!
For us, location was number one. We wanted the venue to have wow-factor without being pretentious and to be luxe without being stuffy. The Caballo Estate was absolutely perfect. They only do a handful of weddings a year (it's a private residence) so we knew none of our guests had been to a wedding there before and we loved that it was an unexpected upscale twist on the idea of a "barn wedding." The estate and it's staff definitely delivered!
The next question we asked was - how do we make our wedding live beyond that one day? So photography and how I was going to look in those photos was our next priority (there, I said it!). I could not have been happier with This Love of Yours Photography and Maria Lee Makeup and Hair (and her agency artists!). I vetted a LOT of photographers and had multiple hair & makeup trials before finding these industry gems. They were able to capture the soft, natural feel against the gorgeous backdrop of the property so well. We couldn't have been happier.
My overall planning advice would be:
1. Don't be discouraged by vendors who don't list prices on websites. It doesn't necessarily mean they are more expensive than those that do.
2. Decide the things that you are really important to you (location? food? ability to serve your own home-brewed beer?) and let that help guide your vendor search, planning and budget allocation.
3. Find creative ways to have friends/family contribute - one of my best friends' family owns a bakery in Chicago and they flew out a signature cheesecake for our wedding cake. It made it so special and personal.
4. Hire a videographer, it's my one regret!
5. If possible, get ready on-site at your venue. I can honestly say that I do not have the feeling of "it all happened so fast" because for me I started my wedding day bright and early! Being able to see the finishing touches going up, the chandeliers being raised, and the flowers being set, built up an excitement and anticipation that I would have wholly missed had I showed up just in time to walk down the aisle.
The best part of the day was definitely our ceremony. I don't remember what anyone said, but I know it was perfect. And I've never seen my husband smile at me like that!