Sophisticated Barn Wedding in the Rolling Hills of California Inspired by Wildflowers

Melissa Hammam
August 5, 2022
Categories: Real Weddings, Rustic, The Blog

You’ll love the rustic elegance of this wildflower-inspired wedding. Sage green, light yellow, and blush come together beautifully to make this sophisticated barn wedding planned and designed by Parker Nichols Events and Design one to remember. Golden Fields Floristry used the bride’s favorite blooms to create free-flowing arrangements filled with meaning, and Weddings By Scott and Dana beautifully documented the special day in imagery that is sure to stand the test of time. Fall in love with every magical moment in the full gallery.

From Weddings By Scott and Dana… This whole day warmed my heart! In the springtime, the hills of Northern California can be a bit blustery, and the wind was ROUGH, but this bride and groom wouldn’t have let ANY setbacks spoil the joy on their wedding day. This was one of my favorite weddings we’ve ever photographed– read along and you’ll see all the reasons why!

From Amelia, the bride… In July of 2020 Eric and I were supposed to go on a trip to Costa Rica, but the pandemic forced us to change plans. We wound up at the cutest little remote A-frame cabin in the High Sierras. The first day we were there, we packed up a picnic and found a little valley meadow filled with wildflowers. While I was making a bite from the cheese board, Eric gave me a hand-made little book. In the book, he had written about meaningful times in our relationship and his visions for the future. As I was reading, he pulled out a ring box and asked the question when I’d finished! After I said yes, he photographed me re-reading the book with the vintage film camera he’d bought and learned to use just to document this occasion. It was perfect, and our proposal became the inspiration behind the wildflower theme of our wedding. Feeling like the day was a journey was very important to us. We made sure to choose a venue where the ceremony location was separate from the cocktail hour, which was separate from the reception area. We wanted our guests to experience a variety of setting and make it feel like multiple new reveals throughout the event to maintain energy and excitement. Additionally, we wanted to have an elegant atmosphere, but with a rustic undercurrent to keep it from feeling too stuffy. Our venue, The Haven at Tomales offered these components, as well as checking many other boxes. While we knew we wanted to be married in rolling hills of CA wine country, we didn’t want our wedding to visually focus around wine, and finding a venue where the vistas aren’t filled with vineyards was a priority. As a nature preserve, The Haven at Tomales aligns with our eco-friendly mindset and as a working farm, it lent well to the rustic elegance we were looking for (and cows for some amazing sunset shots!!). Additionally, something important to us was the drive people would be taking to the wedding. The drive to the Haven goes through miles of stunning rolling fields and hills, so the journey there just builds the expectation for a spectacular venue, and The Haven at Tomales doesn’t disappoint when you arrive. Lastly, the bridal suite is stunning and spacious, and the groom room is a great touch. It was important to us that everyone feel like one cohesive group/family, so we implemented a few things to facilitate this desire. We did not designate bride and groom sides, allowing everyone to sit where they’d like at the ceremony. We also tried to play around with the seating chart for dinner, to encourage people to connect with people they might not have met otherwise. Additionally, we served a more informal family-style meal, instead of plated service. This allowed people to pass food around and chat. My favorite moment of day was our First Look. While it’s wonderful to have all of our friends and family gathered, the priority of the day was us. To build anticipation, we spent the night before and morning of separate, so seeing each other was a great private moment when the impact of what we were about to do really hit. It was pure excitement and happiness.

A few of my favorite things:

1. My jewelry. My dress had a very bold lace pattern and my veil was covered in pearls, so finding the right jewelry to connect the two and not get overwhelmed was critical. I worked with the most amazing jeweler Luxe Puka Shell Jewelry and she designed the perfect set of earrings and a necklace.

2. A family friend and ceramic artist based in Denver Paula Schmitt made the most incredible little ceramic bud vases that were placed at each seat, with a beautiful bloom, and served as party favors for each guest to take home.

3. The mirror seating chart. It started with hours of pinterest/etsy scrolling, then turned into scouring local antique shops to find the perfect mirror. And as a bonus, we’ll be able to have the mirror in our home as a reminder for years to come!

4. Our wedding had a wildflower theme, which we wanted to flow consistently through every single element. This started with the invitations. Our stationer Little Bird Paper Company helped us achieve this vision better than we could have dreamed. The organic paper, sage green ink, and blind press of a flower were all exquisite touches, but what we loved most was the wax seal with dried flowers pressed into it. It was the perfect personal touch. We additionally then used this elsewhere in the day-of stationery (seating chart, place cards) to tie it all together.

5. To make the place settings feel more casual, yet still intentional, we tied the napkins into knots as a more unconventional accent.

6. We made our own tablecloth for the cake table. My mom and I scoured fabric shops to find the perfect floral and sequined, yet still understated, fabric to adorn the cake table. We wanted to make sure it was a special fabric, not used anywhere else, to really make it stand out. Additionally, the sequins in the material sparkled beautifully under the spotlight and photographed great.

This one might seem small, but it’s been impactful. I made sure to let the florist know what flowers are meaningful to me. Golden Fields Floristry did a fantastic job incorporating them, and now as I walk around my neighborhood, I see some of my favorite flowers and think back to the wedding. Write each other cards to read on the morning of the wedding. We each took time before the wedding to put our emotions into letters for each other and had our best man/maid of honor exchange them at the venue. Taking a quiet moment to read them is a great way to not only build anticipation for what’s about to happen but just remind yourself why this is the person you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with. We also each wrote a letter to each of the four parents. Then, when we were getting ready, we sat down and gave them to each of them. It was a chance to not only tell our own parents how much we appreciate them, but it was also a very personal opportunity to tell the in-laws-to-be how excited we each were to join the respective families. For both of us, the moments of giving the parents the cards were very emotional and meaningful. I think everyone’s heard this already, but it’s true – but it’s worth mentioning again– if a little detail is off on the day of the wedding, don’t worry about it. No one else is going to notice. You’ve put in so much work to make the day wonderful, that even if it’s 95% of what you had planned, that still means it’s amazing, so just enjoy it. Also, I highly recommend making a wedding checklist early! We were lucky that our planner Parker Nichols Events and Design sent us over a huge checklist as soon as we started planning and it was a lifesaver when things started to get busier and we worried about forgetting things. We could always check the list, and be confident we were still on track.