Vibrant Garden Wedding Full of Personal Touches In California
Bold and bright color choices help to tell this California love story beautifully. To Be Loved Events coordinated the fairytale-like day held at a private estate, and floral design by Unique Floral Designs created romance at every turn. Every special moment was expertly snapped by Christine Skari Photography, visit the full gallery for a look at all the lovely.
From To Be Loved Events... Sprouting from their magnetic friendship while at CalArts grad school together, Anna & Michael's love for each other is much like their fairytale wedding they held at Quail Ranch, a flourishing private estate in Simi Valley, California. Their blissful day was nothing short of whimsical with vibrant florals and personal touches woven throughout, all captured by Christine Skari Photography. Anna & Mike expressed, "The wedding planning all started with a venue, a dress, and a romantic, garden fantasy. Once we started to define the location and theme of our wedding all the other details seemed to fall into place." Planning for the big day themselves, they started to lean into letting each other plan the pieces that meant most to them. They also truly relied on key friends and family members to consult with, as well as their wedding coordinator, Samantha of To Be Loved Events, and her Aisle Planner wedding planning platform for keeping track of upcoming tasks. The magical, Spanish-style, private venue provided the perfect, romantic atmosphere for the evening. "Over the course of the night, the party moved across the property seamlessly, from the ceremony brick area to cocktail hour, to the reception space. This journey was one of the main selling points of Quail Ranch. And above all else, we wanted our big day to go perfectly, and felt like finding the right person to host us, the owner Joanne, was just as important as the space itself."
As artists themselves, they knew right away it was important to add some creative and unique elements to the wedding to make it feel like a true reflection of their special union. Some of these included their polaroid photo guest book and photo display for guests to interact with throughout the event, their hired professional bouzouki player to perform in between the wedding band sets (as a nod to Anna’s Greek family, and their epic Greece engagement), and their special wedding party "readings of love" during their ceremony as a less traditional and more personal way to involve them. From Shakespeare to the Beatles, and the animated film Ponyo, each quote was moving and really set the tone for the romantic evening. Along with the other personal details, Unique Floral Designs made their wedding day flower dreams come true. The vision was executed so flawlessly by the floral team and the couple gushed about how "the flowers were easily the most memorable detail of the wedding." The pops of vibrant bougainvillea with the cream and shades of the pink color palette were just breath-taking. Anna's Claire Pettibone "Odessa" gown from the “Couture” collection and her accessories were fit for a princess and for the fairytale day they created. And we can't forget Skiff's Cakes' magical confectionery masterpiece which was their three-tier wedding cake adorned with a gorgeous cascade of pink and champagne sugar roses (one of Anna's absolute favorite details!). While the couple had so many favorite and special moments from the day, one moment that really stood out was the moment alone they had immediately after the ceremony and family photos. Everyone had left the ceremony area and they were given the entire space to themselves just to breathe and decompress from the intensity of the moments prior. "We weren’t sure it was necessary during our planning, but it became such an important memory for both of us to just sit and look at each other and reflect on the magical moment that had just happened… We were married!"
Noted by the couple, their most helpful tools for wedding planning: A shared email address just for wedding-related tasks to keep them extremely organized and their wedding coordinator who jumped into their wedding process at the 60-day point and was essential in creating deadlines, giving us friendly reminders and always providing helpful tips about how to approach the intense process of planning something so monumental!
