The Wedding Chicks

As a wedding photographer, Stephanie has seen a ton of weddings and of course wanted to plan the perfect wedding that represented her and her love, Freddy. These two Texans knew they wanted a ranch wedding and decided on a 700-acre ranch in the Hill Country. Not a traditional wedding venue, but a destination where guests could spend the weekend together and basque in all the beauty that Hill Country has to offer.

Read on to learn more about this Texas bohemian wedding at Longhorn River Ranch. All photographed by the truly talented Ryan Ray and coordinated ever so beautifully by Joyful Details.  As always see more in the full gallery here.

From the bride:
The most memorable moments were a culmination of happenings throughout the day…sitting in my makeup chair sipping on a mimosa while my girls looked on, putting my wedding dress on and feeling my heart flutter, watching our dream-team make our vision come together from the bedroom of the second floor, waiting to walk down the aisle in the back seat of the jaguar with my dad trying to hold back tears, feeling the palatable love during the ceremony from everyone there.

If you were to ask Freddy, he’d say he couldn’t choose either – the entire day was so surreal and amazing to us – the most special day of our lives so far. But perhaps the best moment for me was seeing Freddy’s face as I walked down the aisle to “Fix You”. He had no idea what song I walking down to – I intentionally kept it a secret and he absolutely fell apart and it was the sweetest moment of my life.

All these pretty florals were designed by Lindy Floral. Bouquets of soft hued poppies, dahlias and peonies make the perfect soft, romantic and bohemian wedding bouquets. Freddy’s darling turquoise and gingham shirt and buttery lemon tie all from J. Crew.

Guests threw paper cones filled with lavender to celebrate the newlyweds, all perfectly planned out by Joyful Details. If you look below, Stephanie and Freddie used quite a few things from the Wedding Chicks’ shop and  free wedding printables section. As you can see below they used our Free Floral Heart Monogram for their wedding programs and our Bride and Groom Sign for their chair signs.

From the bride:
We chose to get married under a pair of massive trees in the middle of an open field. We just loved that both trees stood side-by-side, branches intertwined. We decided to keep it simple with bottles, jars with flowers and ribbon strung from the branches. The only thing that marked our altar was a lone wine barrel that marked the center of the aisle.

We chose to get married under a pair of massive trees in the middle of an open field. We just loved that both trees stood side-by-side, branches intertwined. We decided to keep it simple with bottles, jars with flowers and ribbon strung from the branches. The only thing that marked our altar was a lone wine barrel that marked the center of the aisle.

From the bride:
Honestly, music was so important to us. Instead of walking down the aisle to traditional music, we chose some of our favorite tunes. My bridesmaids walked down the aisle to “Til Kingdom Come” by Coldplay, I walked down to “Fix You” by Coldplay, and our balloon release & recessional was set to “Dog Days Are Over” by Florence & the Machine. We even compiled cd’s as one of our favors.

Advice from the bride:
Advice? I think the best advice I got was from Chelsea Petaja in an email: “Soak up all you can! remember to breath and focus on the marriage when the wedding seems to be overwhelming”. Oh, and hire an amazing videographer! Everyone thinks of a photographer, and of course I think its super important as I am a wedding photographer myself, but too many people don’t think a videographer is necessary and its one of the most common regrets among newlyweds. We couldn’t be happier with our wedding movie and we look forward to watching it every year on our anniversary and showing our kids in the future!”

You simply must watch the entire video from The Cana Collective. A breathtaking and memorable wedding film that we could watch over and over.

Flowers: Lindy Floral
Hair & Makeup: Mindy Orsak
Cinematography: The Cana Collective
DJ: DJ Oscar B
Dress Designer: Ivy & Aster
Groom's Attire: J.Crew
Shoe Designer: Badgley Mischka
Totes, T-Shirts, Monogram for Programs, Tags, CD's & Welcome Dinner Card: The Wedding Chicks
Invitations: Red Circle Letterpress
Vintage Jaguar: Austin Classic Limo
Groomsmen Ties: A Rose is a Rose
Vintage Stamps: Verde Studio
Officiant: Mike Rinehart
Venue: Longhorn River Ranch
Cake: Central Market

After getting engaged in a hot air balloon, Carlyn and Davey created their wedding based on their love of craft beer and great Sonoma County wine. This bright and colorful wedding combined the couples theme of “Eat, Drink and Be Married,” their unique engagement, and the bride’s love of flowers into a memorable event.

Be sure to view all of the noteworthy details from this navy blue summer wedding at Green Music Center in the full gallery here, all beautifully captured by Volatile Photography. Who also happens to be part of our hand-picked wedding collection. Learn more about Volatile Photography here.

From the Bride:
Our theme was also displayed on our favorite decor items, playful chalkboards that were illustrated by our good friend and groomsmen, John Kelley. The Green Music Center is so naturally beautiful and we didn’t want to overpower that with outside decor. We tried to keep our ceremony decor simple yet tied to the rest of our decor found during the reception. We chose a birch arch because it was simple, natural and blended well with the surroundings.

Our families played a huge role in helping to create our DIY projects. My mother designed and sewed the navy and grey ring bearer pillow and fixed up the flower girl basket she used as a young girl for my niece to use at our wedding. Our wedding was especially unique because of our officiant — my father. Having my dad marry us has always been a dream of mine. I will never forget the joy of not only being walked down the isle by him but also being married by him. Although you can’t see it in pictures, he had tears running down his face the entire ceremony.

The “Newlywed Bench” was a style of guest book where our guests signed an outdoor bench with their names and well wishes. The newlywed bench was an idea from the father of the bride. He envisioned this bench to be something we could have in our home forever and that would always be a wonderful reminder of that day.

We wanted to incorporate that into our wedding somehow without it becoming too whimsical. We loved the other thumbprint designs we have seen from other weddings and thought it would be so easy to apply to a hot air balloon! My Maid of Honor printed our names, our wedding date and a hot air balloon basket on a canvas and our guests added their thumbprints to create a large hot air balloon. We chose to do only fingerprints and not have anyone sign it because we had the newlywed bench. This was simply a fun piece of art that we could hang in our home to remind us of our engagement and wedding!

Along with wines from Everett Ridge Winery and an IPA from Lagunitas Brewing Company on the drink menu was the crowd favorite — a pale ale beer brewed by the groom and his friend cleverly named “Hoppily Ever After.” This wedding incorporated this couples love of craft beer and great Sonoma County wine not only in drink menu, but also in the decor. Corks from the couples favorite wineries were used as holders for the escort cards and table name signs, with each table being named after a different wine.

Davey’s mom and sister experimented for months with dessert recipes before spending hours the day before the wedding baking all of our wonderful bite-sized desserts, including lemon bars, raspberry cheesecakes and coconut macaroons. We incorporated some family history into our wedding through our raw almond favors, which were a tribute to my grandparents, who were almond farmers.

Venue: Green Music Center
Hair & Makeup: April Demello from The Parlor
Cake: Bianchi’s Bake Shop
DJ: DJ Shabazz
Dress Designer: Galina Couture
Flowers: Stems Floral
Groom’s Attire: Vera Wang
Shoe Designer: B.A.I.T. Footwear
Stationery: Fine and Dandy Paperie
Caterer & Prop or Furniture Rentals: Prelude at the Green Music Center
Linen Rentals: Encore Events
Beverages: Everett Ridge Winery & Lagunitas Brewing Company
Officiant: Father of the Bride | Desserts: Sister of the Groom

After dating for over 12 years this couple wanted their wedding to reflect their stress free, easy going nature. Holman Ranch created the atmosphere they were looking for by providing an all-in-one venue for their special day. The expansive grounds of the ranch allowed the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing to be in different locations around the property.

Check out more details from this rustic fall wedding in the full gallery here, fabulously photographed by Fondly Forever Photography.

The bride looked gorgeous in the unique ‘Bardot’ dress by Matthew Christopher and ‘Andrea’ Ruffle Wedges by Katie & Kelly. Christine Spiering from The Beauty Bar created the natural look that kept the her looking fresh throughout the day.

From the Bride & Coordinator:
The internet turned out to be a helpful resource for nondenominational vows and we pieced together parts of vows that meant the most to us. We also selected 6 people from the bride and groom’s family and friends to write their own reflections on marriage, words of advice, or really anything that inspired them. These readings were then shared in front of our 130 guests during the ceremony. We were definitely nervous that this wouldn’t work but it turned out to be a unique and beautiful twist on the traditional wedding ceremony and the plentiful feedback was extremely positive.

It goes without saying that planning a wedding is both time consuming and expensive so we decided to pick vendors who not only had worked at the venue many times, but who also worked together regularly. This was the key to pulling off an extremely easy planning process without the need for a wedding planner. Everyone worked together even occasionally without my involvement.

We opted for a day-of coordinator which was one of the best investments of the wedding. Coastside Couture did a great job of tying up all the lose ends and I didn’t have any distractions on the big day. Floral arrangements and decorations were kept to a minimum and all homemade, but to alleviate stress (on the mother-of-the-bride) we chose Mid Valley Florist in Carmel to do the 4 bridal bouquets.

John and Nancy at Paradise Catering worked with us to come up with a menu that was unique, delicious, and that would work with the family style service for dinner. They also set up their famous Heirloom Tomato Bar which our guests are still talking about.

Rather than having a traditional wedding cake, this laid back couple opted for bite-sized Bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes. A Moto-Espresso Coffee Cart provided the guests with Italian and Brazilian coffee to keep the party going late into the night.

Photographer: Fondly Forever Photography
Event Designer: Chic Event Rentals
Venue: Holman Ranch
Makeup: Christine Spiering from The Beauty Bar
Hair: Miriam Elizaga from Shampoo Dolls
Caterer: Paradise Catering
Coordinator: Coastside Couture
DJ: DJ Antonio Diaz from SoundShine Mobile Entertainment
Dress Designer: Matthew Christopher
Flowers: Mid Valley Florist
Shoe Designer: Katie & Kelly
Stationery: Wedding Paper Divas
Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo
Photobooth: Shutterbooth
Coffee Cart: Moto-Espresso Coffee Cart
Cookies: Pacific Cookie Company
Bundtinis: Nothing Bundt Cakes
Groom’s Attire: Custom Tux