• Real Weddings

A good wedding venue can really set the whole tone of your event. Can you imagine having your diy rustic wedding at a fancy golf course? Well... the thought of having a fancy hotel or golf course wedding was intimidating to our next bride and groom. They consider themselves very laid back and really wanted their entire day to reflect that - including their wedding venue. On top of that they had to find a venue that could accommodate a large amount of people within their budget, a task in itself. Luckily Hurst Ranch Historical Foundation was mentioned and ended up being the perfect combination of laid back and affordable.

Hurst Ranch can accommodate up to 400 guests with a beautiful outdoor rustic setting, evoking a time of the past with tons of trees and country roads. It has an  informal backyard type of feeling, which was Grace and Ryan's ideal wedding venue. There are so many more great photos to see in the full gallery all captured by Closer to Love Photography that you must see.

From The Bride:

 The ceremony backdrop was definitely one of my favorite decor items. To continue the backyard-DIY-wedding theme my fiance made a fence and my sister decorated it with handmade flower, vintage frames and book pages. These are a few of the many sentimental details we incorporated into our decor. From a quick glance at our wedding people could easily say that it was another rustic, vintage themed wedding but looking closer at the details it was undeniably a Ryan and Grace wedding!

Within the decorations I tried to incorporate elements of our personalities into it as much as possible. We are both big DIY lovers and therefore tried to capture a DIY feel throughout all of the decor as well as doing as many DIY projects as possible. I had the florist arrange the centerpieces to look like someone went through a field and picked wildflowers.

We love books and paper so I incorporated handmade book flowers within the centerpieces. The books that we tore apart for the flowers were Christian books that reflect our love for God. I love anything vintage, which probably traces back to all the black and white Audrey Hepburn movies my mom showed me as a little girl. Vintage frames, typewriter, books were definitely go to items for the wedding decor.

I love anything vintage, which probably traces back to all the black and white Audrey Hepburn movies my mom showed me as a little girl. Vintage frames, typewriter, books were definitely go to items for the wedding decor.

Chalkboards! I love chalkboards and writing with chalk, which found their way to the table numbers. I also love mismatched items which I tried to reflect through mismatched books, bottles, frames and doors. Ryan has a love for notebooks and therefore we bought a huge moleskin notebook and used that as our guestbook. He also loves his hecho in Mexico cokes so we used as many of those bottles as we could drink and collect!

A space at the wedding dedicated to a loved that is no longer with us, is really quite touching. We have seen it done at the actually ceremony, but to follow through with the idea at the reception is such a lovely idea as well.

Bride's engagement ring: Brilliant Earth

Photographer: Closer to Love Photography Venue: Hurst Ranch Historical Foundation Makeup: Eugenia Chung Cake: Sweet Lucies Caterer: Bashful Butler Cinematography: Raw Fiction Pictures Coordinator: Me & Serendipity DJ: Shine Entertainment Dress Designer: Designer is Casablanca from a boutique in San Francisco Flowers: Hannah Koo Designs Groom's Attire: Tommy Hilfiger Jewelry: Bride's hair piece: Etsy seller ChantalEveleen Shoe Designer: Naturalizer Stationery: Sharon Park Prop or Furniture Rentals: Knot too Shabby Paper flowers were DIY Photobooth: The Traveling Photobooth Groomsmen socks: Richer or Poorer