Intimate, Rustic Wedding with Gorgeous Details

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 51

Today’s real wedding is kicking off the week with serious helpings of pretty!

Crystal & Jeff are a loved-up couple with an adventurous spirit, who tied the knot with a countryside wedding in Ohio, they describe as, “organic, intimate, and fun”.

With boutique resort, The Inn at Honey Run as the relaxing backdrop for their big day, the couple and their guests enjoyed chilling out in the great outdoors for their holiday weekend wedding, lapping up great food, stunning scenery and fun times.

On the day itself, the couple followed their emotional first look with an outdoor ceremony and candlelit reception. With styling and planning by Oak & Honey Events, their celebration was adorned in gorgeous details, from the custom signage and the luxe florals and foliage, to the pretty tablescapes and the sweet treat spread. And that’s before you get to their chic bridal party style – and cute pooch Bucky!

With beautiful pictures by Suzuran Photography, scroll down to be entirely inspired by this romantic rustic wedding.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 36

Our Love Story

We met in 2010 through work friends and started dating two years later. On our first date, Jeff knew my great love for animals, so he won me over by taking me to see his family’s baby goats.

We both loved to travel so we were always out adventuring to new places every chance we got.

I knew Jeff was the one for me after a very stormy night in Ohio had knocked out all my power! Jeff let me and my dog Bucky stay the night in his room while he, the perfect gentleman, slept on the couch.

Jeff will tell you that was the best and worst nights of his life. Sleeping on a leather couch in 80 degree heat with no a/c was awful, but he knew he had found his person.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 53

The Proposal

Jeff loves to plan elaborate events so I was thinking he might do something elaborate for the proposal. A few weeks before we got engaged, we went to Park City Utah with some friends and I kept thinking a proposal was going to happen during one of the many romantic moments while we were in the mountains .

As it turns out Jeff had the ring the whole time, he just couldn’t find the right moment to propose. A few weeks later, once we were back home in Ohio Jeff found his moment.

I had a 5K race to run in the morning and we spent the afternoon hanging out with friends. Nothing special at all – just a perfect relaxing Saturday. When we got home, I let Bucky outside and as I was walking back in, Jeff got down on a knee and asked me to be his wife.

I couldn’t have been more surprised and said YES! It was so special to have that intimate moment together in our home.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 39

Our Wedding

When it came time to plan our special day we had visions of an intimate weekend with our closest friends and family, topped off with a fabulous party.

Jeff and I knew we wanted to enjoy the day interacting with our loved ones and for sure get to enjoy the fabulous food we had picked out! When we stumbled upon the beautiful secluded property at The Inn At Honey Run we knew we had found the perfect place.

Our guests were able to stay on property for the long Labor Day weekend and enjoy everything The Inn had to offer from hiking, to horse and buggy rides, to feeding the sheep on the property.

Since there was so much beautiful nature around us I wanted our wedding to just blend in around that. We had tones of green, pale pinks, copper and marsala for a pop of color. To keep with the intimate feel of our wedding- our bridal party was small, we wrote our own vows, had our dog carry the rings, and asked our sister-in-law to do the officiating.

Thankfully Mother Nature gave us perfect weather and we were able to keep all our events outside and dance the night away under the stars.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 45

Our Favourite Details

We chose to have a first look before our ceremony and standing on top of the hillside overlooking the Inn at Honey Run whole property together was such a special moment that we will never forget. It was so nice to have that quiet time together before the wedding actually started.

One of my other favorite moments is when our groomsman, who was holding our dog Bucky during the ceremony, let him go as Jeff and I were walking back down the aisle. It was so cute to see him running down the aisle to try and catch up with us.

As for unique details we had a non-traditional guestbook that I ordered from Etsy. Everyone signed these paper hearts that were attached to photos of us. We have it hanging in our home in the entry way and I love looking at all the names every time we walk in.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 66

The Photography & Videography

We immediately fell in love with Suzuran Photography. Her photos felt like they captured such authentic and organic moments between the couples she was working with.

Every photo we looked at on her site made us feel like we were really in that moment. As soon as we met Suzanne in person we knew we had made the right decision – she understood our quirkiness like wanting to take engagement photos in front of our favorite ice-cream shop and dealing with us as we laughed through almost all our wedding shots!

We were already in love with her work but when we received ours photos back we were even more in awe!

I knew Kelsey with Maiko Media was the videographer for us when I began to watch her wedding videos and started tearing up for couples I didn’t even know. Jeff would come home and I would be crying on the couch and he thought something was wrong – I was just so emotional from all these beautiful videos!

On our one month anniversary our wedding video showed up in the mail and Kelsey did not disappoint!

Everyone tells you that your wedding day goes by so fast – but it really does. Kelsey captured all the special moments we shared with our family and friends as well as the moments we didn’t even know happening!

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 63

Advice for Other Couples

The best advice I can give is to have fun! Everything goes by so quickly so just embrace every special moment you can with your significant other.

One of my favorite moments was slipping away with Jeff to take late night photos and looking back to see everyone we loved dancing the night away at our reception. It is those special moments you will always remember.

Also HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER – they are worth every penny. I cannot say enough wonderful things about our planner Melanie with Oak and Honey Events!

She always had our interests at the top of her list. On our wedding day, it was so wonderful to just sit back and relax with our families and let Melanie handle all the details.

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 49

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 30

Rustic & Intimate Wedding by Suzuran Photography and Oak & Honey Events 72

The Honeymoon

We chose South Africa as our honeymoon destination. Jeff and I love to adventure almost as much as we love great food and this once-in-a-lifetime trip definitely checked off those boxes.

We started our trip at the Dulini Private Game Reserve in Kruger National Park. We spent our time there getting up close and personal with Africa’s wildlife. We saw the big five in our very first game drive: hippo, buffalo, lion, elephant and leopard (he got so close to Jeff’s side of our truck that I thought our honeymoon might be cut VERY SHORT).

From there we traveled down to the Cape Winelands and stayed at Mont Rochelle in Franschhoek. We indulged in wine tastings and cheese pairings while taking in the beautiful countryside.

After lots of eating and drinking it was back to adventuring. We spent two nights at the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and went whale watching from the shore, hiked through all of the varieties of fynbos, and even saw a dozen great white sharks while cage diving in the famous “seal alley”.

After surviving our shark diving, we traveled to Cape Town and stayed at the Cape Grace. We had a private tour guide for two days and traveled the cape countryside visiting the South African Penguins, Table Mountain and The Cape of Good Hope.

GiltEdge Travel helped us plan this amazing adventure and we would highly recommend South Africa as a vacation or honeymoon spot for anyone looking for an amazing experience that touches everything from wild animals, to beaches, the city, and beautiful countryside.