A whimsically pink Southern California ranch wedding

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Pink bow ties, a whimsical princess skirt, cascading florals & handmade decor – this California ranch wedding is filled with pretty details.

Emily & Matthew chose Southern California’s Quail Ranch for their sunset alfresco wedding thanks to its stunning scenery and wedding-ready vibes. Given the venue’s beautiful outdoor spaces for their ceremony & reception, the couple knew they would have plenty more time to focus on florals & details – and oh, they did!

In the fashion department, the couple chose classy & structured pieces that stood out thanks to one or two bold details. For Emily, it was her layered, light & airy ballgown skirt, custom made by Aria Dress (a designer local to the bride!) Pairing his look with the polished & preppy style, Matthew & his groomsmen sported fabulous pink bow ties with their well-fitted, dapper suits.

For decor, the couple enlisted talented friends to create professional signage, laser-cut wooden name cards, bouquet ribbons & even custom embroidered pocket squares!

One detail we can’t get over? The single serve french fry cones, a perfect addition for our midnight snacking list!

The Proposal

We moved to LA after both living in the Bay Area our whole lives, because Matt had gotten a job offer there. On April 8, 2017, we had plans to fly back to the Bay Area for the weekend. As I (Emily) was waking up that morning, our cat Luna jumped on our bed. She had a ring hanging from her collar and at that moment Matt asked me to marry him. We flew home and he had planned a surprise celebration with both our families and our closest friends!

The Dress & Attire

I wore a custom wedding dress by Aria Dress in downtown Los Angeles, a few blocks away from where I worked when we lived there. I wanted something very simple, no lace or beading, just beautiful fabric and structure.

Matt wore a deep navy custom suit by Hall Madden in San Francisco. All the bridesmaids wore different colors and styles because I wanted them to feel comfortable and beautiful, so I let them pick their own dresses.

The Venue & Style

Our vision for the wedding was to have everything be unpolished but still elegant. We really wanted the entire wedding and ceremony to be outdoors. Quail Ranch was absolutely beautiful and didn’t require that much decor because of all of the florals and greenery.

The Flowers

The flowers were extremely important to me. There were two aspects I really cared about for the bouquet, and our florist Pavan Floral made my floral dreams come true. Her work is truly amazing. I told her I wanted a very unpolished, almost messy, cascading bouquet. No structure, just the illusion that the blooms and greenery were falling out of the bouquet. She exceeded my expectations.

I also wanted floor length ribbons tied to the base so when the girls and I walked down the aisle, the ribbons would float in the wind. I work for a clothing company and they were giving away leftover fabrics they had. I took all the crepe fabrics in our wedding colors and my mom turned them into ribbons for the bouquet.

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Favorite Moments

One of our favorite parts of the day was the ceremony, when our best friend Cole officiated our wedding and when we exchanged vows we had written for each other. It was really special for all our guests to hear about our relationship through Cole’s eyes. A lot of our guests also came up to us afterwards and said they loved our vows. We (especially Matt) aren’t always vocal to other people about our relationship, so that day we feel everyone truly learned about our love for each other.

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The Handmade Details

Our good friend Erin Sayson is a very talented UX designer in San Francisco and she designed all of our signs and poster boards. Our cousin, Ian Tran, who owns a laser cutting company in Australia called Domus Vim, made wooden décor pieces, and he also made personalized wooden name cards for each guest at dinner. My mom sewed the groom & groomsmen’s pocket squares, and hand embroidered their initials in the corner. My mom also made the ribbons for the bouquets.

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The Food & Drinks

The most important part to us was our bar! We hand-picked everything that was served, from the beer and wine to the hard alcohol. We had a ‘his & hers’ signature cocktail. Mine was a French 75, and Matt’s was a boulevardier.

We aren’t big fans of cake, so we decided to do donuts instead from Donut Snob. The four flavors we went with were raspberry lemon, blueberry earl grey, peanut butter chocolate, and malted chocolate with cornflakes. They were a huge hit!

The Honeymoon

We had a minimoon immediately after the wedding in Paso Robles where we stayed at Denner Vineyards. It was an amazing few days to enjoy each others company and reflect on our perfect wedding weekend. A week later, we went on our honeymoon to the beautiful south of France. We went to Nice, Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion, and Toulouse. Every day was relaxing and consisted of a lot of wine, bread, and cheese!