Today's real wedding is filled with deeply personal details, thoughtful touches and gorgeous decor.
Emily & Kris married on her family's private ranch in Oregon, with a backyard wedding that was beautifully styled.
And capturing every detail, from their first look to their airplane photo session (yep!) was the wonderful Christine Crawford of Vivid Photography.
With the help of friends, family and their planner, Genevieve Keith of Simply Smashing, Kris and Emily turned her poolside garden into the perfect personalised wedding venue, with an outdoor ceremony (we're loving the eucalyptus garland backdrop!), popcorn and coffee bars, and super pretty dessert table.
With DIY touches, family traditions, and details that reflected their shared loves throughout, we just adore when a couple includes such an intimate feel to their day.
And we think you'll agree from their chic style, polished bridal party, cute kids and steal-worthy decor, there's a lot to love about this special ranch wedding…
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Love Story
Kris and I met the day after Thanksgiving back in 2013. His family always goes Christmas tree hunting to find that perfect tree.
My dad and his mom have known each other since they were little kids and lived next door to each other. They had the idea to have us meet so his family invited my family to come with them that year. Kris ended up asking me to coffee the next day, and it kind of went from there!
Kris had planned a getaway weekend for the two of us to one of our favorite cities. On our way, we wanted to take a small detour to our favorite place, Crater Lake. He had brought his camera and tripod to take pictures of the lake. There was still quite a bit of snow so we trekked through the snow to the edge.
Kris set up his tripod and I sat on the edge on a rock wall in awe of the beauty. He sat next to me and I could tell he was very nervous. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the box and proposed to me with the most beautiful backdrop a girl could ask for.
The Attire
I wore a soft white lace-over-charmeuse trumpet gown and the bridesmaids wore long chiffon petal pink dresses with one shoulder.
The guys wore a light silver/grey suit that went with the soft tones.
The ring bearers outfits were probably my favorite. They wore white shirts with a petal pink bow tie, gray suspenders, shorts and brown boat shoes.
The flower girls wore a simple soft white dress with a petal pink sash and a flower crown that was handmade by Kris’ sister.
The Flowers
The flowers that were in the bouquets and centerpiecs were mums, stock, hydrangas, garden roses, dahlias, cala lillies and eucalyptus.
Favourite Moments
What made our wedding very ‘us’ was our coffee bar. Kris and I are major coffee lovers so we made a special area next to the bar that was for iced and hot coffee.
We also had coffee bean bags for our favors to our guests.
A very special detail for me was being able to carry my grandmother’s handkerchief down the aisle. Every woman in our family has carried it down the isle and I felt very honored to be able to share in the tradition.
The Inspiration
Our theme was soft light colors and tones, vintage furniture and lots and lots of eucalyptus.
We wanted our venue to be somehwere that holds a lot of memories and that means something to both of us. My parents private ranch was the perfect venue and ideal location that felt intimate and memorable.
The Music
Kris & I really bonded over music in our relationship.
We both really love Coldplay so we walked down the isle to an instrumental version of one of their songs. The recessional was a One Republic song.
Kris and I danced to Your Everything by Keith Urban. He picked it out for us which I thought was sweet and I loved the words and meaning to the song.
The first dance song for Kris and his mom was Days Like This by Van Morrison. My dad and I’s was Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle which he had always played and sang to me when I was a little girl.
There wasn’t a dry eye after the song ended. It was very emotional.
The Photography
From the very beginning Kris had mentioned that he knew of a really great photographer that he’d known for a while.
She thankfully opened up that weekend for us in her schedule and we couldn’t be happier.
Christine with Vivid Photography captured every detail and moment with such great quality. She took amazing pictures of the wedding party in front of my dad’s vintage plane which was a very special moment for him.
She was so kind and made everyone feel very comfortable.
Photography is something we really invested in. My sister-in-law Amber stressed to me that even though there are other areas that are important, it’s the images that last. That’s what you are going to see to help you remember your big day.
The Honeymoon
We left the next morning, very early. At first we were questioning why we did that, but as soon as we landed in Hawaii we were so grateful that we did.
It was rough getting up, but why not take a chance to relax as soon as you can? We personally would recommend it.
The Decor & Details
We have an amazing vintage rental place here in our area that rented out vintage couches and a buffet table that our cake sat on.
My sister-in-law DIYed huge K&E letters that sat in front of our table that really looked great.
The eye catcher of the entire place was where the ceremony took place. My dad built the garden area that we stood in front of, and my coordinator draped fabric around the arbor with eucalyptus cascading down.
It was beautiful and an amazing effort from our coordinator, family and friends.
The Refreshments
The catering company was amazing and the food tasted like a home cooked meal.
We had tri-tip and chicken, roasted potatoes, salad and fruit.
Our event coordinator had a fun vintage popcorn maker/bar that people really enjoyed. We are huge popcorn lovers and everyone seemed to love it!
The wedding cake was three layers of different flavors. The lemon poppyseed was to die for.
Advice for Other Couples
I recommend Wedding Wire. It helped so much with keeping track of our budget, guest list and addresses.
The best advice that I ever got was to make sure that you focus more on planning for a marriage and don’t just get caught up just planning for a wedding.
So gorgeous. Backyard weddings don't get much more elegant. They always make me feel a bit sad to live it the city – I'd love a backyard like that to get married in!
I just love Emily's advice for other couples too, what a wise bride! Oh and doesn't she
Thanks so much to Christine Crawford of Vivid Photography and of course, the gorgeous Emily & Kris for sharing their day with us.
