Rustic Outdoor Wedding in California

Oh, we have a drop of sunshine in wedding form today, to kick off the week.

Dan & Melissa's beautiful rustic wedding in California, adorned in blush tones, lots of blooms and relaxed al fresco vibes.

And it was all captured by talented twosome, Casey and Andrea of Figlewicz Photography.

Any wedding that starts off with a teary first look is always going to be a romantic one, and Dan & Melissa's Walnut Grove wedding was just that.

Sweet signage, Etsy decor, thoughtful music choices, and a chilled out BBQ reception were the perfect details to complement a celebration that was classic, elegant, and beautifully styled.

With the help of their planner, Kim Paolone of K Rae Events, they made the already idyllic outdoor setting even more special, with long tables, log candles, a stunning naked wedding cake and oversized mason jars filled with flowers.

Let's just say, there's a whole lot of pretty going on…

Wedding Day Snapshot

Our Love Story

We met through mutual friends in Santa Monica. After about a year of being acquaintances and constantly running into each other at different gatherings, Dan finally decided to ask me out.

As we planned where to go for our first date, Dan suggested about 15 different restaurants, all of which seemed too fancy and were rejected. We finally decided on a low key casual dinner spot, where they had board games and tater tots.

We quickly became inseparable and after a couple of months and a weekend away in Santa Barbara Dan finally asked me to be his girlfriend.

After a couple of years of dating, Dan and I decided to move and purchase a home in Orange County. It was a scary decision but I knew this was the perfect place for Dan and I to settle down. We finally found our dream home and after an exhausting weekend of moving in, it was time for our friends and family to head home. Dan and I were alone to enjoy our new home together.

Little did I know, Dan’s plan was to never spend one night in our new home without being engaged. So that night, a very nervous looking Dan, dropped to one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket and proposed.

I screamed and cried joyful tears and eventually remembered to say YES!

The Attire

I wore an all lace dress with thin spaghetti straps and a beaded belt.

Dan wore a navy suit with a white shirt and a navy tie, accompanied by tan shoes and belt. He carried his late grandfather’s pocket watch as a symbol of his presence during our ceremony.

My bridesmaids all wore different style dresses by the same designer. The dresses were full length and blush colored.

The groomsmen attire matched Dan’s except they did not wear a jacket, as we liked the more casual look.

The Flowers

The bouquets and centerpieces had hydrangeas, roses, lisianthus, dusty miller, and dahlias.

We loved how the florist incorporated neutral colors, varying textures, and large mason jars to bring our vision to life.

Favourite Moments

We are so glad we chose to do a first look because it was our favorite moment. Seeing Dan tear up when he saw me in my dress for the first time is a moment neither of us will ever forget.

We also loved having our wedding weekend activities at the Westlake Village Inn.

It was the perfect spot for all of our family and friends to gather and celebrate.

The Photography & Videography

We chose Figlewicz Photography because we feel in love with their photography style and loved all the photos on their website/blog.

What really sealed the deal was meeting them – they are the sweetest couple and we immediately felt comfortable with them and knew they would do an outstanding job capturing our wedding.

They exceeded our expectations. Not only do we love our photos but Casey and Andrea did a great job managing the day.

We chose New Classic Films after seeing the highlight films on their website. They were far and above any other highlight films we viewed. We can’t wait to see the final product!

The Music

Dan was in charge of the music. The songs he picked were perfect and he incorporated enough country songs to keep me happy.

Our processional was Train, ‘Marry Me' and Ingrid Michaelson, ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love'. I walked down the aisle to an instrumental version of Christina Perri, ‘A Thousand Years'

For our recessional we picked Natalie Cole, ‘This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)'.

For the grand entrance, we wanted an upbeat song for our bridal party to dance to so we picked Jessie J, ‘Bang Bang' and we came into American Authors, ‘Best Day Of My Life'.

We were going to use Ed Sheeran, ‘Thinking Out Loud' for our first dance but then I thought a better song for us would be Rascal Flatts, ‘Bless The Broken Road' and Dan agreed almost immediately.

Dan picked Nat King Cole, ‘L-O-V-E' for his dance with his Mom, and I picked Tim McGraw, ‘My Little Girl' for my dance with my Dad.

The Venue

After months of searching on the internet I stumbled across the Walnut Grove website and was blown away by the style and beauty of the venue. Once we toured the venue we immediately fell in love and knew it was the place for our wedding.

Our wedding theme was simple and rustic with neutral colors. We really wanted the beauty of our venue to shine through so we kept decorations as simple as possible. Our colors were blush and ivory.

The Decor & Details

The handful of decorations we used came from different Etsy shops. We loved the unique items that we found because they were simple and rustic, which fit with our style.

The Budget

We splurged on the the photographer and the wedding dress.

We felt the photographer was a great vendor to invest in because they capture memories that last a lifetime.

I fell in love with the dress as soon as I put it on and I knew it was the dress for me. Thankfully, I had a very understanding fiancé.

The Refreshments

We had a BBQ buffet. We both love BBQ food and thought it was a perfect fit for our wedding style.

We chose a naked wedding cake since neither of us like frosting. We felt it fit well with our wedding style and couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

Advice for Other Couples

It is important to be realistic with your budget, talk to someone who recently planned a wedding so you can get an idea of how much each vendor/wedding item costs. We were very surprised at some of the quotes we received and had to quickly make adjustments to our original budget.

And just remember even during the stressful parts of wedding planning to enjoy the process and know the end result is getting to marry your best friend.

The best advice we received for the day was; no one knows what your wedding is suppose to look like so any little mistake that happens won’t be noticed like you think it will, so relax and enjoy.

Finally, a wedding coordinator is worth her weight in gold. Kim was a huge reason for our success and we are so thankful for her help.

The Honeymoon

We went to the Big Island of Hawaii and had the best time ever. If you enjoy both resort life and the outdoors than we highly recommend the Big Island.

We loved the variety Hawaii had to offer, one day we were enjoying the luxurious pools and relaxing beaches of our resort and the next day we were going on hikes in Volcano National Park, seeing beautiful waterfalls and enjoying local cuisine.

It was a perfect place to begin our married life together.