Oh we do just love a vineyard wedding!
And Courtney & Matt's Malibu bash is one of the most gorgeous winey celebrations we've featured yet.
And how could we have expected any less? It's always a fabulous wedding if it's been captured by one of our fave photography/videography teams, Studio 1208.
A rustic backdrop with opulent adornments, we're just in love with how Matt & Courtney, with the help of Amber Events and Holly Flora, transformed Saddlerock Ranch into an elegant wonderland.
Decadent blooms with the softest fall palette, bridesmaids in rich green dresses, the most enchanting lighting, and tablescaping that's simply divine; yep, this wedding is pretty glorious.
And in the centre of it all, college sweethearts, Matt & Courtney, with a day that celebrated them, their families and their shared and separate interests, in the most beautiful way.
We think you're going to love this one as much as we do!
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Proposal Story
Matt had been working on his pilot’s license for a year and we were celebrating him passing the test.
He absolutely loves flying and flew us to Santa Barbara. After we spent the day in Isla Vista, we flew over the ocean and were watching the whales jump out of the water.
He asked me to take over the controls of the plane. I was freaking out because I didn’t know it was on auto pilot and then he pulled out a little box.
He asked me to marry him and of course I said “yes.”
Matt and I met in college at UC Davis. We fit the cliché of fraternity guy meets sorority girl and fall in love.
Favourite Details
My favorite details were the photos of family weddings and personal photos used as table markers. My husband’s father had passed away a few years ago and this was my way of incorporating him and acknowledging the family members that were no longer with us.
Also our wedding planner, Amber, made our cocktail napkins with trivia questions about Matt and me. Amber incorporated many unique touches that made our wedding special.
Lastly, music was essential in making this wedding about us. The music we used represented different times in our life and music has always been important in my family. My dad had me listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, etc since a young age. My dad and I are extremely close and music symbolizes that bond for me.
My mom also had a makeup crew do all the makeup for my bridal party as well as the important ladies of my family. It was great to have that time before the ceremony to be around all the women that have inspired me through life and helped Matt and I be a successful couple.
The Attire
I wore a Maggie Sottero dress with capped sleeves and beaded embellishments.
My bridesmaids wore hunter green cocktail dresses from Weddington Way.
The groomsmen wore traditional tuxes and my husband wore a Vera Wang tux from Men’s Wearhouse.
The Ceremony
Our ceremony had many catholic elements because of my background. We went to Catholic counselling with our American Catholic priest for weeks before the ceremony.
We had a scripture from Romans 12:1-2, 9-18 and an excerpt from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières.
We gave our mothers roses to symbolize a joining of families and also to thank our moms for making this moment possible.
The Photography
We chose Studio 1208 because they offered a very personal experience. They came to our rehearsal dinner and blended in with our family and friends. They become our guests instead of strangers.
This husband and wife team, Maria and Nick, do such an amazing job with photos and videos. The quality of their service isn’t comparable to any other wedding photos/video I’ve seen.
The Venue
My husband loves the outdoors and is from Northern California. He always jokes that Southern California doesn’t have the natural beauty of Northern California.
I wanted to find a place that captured Matt’s love of nature with my love of southern California.
Saddlerock Ranch couldn’t have been a better fit for our style plus it’s a vineyard with amazing wine so how can you go wrong?
The Flowers
Our flowers were café au laits, garden roses, tulips, roses in peach, butter, and cream, and eucalyptus berries with green eucalyptus.
The Decor & Details
Our color palette was berry, hunter green, sepia, and eucalyptus and the style I used to describe it is rustic elegance.
We decorated the venue with lanterns, lights, wine barrels, hanging lights, and flowers.
The Refreshments
Our signature drink was ‘My future hubby’, which was St. Germain, lemon juice, and Champagne.
Our wedding cake had three tiers of cookies and cream, lavender lemon, and champagne cake with strawberry icing.
Our dinner was a formal sit down meal.
Budget Splurges
We went all out with the venue, entertainment, and the open bar.
The Music
Our first dance was “Someone like you” by Van Morrison.
We had my dad’s friend’s band, Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries, who had us dancing all night.
For the cocktail hour, we had a harpist play our favorite songs. My bridal party walked out to the harpist playing “Make my Dreams Come True” by Hall and Oates and my husband and I walked down the aisle after our ceremony to “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles.
We also had a DJ for the end of the night who played our favorite 90s music.
Advice for Other Couples
I recommend having a wedding planner even if it’s just for the day of. Our wedding planner, Amber, gave us excel budget sheets and provided a lot of resources to make our wedding feel like us.
She connected us with amazing vendors and everything went smoothly, so I didn’t have to worry about a thing on the day.
The blog Style Me Pretty also gave me a lot of ideas and Weddington Way is a great website for bridesmaids dresses especially when you have bridesmaids who don’t live in the same state.
That is seriously some of the most incredible lighting we've seen, wow. What a stunning wedding day! Did you read Courtney and Matt's proposal story too – pretty epic!
Thanks so much to the ever-fantastic Studio 1208 and of course, the gorgeous Courtney and Matt for sharing their winery wedding with us.
Don't forget to pop back tomorrow for their just-as-stunning wedding film!
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