WEDDING BLOG

It’s day two of our Real Wedding week here on What Junebug Loves, and we’re off to beautiful Southern California! Lindsay and Ryan were married at the one-of-a-kind location Rancho Las Lomas (a Junebug member business and one that we’ve loved getting to see in person!) and as you can see from these images by Taryn Kent Photography it was simply the perfect venue for this sweet, family-oriented celebration.

The Goals: Lindsay and Ryan wanted to find a wedding location that felt like home, where everyone in attendance would feel comfortable and could easily move around the grounds. When they discovered Rancho Las Lomas right next to the Cleveland National Forest where these two avid hikers love to spend time they knew it was the one. Making it even more perfect was the huge California Sycamore tree that drapes over the entire ceremony site. “It sounds silly, but I always wanted to be married under a California Sycamore (it’s my favorite tree). I was already sold on the site before I saw the tree, then when I saw it I immediately said, ‘When can we book our wedding date?'” Meant to be!

The Design: To compliment the fall look of this Spanish-inspired venue, Lindsay and Ryan chose an earthy color palette of black, white, brown, silver and sage. Each of the ten dining tables were decorated with photos of the couple from the ten years that they have been dating, and there were elements of nature all around. Delicious food from 24 Carrots was served, favors of small glass jars filled with chocolate were given out, and a 4 tired wedding cake from Savoie’s Fare had different flavors in each layer.

The Look: Lindsay really wanted a wedding dress that was vintage-inspired and that she would be comfortable wearing all day long, so her choice of a gown by Claire Pettibone was ideal. “I fell in love with the dress I chose because the lace on the back was gorgeous and the jewel design on the front was so stunning. Plus, I didn’t feel self-conscious in it and I could move around without feeling like I was carrying 50 pounds of extra fabric.”  Following tradition, Lindsay had something old, new and borrowed taken care of, but when she couldn’t find anything blue, she ended up drawing blue dots on the bottoms of her shoes. Very resourceful!

The Moments: Lindsay and Ryan have been together for ten years, so being away from each other the night before the wedding just didn’t feel right. “We didn’t like the idea of spending a night away from each other on the eve of one of the most important days of our life, so we stayed home and packed for the honeymoon and talked about how nervous/excited we were. We wound up staying up really late because we couldn’t go to sleep.” 

On the day of the wedding, the most romantic moments for the couple came after the ceremony when they were alone with their photographer taking pictures, and later at the end of the night when the finally climbed into their limo to head to their hotel and then off to their relaxing honeymoon! It was an intimate wedding filed with family, friends and meaningful moments, and looking back Lindsay and Ryan wouldn’t change a thing about it!

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who worked on this wonderful wedding day please visit Lindsay and Ryan’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

Thank you Lindsay and Ryan!

Readers, don’t miss more real weddings all week long here on What Junebug Loves, and to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists. To find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

We can never get enough of Real Weddings here at Junebug – they show off the crux of why we do what we do. It’s all about the couples who are celebrating the uniqueness of their love and lives, and the wedding professionals who give of their creativity to make dream wedding days come to life.

We’ve had so many wonderful weddings to show lately, that we decided to make this week Real Weddings Week! Every day here on What Junebug Loves we’ll be showing off a fantastic real wedding, sure to spark lots of inspirational ideas of your own, so stay tuned! Today we’re starting with the amazing fall Seattle wedding of couple Eun and Isaac, photographed by the one and only Jenny J. Enjoy!

The Goals: Eun and Isaac invited 270 guests to join them at the Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown Seattle for their elegant fall wedding and although not everyone knew each other, they hoped that their friends and family would mingle, dance and have an amazing time celebrationg together. Photographer Jenny Jiminez set up a photo booth that really broke the ice for people, and it was just one of the reasons that Eun and Isaac felt that working with Jenny was the best decision they made for their wedding. Your wedding day goes by so fast, you hardly remember it. Jenny captured every fun, genuine and emotional moment and didn’t make us feel unnatural or staged while she was taking our pictures. The photos are all we have for our memories from our wedding, so definitely going with the BEST quality photographer is the best decision we made for our wedding. We couldn’t ask for more!

The Design: The Four Seasons provided a backdrop with the warm, earthy, fall tones of ivory, brown, and champagne that Eun and Isaac wanted to use throughout the wedding. Invitations by Sarah McNally of Constellation & Co. featured more of the couples fall-inspired vision with an ornate tree surrounded by leaves blowing in the wind. To add sweetness, an extraordinarily beautiful floral wedding cake from the Four Seasons was made of white cake with strawberry filling, and the wedding favors were mini jars of honey.

The Look: Eun had always imagined her dream dress would be elegant and timeless. The gown she from Marisa Bridals, a trumpet-style dress graced with a sweetheart neckline and delicate lace details, had both the elegance factor and also the fun factor that she hoped for. The wedding party’s look was elegant and chic with the bridesmaids wearing dresses from I do Bridal in Seattle and the groom and groomsmen in suits from The Tux Shop in Lynwood.

The Moments: During their traditional Christian ceremony, officiated by Eun’s childhood and college pastor, the bride and groom shared a sentimental moment when they gave thanks to and exchanged hugs with their parents. Isaac and I became very emotional in that split moment, because we were looking back over the years and thinking about everything they had done for us.

The reception that followed took on a fun, lighthearted feel and the party continued long into the night. Says Eun, There was nonstop dancing! Family friends and guests danced so much that I had to take a break and eventually take my shoes off and wear flip-flops.

Now that sounds like the perfect way to celebrate!

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who worked on this wonderful wedding day please visit Eun and Isaac’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

And a wonderful extra – the same-day-edit video from MIND|Castle Studios!

Thank you for sharing your wedding with us Eun and Isaac! We love it!

Readers, don’t miss more real weddings all week long here on What Junebug Loves, and to plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists. To find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!

This is one of those weddings that the more I learn about it the more in love with it I become! Creative couple JoAnn and Jonathan deeply infused their personal styles into their wedding, but with such ease that the celebration looks like it must have been an absolute joy to attend. An ultra-imaginative and ultra-fun affair, photographed by the equally inventive photography team of Junebug members Paco and Betty! 

The Goals: JoAnn and Jonathan chose the beautiful private estate of Nestldown  in the Santa Cruz Mountains to create a wedding that was relaxed, creative and fun for everyone in attendance. Their main inspiration was simply to represent their relationship and personalities in the many aspects of their wedding day. “From the music played at the ceremony and reception to the food being served, we wanted our guests to feel as if they were spending time with us in our own home for a night.”

The Design: The overall aesthetic of JoAnn and Jonathan’s wedding had a vintage flair to it, inspired by the couple’s love of fashion from the 1920s-50s, as well as details that celebrated their love for cooking, food, music and spirituality. With help from wedding planners Details by Design Events they created such an incredible atmosphere!

The wedding invitations were designed to represent the letters they sent to each other at the beginning of their relationship. “We used to mail each other letters all the time, even though we lived pretty close by, so the design was an air mail theme. Our intention was to make the recipient feel like they were looking through a box of keepsakes, like the boxes we kept our letters in. Inside they found custom made movie ticket stubs, post cards, photo booth pictures, and a personal “handwritten” letter.”

At the wedding they used a rich wedding color palette of ivory, charcoal gray, eggplant purple, mustard yellow, teal and navy blue. The centerpiece flower arrangements were made with the help of their aunts and mothers and were displayed in vintage cans and homemade log vases decorated with customized cooking inspired labels. Their wedding favors were place cards that included recipes from their kitchen, and to make it a perfect outdoor meal the menu was picnic inspired. “Guests passed around platters of fried chicken, bowls of mac and cheese, corn on the cob, and coleslaw while being served glasses of sangria, frothy Belgian beers, along side the bottles of wine and champagne being poured at the table.”

The Look: Both JoAnn and Jonathan wanted their fashion looks to be classic, so JoAnn wore a stunning lace sheath wedding dress from Monique Lhuillier and Jonathan wore a three piece suit with signature Converse, of course. JoAnn accentuated her vintage inspired style with an amazing hairstyle that included finger waves and fresh flowers – so gorgeous!

The Moments: JoAnne and Jonathan created a non-traditional wedding ceremony that was very personalized, honored all who have supported and influenced their lives, and truly represented their spiritual beliefs. The ceremony was officiated by Father Josh Favaolora of the White Robed Monks and included many meaningful readings – an excerpt from “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, “Parting” a poem translated by Bruce Lee, “Evening” a poem by Pablo Neruda; and the special songs Rise by Eddie Vedder and (Nice Dream) by Radiohead.

At the reception, the Gypsy Jazz band Gaucho serenaded the guests, fun games were included at each table, an ice cream truck arrived to serve sweet treats as an alternative to wedding cake, and their cousin, a professional Chocolatier, made a table of chocolates and goodies for dessert that was so amazing nothing survived before dinner time!

JoAnn and Jonathan loved so many parts of the day, like having all of their loved ones together in one place, speaking their wedding vows to eachother and dancing their first dance to Shiny & New by Mayer Hawthorne, but looking back they each had favorite moments. For JoAnn it was right after the ceremony when they finally had the time to sit alone together, sipping champagne while watching their guests head to the reception. For Jonathan it was seeing JoAnn in her dress for the first time. Very sweet indeed.

The Pros: To learn about all of the wedding professionals who helped create this wedding day please visit JoAnn and Jonathan’s page in our Real Wedding Library.

Thank you for sharing your amazing wedding with us JoAnn and Jonathan!

To plan your own Southern California or Seattle area wedding, check out our Plan Your Wedding Hotlists, and to find a dream wedding photographer for your wedding anywhere in the world, don’t miss our World’s Best Wedding Photographers Hotlist!