With the perfect blend of bohemian and tropical vibes, Elle and Nate’s wedding at Chase Palm Park is the cool and casual wedding of our dreams. These two put their heart and soul into planning this lovely wedding with many DIY elements including everything from dip-dyed indigo napkins to home-brewed moonshine at the bar. The fun and lowkey feel to Elle and Nate’s wedding led to lots of happy tears throughout the day and dancing under the stars thanks to DJ Gavin Roy Presents keeping the party going through the night. You can see all of the joy, excitement, and emotion thanks to photographer Nicole Kirshner Photography and videographer David Gardner Media documenting the gorgeous day.

The Couple:

Elle and Nate

The Wedding:

Chase Palm Park, Santa Barbara, California

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There’s no sharper memory I’ll carry than the first sight of my soon-to-be-husband and all of our family and friends when I began my walk down the aisle.

Our ceremony was so much fun to plan. Our officiant is a lifelong family friend of ours and an LAFD Chaplain – so there was already a bit of a twist! He is known for being playful and Nate and I are known for our love of competition, so when it came time to decide who was going to read their vows first, Roger had us each throw a cornhole bag and the loser had to go first! I, of course, lost, because Nate is amazing at EVERYTHING. It was so much fun and really lightened up the moment and showed our personalities.

Our #1 goal throughout the planning process was for our wedding to represent US! We never take ourselves too seriously so we wanted it to feel bright, fun, colorful and casual.

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Don’t overthink it! We put off a lot of decisions because we thought we needed more time to really plan it out, but in the end we ended up going with our gut anyways – and we couldn’t have been happier with the result!

We DIY’d nearly everything! We bought indigo died fabric at Joann’s and Hobby Lobby to cut and tie our dinner napkins, we broke terra cotta pots and stuck names on them with vinyl for the place cards, and countless family members and friends came together to help get it all done – nearly 300 of each! My sister Ashley is a craft WIZARD, and she created our invitation suite and program. Another fun DIY project was a small, circular card with a picture of a whistle on it – anyone with one of those at their place setting got to get my dad’s home-brewed moonshine from the bar! It was a huge hit.

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Amy at Wild Story Floral is crazy creative and does it all with TWO baby girls running around. As an aspiring floral designer myself, I was completely in awe of her work and super inspired for my own. She was one of my best wedding decisions, hands down!

Our photographer, Nicole Kirshner, was absolutely outstanding start to finish. She was personal, professional, and beyond talented. Her photos blew us away and she truly became our friend along the way. Such a joy to work with! 

The biggest surprise of the day came when the DJ announced the garter toss, and Nate walked on to the dance floor with a MICROPHONE!! He sang “Joy of My Life” by John Fogerty to me before removing and tossing my garter. This song is so special to us because the first time Nate came camping with my family, my dad made us all listen to it in the trailer and sang every word.

The biggest thank you to Nicole Kirshner Photography for sharing this cool and casual wedding with Junebug! If you’re obsessed with the tropical vibes in Elle and Nate’s wedding, then take a look at this sophisticated tropical 20-guest wedding at Sanara Tulum!