Happy Monday! I have a gorgeous and sweet rustic wedding shot by the talented True Bliss Photography for you today. Check out the gorgeous portraits of the bride and that stunning cake!
Why a Mountain Wedding?
The mountains have always quite simply been my “happy place.” Since meeting Matt, almost every one of our vacations has been spent in the mountains, whether it was for the weekend at his family’s cabin in Crestline, CA, camping in Mammoth Lakes or visiting Yosemite,
Where did you find your inspiration?
I think I always knew I wanted to get married outdoors. Originally we were planning on getting married in Yosemite, but found the wedding venues restricting for what we wanted. It was actually my dad who found our wedding venue online. When we went to go look at it, we realized it was only three miles away from Matt’s family’s cabin and once we saw it, we knew it was perfect.
It was really the venue itself that gave me all of the inspiration for the theme of the wedding. The entire venue is full of wood accents and greenery, so I incorporated as much tree bark and moss as I could to enhance the natural beauty of the location. I tried to keep every decoration simple and elegant, just like the venue.
What were some personal details you incorporated?
This wedding was truly a two-year craft project for me! After planning out everything that I wanted to include on my big day, and realizing that my budget could probably only pay for half of it, I started making everything myself. I made the chair covers, table numbers, Christmas ornament favors, tree slice signs with moss lettering, moss rose petal cones, mason jar lanterns, escort card wreaths, ceremony fans, and the list goes on! I also designed our tree slice charger plates and the mason jar hangers that held our flower arrangements above each table.
Out of everything that I made, the most special personal detail was writing our ceremony script. We chose to have my brother in law officiate our ceremony, which ultimately gave us the freedom to word it however we wanted. It meant a lot to the both of us to share what marriage meant to us and to personalize the words describing our relationship.
Your favorite moment of the day.
Walking down the aisle and seeing Matt at the altar was one of the best moments of my life. Even though I had been preparing for that day for years, I was still full of excitement and nerves that morning. Once I walked out into the sunshine to the classical song that Matt had chosen for my processional, it took everything I had not to run down the aisle once I saw him!
Three things you’re glad you did.
- Include my mom and dad in the planning details. I am truly thankful that I was able to fly out to Texas to pick out my wedding dress with my mom. Also, I couldn’t have been happier spending so much time planning the wedding with my dad.
- Hire a videographer to capture the emotion of our ceremony.
- Adding so many personal details. I was told all night how much our guests were impressed by the details. Seeing them have fun made the experience twice as fun for me.
Anything you wish you hadn’t done?
I can happily say that I enjoyed every part of the wedding day!
What was the best piece of wedding advice you got?
Don’t let stress ruin your day. My only goal for my wedding day was to let go of all the stress of planning. I had been so focused on perfecting every detail of those six hours, that I didn’t want to constantly be checking to make sure everything looked okay while it was happening. I didn’t want to be the host at my own wedding; I wanted to have fun as a guest. I was pleasantly surprised that my plan actually worked! I gave myself two free days before the wedding to decompress, and then I was ready to have the best day of my life!
What piece of wedding planning advice do you wish you followed?
That sewing 180 chair covers by myself was probably too much work. I worked on them slowly for about a year and didn’t even finish them until a week before the wedding!
Anything you wish you hadn’t worried about?
Stressing out about money so much. My family was so willing to help where they could, so I shouldn’t have put so much on my shoulders without asking for more help.
Anything you wish you had known about sooner rather than later?
That it would rain on my wedding day, but that everything would be okay. The morning of the wedding it was pouring rain. For southern California in July, this was quite a rare occurrence. There wasn’t even a back-up plan for the outdoor ceremony and reception because no wedding had ever been rained out there before. When my wedding consultant asked me how I wanted to proceed, she was flabbergasted that I was so calm. At that point, I was sad that my two years of work would not go as planned, but ultimately, I was still just so excited to marry Matt. I knew that even if we had to cram ninety people in one room in the cabin, we would do it in a heartbeat. We were so lucky when only thirty minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start, it stopped raining and the sun broke through the clouds. It made the day even more beautiful than I could have imagined.
How did you choose your vendors?
The venue we were married at had a list of preferred vendors to choose from. They made it easy in choosing our caterer, florist, baker, DJ, photobooth rental, linen and china rentals, etc. All of the vendors had worked at Pine Rose together often, so they all had a good working relationship with one another. Otherwise, when choosing our other vendors, I looked for people who took the time to prepare for our consultation, and had timely and effective communication thereafter. That was a big indication of how working with them would be in the future.
What is your very best advice to other mountain brides?
Take the time to plan the personal details. It is so important to have your wedding be unique and meaningful. The internet is a never-ending resource for ideas on how to make your wedding personal and unique, so take advantage of it!
- Photographer: True Bliss Photography
- DJ: Arrowhead DJ
- Makeup Artist: Corinna Solano
- Caterer: Fox in the Woods Catering
- Floral Designer: La Jarden Florals
- Cake Designer: Niki’s Custom Cakes
- Reception Venue: Pine Rose Cabins
- Photo Booth Equipment: Pix N’ Giggles
- Videography: Josh Thomas
- Wedding Dress: Stardust Bridal
- Bridesmaid Dresses: Deborah’s Bridal
- Men’s suits: Macy’s