Carmel Valley wedding at Gardener Ranch

Annnd with this romantic blush and cream bouquet photographed by Kate Anfinson, spring is *officially* underway. Our elementary school teacher bride Jessica and firefighter paramedic groom Kyle wanted their 140 guest wedding to be natural, understated, and a little bit rustic. An over-the-top or bold theme just wasn’t their thing. Instead, they hooked up with Heather of All Set to create an organic design that remained authentic to their adventurous spirit and love story.

Pretty, pretty!

About finding a photog, J says, I found Kate’s blog somehow, and I fell in love with a shoot she recently did in Zion. I loved how she found the best light in all of her photos. I also loved that she liked the outdoors and lattes. When I interviewed her and figured out how much cooler than me she was, I knew I had to book her.

Jessica wanted her bouquet to have succulents and eucalyptus (for the earthy smell) as well as football mums, which she’d happened across on the day of her engagement, all wrapped up in her bouquet. Seascape Flowers put it all together with other natural beauties in keeping with the natural color palette.

Their band Synchronicity Strings learned Sam Smith’s Latch (acoustic version) so Jessica could walk down the aisle to it, and they danced to it for their first dance, too.

Our wedding took about 18 months to plan. The biggest hurdle was creating the table seating chart. I felt like I was ranking my friends and family, and it was a nightmare! My tip for that would be to try to arrange your tables so everyone feels like they have a good seat. The farm style tables helped a lot.