I have wanted to plan my wedding my whole life, and assembling an awesome team of vendors was one of the hardest (but also most “worth-it”) parts of pulling off my dream wedding. Every detail turned out even better than I could have imagined, and I am so grateful to all of our vendors for making that happen!
Our vision for our wedding was a big, summertime, outdoor party. We wanted it to feel like everyone had gathered on the grounds of a family home to dine al fresco and dance the night away. We only ever looked at one wedding venue, because as soon as we stepped onto the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (yes, longest venue name ever), we knew we’d found where we were getting married. Our venue is a historic ranch house, with a long history as a filming site (parts of Gone with the Wind were filmed there), surrounded by a 3000 acre nature preserve. It really felt like we had our own little hilltop all to ourselves. It is located in Calabasas, about 45 minutes to an hour from where we live.
Once we had our site booked and our date reserved, we moved on to booking other large vendors, like photography, catering, an event coordinator, florals, etc. One thing I loved about our venue was that it was an entirely blank slate—we could bring in any vendor we wanted and make the space our own. However, that also meant it was a LOT of work, as we had to bring in everything from rentals, to outdoor lighting, to sound, to linens and china. We even had to build out an outdoor kitchen on the back of the house. I loved being able to customize the look of our wedding, and to me, it was worth it to have a lot of leg work in booking vendors.
I would go back and relive our wedding in a heartbeat if I could. Here’s the team that made it happen:
Venue: Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve
Site Management and Event Hosts: Diablo Dormido Weddings
Event Coordination: Claudia Casanova for One Darling Day
Photography: Jesse Marble and Jimmy Marble for Our Labor of Love
Florals: Whit Hazen
Catering: Fundamental LA
Reception Band: Lucky Devils Band
Paper Goods: Shine Wedding Invitations
Event Rentals: Smart Party Rents
Vintage Lounge Rentals: Salt Buffalo
Custom Outdoor Lighting: Pacific Event Services
Guest Shuttle: Riz Transportation
Rolls Royce Getaway Car and Driver: Classy Chassis
Hair and Makeup: Absolutely Beautiful Brides
My Gown: Carolina Herrera
My Shoes: Bella Belle
Grace’s Attire: Suitsupply
Wedding cake: Susie Cakes Bakery
Custom Cake Toppers: Etsy
We had our ceremony and reception all on one site, which was a big part of our vision to make things easy for guests and have them be able to move seamlessly between the two. The way our wedding was set up is that our ceremony was around the back of the ranch house, overlooking a beautiful canyon, and then after the ceremony guests moved back toward the front for cocktail hour and then dinner and dancing. Because it was a hot day, we had our caterers set up infused waters and agua frescas for guests to grab when they arrived at the venue for the ceremony. All of our tables for dinner were set up on the lawn, and I’m SO glad we opted for the big wood tables rather than using smaller tables with tablecloths. Then under a canopy of oak tree branches was our dance floor, with our 9-piece live band set up at one end of it. Two of our musicians played instrumental music for our ceremony, and then our whole band played during the reception. They were one of the most fun parts of the night!
I could stare at images of our wedding flowers all day. I was head over heels for my bridal bouquet, and our florist Whit Hazen made our INCREDIBLE wedding arch for our ceremony as well as 16 bridesmaids’ bouquets, a handful of boutonnieres, garlands of flowers in the trees where our reception was held, and several other arrangements. Hiring her for our florist was one of the best decisions we could have made in terms of the look of our wedding.
I will do a whole separate post about catering and our vision behind that, but Fundamental knocked it out of the park. I am hungry right now just thinking about our wedding food! And the best part was that we actually got to eat it (which so many people have told me is rare for the couple at a wedding). I was honestly so full from eating at my wedding that I couldn’t try it all, haha!
You can expect more posts in the coming days and weeks about our reception, attire, food, sunset portraits, grand exit, details, invitation suite, and many more, but I wanted to take this opportunity to give a shout-out specifically to all our amazing vendors. I wish I could throw another huge party and bring them all together again!
Last but not least - I have gotten so many questions about our wedding cake toppers (they were custom made to look like our two dogs). Here is a link to the Etsy shop where I ordered them. They were amazing to work with!
All photos are by Jesse Marble and Jimmy Marble for Our Labor of Love