Dana-Powers House Wedding

If you’re a fan of rustic chic weddings done right, then you’re probably familiar with the ultimate barn reception space, Dana-Powers House. Those twinkle lights, the sun rays peeking through the wooden slats, and the sophisticated chandeliers are all a recipe for perfection. Danielle Poff outdid herself on this one!

From the bride, Megan: The Dana Powers House & Barn has a style of its own – very rustic, vintage chic – so we wanted to play that up. We kept the colors pretty neutral – white, creams, grays, browns – and brought in the color through the flowers.
As for the actual wedding itself, we really wanted our wedding to be a party – mostly everyone on the guest list knew each other (my husband and I grew up in the same church) so it was basically one big reunion. We really wanted to thank everyone for being such integral parts of our lives, so it was important to us to have great food and music. We wanted everything to be delicious and for everyone to get on the dance floor!

Flower recipe: In the bouquets and centerpieces, we used ranunculus, David Austen roses, regular roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, hypericum berries, stock, seeded eucalyptus, and succulents. Only my bouquet had peonies. In the boutonnieres, we used white ranunculus, hypericum berries, and seeded eucalyptus.

Rustic was the main adjective we were going for. I had a theme and color scheme in my head, but never wanted to define my wedding within those parameters. For some reason, defining a color scheme really stressed me out! But it was essentially, light pinks and greens, creams, whites, grays, with darker pinks and greens coming in through the flowers. And burlap (duh). Everything turned out exactly as my husband and I envisioned, so it was just perfect! It was also really important to me (and my mom and aunt who were such a huge help!) to add in things of sentimental value. My aunt had a field day cutting up my grandmother’s and mom’s wedding dresses, as well as her own, to use throughout the wedding. We used lace from my grandmother’s and mom’s dresses on my bouquet and on the garter my aunt made me. We also used the lace from my mom’s skirt to drape over the arbor at the ceremony. I wore the same necklace my mom wore at her wedding and wore a pearl flower ring that was my grandmother’s. We also had our high school youth pastor officiate our wedding since he was an integral part in our relationship.

Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? I have so much advice now that everything is done! But I will keep it to the important things. (1) Start planning as early as possible. We picked our venue and date, as well as booked our (wonderful!) photographer two weeks after we got engaged, and that was a huge relief. It really got the planning ball rolling. (2) Let other people help in the planning process – I could have never planned this wedding without my mother and my aunt. I don’t think I would have ever gotten anything done! (3) Try not to let people push their opinions on you. You want to make people happy, but you also want to stay within your budget! At the end of the day, it’s you and your husband’s opinions that matter. (4) Make your RSVPs clear. I would recommend writing the number of people who are invited on the card and then have the guest(s) write how many actually will attend. We had a few problems with people who didn’t fully understand traditional invitation etiquette. (5) This is HUGE. Probably one of your most important decisions. Get a day-of coordinator. We luckily have a close family friend who does coordinating and she was invaluable. The wedding day would not have gone as perfectly as it did without her. She kept everything on time and made sure we had everything we needed. She even sneaked my husband and I away after the ceremony to have appetizers and drinks by ourselves so we could take in that we had just gotten married. That was a really special time for us!

See Also

A Tuscan Inspired Wedding with Pastel Hues at California’s Filoli Gardens

Wedding Music:
Family Processional: “Let Her Go,” Passenger
Bridal Party Processional: “Dawn,” Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Pride & Prejudice opening credits)
Bride’s Processional: “Clair de Lune,” Claude Debussy
Recessional: “On Top of the World,” Imagine Dragons
Reception Entrance: “Best Day of My Life,” American Authors
First Dance: “Then,” Brad Paisley
Father/Daughter Dance: “Fly Me to the Moon,” Frank Sinatra
Mother/Son Dance: “A Mother’s Song”

Wedding Location: Nipomo, CA / Photographer: Danielle Poff / Day-Of Coordination: Katie Camp, family friend / Florist: Kelly Bishop / Venue: Dana-Powers House / Wedding Dress: Shelly Ann via The Ivory Suite / Wedding Veil: The Ivory Suite / Wedding Shoes: Anthropologie / Hair and Makeup: Danielle Roberts / Groom and Groomsmen Suits: A Heart’s Desire / Caterer: The Sea Shanty / Wedding Cake and Cupcakes: Enjoy Cupcakes / Cookies: Brown Butter Cookie Co. / Cookies and Bars: Sweet Pea Bakery / Macarons: De Couer Bakery / DJ: Joe LaBarbera / Rentals: Embellish Vintage Rentals / Wedding Invitations and Save the Dates: Minted / Videographer: In Motion Pro / Film Scans: Little Film Lab