Rustic Santa Barbara Wedding
This wedding sent to us by Jen Rodriguez is a true labor of love by the bride, her husband, and their friends. Nearly every detail was executed as a DIY project. We were beaming with glee to learn that Camryn and Brian took lots of inspiration from Ruffled, right down to the DIY string chandeliers we posted a while back. The bridal party used an actual school bus as their transportation, in a fitting nod to the couple’s respective careers as schoolteachers!
From the bride, Camryn: I really loved the romantic, rustic, with a touch of vintage thrown in look. I guess the best way to describe the look was romantic elegance. Brian and I are not super fancy people, so we wanted it to look and feel simple, yet beautiful. Our venue was Spanish-looking, so we had to incorporate the look with the natural look of the venue. Good thing the look I loved fit naturally with the look of the venue. I loved the natural color palette. The hardest question to answer was, “What are your colors?” I didn’t have any specific colors, but I loved the natural colors: ivory, light browns, earthy greens, etc. I also loved the natural fabrics: burlap, lace, and linen, all of which were incorporated into our wedding.
Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? I have tons of advice! I always read to “not sweat the small things.” For someone who is detailed oriented, that is a very hard thing to do. However, in the end, it really is about you and the person you are marrying. The only person that notices those details is you! My best advice I can give is that it is your wedding day. If you really want something, go for it. You can make a lot of it, or use your creative friends! A wedding really doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to be beautiful.
View all images from this wedding in the gallery
From the photographer, Jen Rodriguez: Camryn and Brian are both teachers so when they decided to tie the knot it only seemed fitting that they not only included her love for all things soft, vintage and beautiful but that there was also a nod to their teaching backgrounds. Camryn and her buddies turned their garage into wedding central creating every last detail of the wedding (with the only exception being the wooden numbers for the centerpieces) by hand. Even the wooden boxes were hand made by the bride! From the gorgeous signage, again lettered by hand, to the amazing cookie and milk dessert bar that included some of the families favorite cookie recipes, to the hand made string balls that hung from the tree above the ceremony location they did not overlook any details and it truly felt like them. But I would have to say that a highlight for me was that they hired a school bus to transport the bridal party which was so fitting since the bride and groom are both teachers!
Wedding Vendors (Santa Barbara, CA):
Venue: Rockwood Women’s Club / Wedding Photographer: Jen Rodriguez / Event Design: Adored Wedding Design / Day-of Coordination: Joy de Vivre / Wedding Flowers: Acton Country Flowers / Wedding Caterer: Command Performance Catering / Wedding Cake: MJB Cakes / Wedding Hair and Makeup: Janelle Lewis of N’Style Salon / DJ: SOS Entertainment
This is rustic done oh-so-right! Completely over the top and so wonderful! I LOVE the drink station – will have to incorporate some of that into a future photo shoot! Thanks for the ideas. 🙂
I am a wedding designer and I actually got married at Rockwood as well. SUCH an amazing venue.
Does anyone know where the bridesmaids’ dresses are from? Thanks 🙂
Beautiful! Did you great the table numbers and “menu” yourself or was there a vendor involved? Would you mind sharing how you created or who created these wonderful pieces? Thanks!
As fellow teachers, we’re in love with this wedding!
This is effortlessly beautiful! I love these weddings with understated personality, and that bouquet is to die for!
I love your creativity for the table numbers. Their designs are so unique. I also like the arrangement for the “Grab a Drink” station. Who created that idea?
I love this wedding. I LOVE handmade weddings, if only every single bride would do them!
This wedding is just divine! Love all the details and the use of lemon and limes. What a refreshing wedding.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments! 🙂 The bridesmaid dresses are Dessy. 🙂 The table numbers were purchased from ETSY. Turned out amazing! 🙂 Everything else a friend and I made! The menu sign was painted and a chalkboard pen was used to write it. Almost all of it was created in our garage! 🙂
I just love all the details! That is one GORGEOUS wedding bouquet..so elegant yet I love the rustic touches with how the stems were wrapped! Wow…very, very pretty wedding!
Thanks for the sweet comments. I’m Megan, Camryn’s friend and I helped her along this true ‘labor of love’ (and lack of garage space!) The ‘Grab a Drink’ sign and Menu signs were just pieces of MDF board that we cut, painted with black flat Krylon spray paint, and then written on with a white chalkboard paint pen that we found online. We leaned the menu up on a vintage trunk and covered the back of the menu with a piece of burlap because the guests could see the back when they were at the buffet. The frame for the Grab a Drink sign was made from scraps of salvaged barn wood that my dad helped me miter. It was wood-glued and nailed to the sign to help it look more rustic and was leaned on the lemonade stand in a small iron easel. The lemonade stand itself is an old salvage door held up by two wine barrels, with crates and burlap to give the display height. We ran out of time before we ran out of ideas for this wedding. Camryn is like my little sis, so this was so much fun!
I love this wedding. Its so beautiful!
Everything so gorgeous! I am getting married at a winery in September. It’s a real “old world” feeling to it. Rustic. I love your cupcake stand. Did you make that too? Wondering the dimensions of it and materials if you know, so I can get one made. Thanks a lot! 🙂 Jacquelyn
What a gorgeous wedding! Congratulations! May I ask who the ETSY vendor for the table numbers was? Thank you!
I want this wedding for my own, too bad I’m already married!
Amazing! I am doing a similar themed wedding with lots of burlap and lace… where did you get the jars for the cookie bar? Also, what size did you use? Congrats!
I am also wondering where you got the jars for the cookie bar!? Please let me know, Thank you!
How did you make the flowers? I would like to make them and put them on the end of burlap table runners. Help! Thanks!
Megan – are there directions for the boxes on the tables? Darling! Where to get that hardware?
Hi! Thanks for the compliments and I apologize for our delay in answering your questions.
-We actually did not make the cupcake stand.. it belonged to the baker. Isn’t it great, though? -The jars for the cookie bar are 2 gallon Anchor-Hocking jars from Walmart/Target (I believe Walmart carries them cheaper), then we just adorned them with some fun textures.
-The flowers were made from different shades of linen, with a felt backing. Cut out a felt circle as your backing and set aside. Cut a long 1″ strip of fabric (any fabric would do but linen is lovely). Begin at the middle of the flower by hot gluing the end of the fabric to the center of the felt circle, then twist the fabric and wrap it around in a circle working outward. You will have to tack certain parts down as you go with glue but they are really easy. Finish off by gluing the end (where’ve that may be). Ours shown here had pins attached on the back so that they could be worn during and after the wedding.
-The boxes are just simple wooden ones, stained and antiqued. The hardware is from Lowe’s, plain nickel hinges that were sprayed with textured brown spray paint to give them a rustic feel.
BEAUTIFUL… THis is alot like what my future daughter in law is doing. We are having a hard time finding the rustic looking keys, Could you email me and tell me where a great place is to start looking? Thank you for any help you can offer.
D
Love everything about this wedding!! I’m going with the same style for mine!! Especially excited about the cookie bar idea!!! Would you let me know where you got the brown cookie bags from? I’ve been looking everywhere for them and can’t seem to find anything:( thank you so much!
I love this whole wedding!!! I would like to know where you got the whiskey barrels?
Megan, I am looking for gray bridesmaids dresses but haven’t found any that i actually liked.
Can you please tell me where you guys got yours. Thank You 🙂
Denise, I as well am planning my rustic wedding. I found similar looking keys in Michaels about $1.50 each. Look in the dollar section, they have weird strings attached but you can cut it up and tie it with twine, which i bought at Michaels as well near the dollar section. Hope this helped!
The pictures are not showing up on this page.
Are those real flowers or fake? Can I get more information on the bouquet?
Hi, please where did you get the cupcake stand, looking for something similar for my wedding.
thanks
Hello! How did you figure how many cookies to make?