Handcrafted California Wedding at Retro Ranch

There are so many different places I could start with this wedding, but how about the incredible pink and purple bouquet with succulent accents from Leaf it to Lexi? This day was a true labor of love, photographed by Leif Brandt Photography and styled by Anchored by Love Events, and we’ve got the bride here with us to share the lowdown behind all the details and planning process. Let’s get started!

From the bride, Kalina: Nolan and I met through a mutual friend on New Year’s Eve in 2008. From the first time we met I knew he was going to be someone special and from that night on we have been inseparable. Before I met Nolan I knew I wanted to get married but never dreamed of marriage or a wedding, but from the beginning of our relationship we dreamed of our future together and talked about marriage frequently.

When we got to the ranch we toured the reception area first and we immediately fell in love with the trees surrounding the dance floors, the chandeliers hanging above it, the pallet bar and the bistro lights hanging above the reception lawn – even in the daylight it was magical. Then we drove up the hill to the ceremony site and as I stood there looking at the picturesque view of Temecula valley I was overcome with emotions and started to cry. The ceremony lawn is so peaceful and looking at Nolan I knew this was the place that we wanted to start our forever. On top of how beautiful the ranch is they operate as a non-profit and give back to cancer charities and a charity of your choice! We decided we didn’t want to see anything else and that Retro Ranch was our wedding venue.

When it came to décor we wanted to have a laid back country feel and I wanted us to make as many things as we could to put our own personal touch on the day. Originally we wanted to do farm tables, but they were too expensive so we made wooden table runners for each table and we loved how they turned out – they best part is that we took them home after the wedding and plan to use them to make things for our home. Nolan built all of the wooden signs, my bridesmaids helped me stain them, and I painted all of the lettering. I hand made all of our escort cards and finished them off by attaching each one to a shotgun shell which Nolan and I had shot a few weekends before the wedding. I made our table numbers out of gold glitter paper and in lieu of a traditional guest book, we created a wooden guest book sign that our guests left us messages on – which now hangs in our house. Our friends Alex and Andy even made us light up initials to display at the bar which also are displayed in our house now!

Any advice for couples planning their wedding day now? If I could give advice to any bride I would say three things. One – pick vendors that you love. We chose vendors like Leif Brandt and Leaf it to Lexi because we love them as people and their amazing work also came with them. When you chose vendors you love you don’t have to worry about a thing – you know that they will do everything possible to create the wedding you envision. Two – hire a wedding planner – they take care of everything from the rehearsal dinner to breaking down the wedding and allow you and your family to enjoy your day instead of worrying about where cars are being parked or where your decorations are going to be placed. Three – just go with it – things are going to happen that day that you didn’t expect: some of the cheese for the cocktail hour might have been eaten by the groom and groomsmen the night before, the sprinklers might go off while you’re taking photos, your grandparents might not be able to make it, or you might be running late but your day will still be magical and the memories you make that day will just add to your love story!