Romantic Vow Renewal After 10 Years
Settle in tight, because we’ve got something truly special to share today — which means we had a nearly impossible time narrowing down the images for this post. Photographer Carlie Statsky and her husband Gabe recently celebrated their ten year wedding anniversary, and decided to do a proper celebration with an utterly stylish and sweet vow renewal with their darling children in attendance this time around. Delbarr Moradi photographed the event, Engaged & Inspired helped with the styling, and Amanda Luu Floral Design shone on floral design duty.
From the bride, Carlie: We knew that we wanted to celebrate such an important milestone in our relationship with some kind of a celebration, but we couldn’t decide on the direction to take it in. One part of us wanted a big ceremony and an even bigger dance party with all of our friends and family, and another other part of us craved something really intimate and small so that our kids could feel more connected to the celebration. We ended up doing our vow renewal with just the two of us and our kids, Myles and Kaia, (Myles was 9 and Kaia was 7 at the time) and it ended up being such a bonding and beautiful experience that our family will remember forever.
When we first got married 10 years ago we decided to have it in a church because we were worried about the possibility of rain in mid-March, but we both really gravitate towards natural light and the outdoors, so this vow renewal was the perfect opportunity to do things the way we’ve aways wanted to… so we headed for the hills of Carmel Valley! Gabe and I are both wedding photographers, so we’ve seen some really beautiful places, but Holman Ranch has always been one of our very favorite venues in all of California with it’s expansive views over the valley, rustic stone walls and majestic oak trees, so it felt like the ideal spot for us. The whole aesthetic of the day was inspired our personalities, the spring season with all of its bright colors and fresh growth, and our love for all things natural. We wanted the day to be a reflection of who we are, so there were elements that represented each of us in the design.
I’ve always been obsessed with light and photography, and hexagons represents light bokeh to me, so I wanted to feature that shape along with other graphic elements throughout the design. When my husband isn’t shooting weddings, he’s designing and building fine custom furniture from wood, which is why we included lots of wood grain and hand-crafted elements too. I love that the details were so personal to us, and that Gabe and I designed the hexagon backdrop and gave built both the backdrop and the hexagon accent table by hand. Allison from Engaged & Inspired did such an amazing job interpreting and focusing our eclectic, bohemian vision and then bringing it all to life in the most beautiful and elegant way. Every single vendor involved in the day completely exceeded our expectations and blew us away with their creativity and their talent. We especially have to thank Delbarr Moradi for capturing the whole feeling of the day in the details and the moments that her eye was drawn to. I can’t think of a better way to begin our next 10 years together than by standing under a giant oak tree to speak our vows to each other again as our 2 children were witnessing our love for each other. We left that evening feeling so close as a family and so grateful for the experience.
Flowers are just to die for.