Secluded Garden Estate Wedding

We love how easily Julie and Anthony were able to work their personalities and passions into their wedding day. For their caterer, the couple picked a food truck they frequent for weekly date nights, and ended the meal with ice cream from a shop down the street from their own home. Katrina Louise Photography and Candlelight Florist came together to round out their vision at the breathtaking Secluded Garden Estate.

From the bride, Julie: Anthony and I felt very strongly that we wanted the wedding to be a reflection of our history and the two of us as a couple. This led to quite a few non-traditional elements and keeping everything local and personal. In following this vision, we actually had my dad marry us, which was one of our favorite parts of the wedding. The non-traditional elements also included a farm to table food truck that we used to eat at on weekly date nights for the food, homemade ice cream by a little ice cream shop down the street from our house for dessert, and a gold party dress to end the evening.

Bouquet recipe: Dahlias, Eucalyptus, Garden Rose, and Hydrangea.

The non-traditional feel started with the invitation suite, which was taken to the next level by a graphic designer from my work. We were able to have the invitations printed at a local print shop here in San Diego, and then were able to use the custom crest throughout the wedding including on welcome bags for the hotel, menu’s, banners, and cigar sleeves. My girlfriend’s neighbor was taking down their fence so we scored a lot of great old wood that was used to make all of the signs, and the center piece planter boxes (and saved them a trip to the dump). I was looking for a striped linen napkin, and ran across dishtowels from Ikea that worked perfectly…and now never need to buy dishtowels ever again! My mom thrifted for an entire year to come up with an amazing assortment of vintage hats for the photo booth and we were able to use peg board from the local hardware store to display the vast assortment. The wedding turned out to be very DIY, and looking back now we realize it wouldn’t have been possible without at least half of our guest list. Lets just say we have a lot of favors to return!

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Any advice for couples planning their weddings now? To the future bride: Do the first look!! Anthony and I loved having that moment to ourselves and it made the ceremony so much less intimidating. On a lighter note, I also suggest researching postage before creating your invitations. Never did I think my love for a square invitation would cost twice the price to mail!

Wedding Music:
Processional: “River Flow In You,” Sungha Jung
Recessional: “Make My Dreams Come True,” Hall & Oates
Newlywed Introduction: “Get Down on It,” Kool and the Gang
First Dance: Ben Howard: “Only Love,” Ben Howard
Father/Daughter Dance: “Have I Told You Lately,” Van Morrison
Anthony’s father had been battling cancer throughout our engagement, but passed away before the wedding. We felt that it was very important to celebrate and acknowledge his dad during the wedding, and did so at the beginning of the reception by opening up the dance floor and asking all the guests to dance with us to his favorite Rolling Stones song: “Miss You.” This tribute stands as one of my favorite moments.

Wedding Location: Pala, CA / Photographer: Katrina Louise Photography / Flowers: Lori Fay of Candlelight Florist / Venue: Secluded Garden Estate / Wedding Dress: Ivy & Aster / Wedding Shoes: Dolce Vita / Veil and Jewelry: Borrowed from friends / Makeup: Melissa Rae Makeup / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Victoria’s Secret / Groomsmen Bow Ties: The Tie Bar / Wedding Caterer: MIHO Gastro Truck / Wedding Dessert: Mariposa Ice Cream / Local Draft Beer System: Tap That Keg Now / DJ: Tim English / Wood Farm Tables: Rustic Urban Events / Wedding Invitation Design: Alissa Filoramo (DidaMarie @ gmail.com) / Videographer: Leslie Berry Productions / Shuttle Service: Sterling Rose