Rustic modern California wedding | Outdoor wedding

When Charlie + Sophia thought back to their first date (a trail run) and the proposal (a run in the forest) they knew the California outdoors had to be a part of their wedding. That’s when the Lake Tahoe theme came about: rustic and woodsy, modern but classic. They also blended a Catholic + non-religious wedding, which isn’t conventional but really represented them both. After peeking at Kara Miller’s photos, we’d say these two know just how to blend different styles.

They wanted each of their pals’ personalities to come through too, so the guys wore different patterned bowties and the ladies wore different green dresses.

I started off the big day with a run with my bridesmaids and a yoga session, led by a good friend, and brunch in my aunt’s backyard… We then moved to my parents’ yard, where under the shaded pergola my bridesmaids and I got ready. My hair and makeup women were so calm yet energetic, it was so fun getting ready with all my bridesmaids, laughing off nerves and having a dance party. When the curtain opened at Foothills Park and I started walking down the isle, I could not stop smiling, with a few tears in between. I love that in all the pictures and video from our day, Charlie and I have the biggest smiles on our faces.

Super sweet. Charlie wore a pin for prostate cancer in remembrance of his grandfather.

Charlie and I took on making our own place card holders. This stemmed from Pinterest where I saw the cutest gold animals and thought, I could make those! A few dozen animals, gold spray paint and a weekend later we had 140 gold animals ready to hold up our place cards. For the longest time they covered the side of our refrigerator, which was fun for houseguests… I also designed and painted all of our wood wedding signs, from the program to the Oh Snap Instagram sign. One of the biggest signs, the seating chart, was a fun project where we spent the evening connecting all of our guests by green thread, creating a beautiful network of colors telling people where to sit.

Get inspired in our gallery below…

My advice to other brides is to relax the day of and trust your vendors! I knew I had hired a great team and that my day-of coordinator Affrunti Events would take care of any issues (she even checked us in for our honeymoon flight!). I’m sure things went wrong throughout the day, but to me it was perfect, the best day ever, and a day I will never forget.