Kevin + Amanda’s wedding has everything you’d want in a rustic outdoor affair. Barn? Check. Oak trees? Uh huh. Sprawling ranch landscape? Huge enough for lots of colorful décor and DIYs. Exactly why after seeing several venues, they were sold on Santa Margarita Ranch. Mix in a bouquet overflowing with garden roses, anemones, ranunculus, cascading greenery and ribbon, and we’re in business! Brandi Welles captured it all below:
Amanda, on the venue: We chose the ranch mainly because it had the most amazing oak tree to say our vows under. The ceremony site there is straight out of a painting. The lawn is perfectly green, the tree is to die for, the windmill, twinkle lights, wine barrels, the list goes on and on. It is rustic and simple and required no additional decorations because it is perfect on it’s own.
Kevin, Outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays, travels a ton, so a lot of the planning had to be done while they were apart. For their guest list of 150 and 9 months to plan, they went over their budget of 35k, but Amanda was able to pull off all those sweet DIY projects!
Lauren of Lavender Grey Events says, The bride, family, and friends made everything for the wedding from the vintage marquee sing, the giant A+K letters for the barn doors, hand-stamped table number cards, table numbers, painted frames, and the signage. Amanda hunted rustic items from flea markets that I went to town with on the day of the event. The best baseball touch was a beautiful bench for two made by Amanda’s father out of all of Kevin’s old baseball bats from his journey from the minors to the majors.
Amanda’s godparents even made 150 mini bottles of apple pie moonshine for favors.
Lovely memories via our bride + groom…
Amanda: Before the ceremony our officiant asked us some questions through email that he would talk about during the ceremony. He had asked us both to pick just one word to describe each other. And like most things with Kevin, he knew his word way before me and responded to the email first and I’ll admit I struggled to find the word. But when the big day came our officiant told the guests that he had asked us this question and we happened to pick the same word, “home.” like, WHAT?! Now Kevin has been traveling a lot with baseball for about 5 years now, and mostly without me because I had a job and lived in California. So for him to pick “home” meant so much to me and really made the fact that we are getting married (after being engaged for 2 years and never living together) real to me. We were each other’s home from this day forward, no matter where we live.
Kevin: After all the craziness of the day I had a moment to break away from family and guests, but also my new bride, and was able to watch her dance with our friends and it hit me that the same woman that I have watched dance before was not just some woman but my wife, the woman I will spend the rest of my life with. It was a very emotional/intense moment that made the meaning of marriage real to me.
So sweet! Congrats you two!
Photographer: Brandi Welles / Videographer: KJ Creative / Venue: Santa Margarita Ranch / Event Coordinator & Invitations: Lavender Grey Events / Florist: April Flowers / Hair: Friend / Makeup: The Queen Bees / Cake: Splash Catering / Catering: Field To Table / Linens: La Tavola / Lighting/DJ: Kramer Events / Bride’s Dress: Modeca from The Dresser in Fullerton, CA / Shoes: Ted Baker / Bracelet: Gift from Groom’s Mother / Groom’s Suit: Ted Baker / Shoes: Aldo / Groomsmen Suits: Vera Wang / Guys’ Ties: The Grunion Run / Flower Girl: Mylilsweetieboutique / Ring Bearer: Dappergent
