A Ranch Wedding With Vintage Touches

Kaitlyn & Brett | September 14^th

From the bride…

My wedding vision/vibe was a vintage/classic mountain wedding. I have always been obsessed with vintage clothes, jewelry, decor, etc. Brett also tends to like vintage items as well and we are both big fans of antiquing.

THE VENUE

We knew we wanted a mountain/outdoor wedding and out of everywhere we looked, Paradise Ranch had the best package. We were allowed to select our own caterer; and we actually had a close family friend smoke different meats for our wedding dinner. Paradise Ranch also had the “something borrowed closet” and we saved a lot of money on decor that we would have only used for the wedding. The owner Zana was awesome and super helpful!

I wore jewelry that I borrowed from both of my grandmother’s and my mother had tied hers and my father’s wedding rings onto my bouquet. Her ring is a diamond with a few sapphires and so it was also my something blue.

THE CEREMONY

We had the ceremony at the “mountain view” portion of Paradise Ranch. There is a lovely arch on the hillside that has the mountains in the background and it was perfect!

Brett and I went to high school together and one of our teachers is actually a pastor and we asked him if he would officiate for us. He personalized our ceremony and made our day even more special.

The most memorable moment was hearing Brett’s personalized vows in which he told me since he was my first kiss, he was going to be my last kiss.

THE RECEPTION

The reception was held in the Paradise Ranch barn pavilion. There was already beautiful vintage looking string lights set up along the sides and there is a raised portion which was the perfect place for our DJ to set up and to place the wedding cake while leaving the lower portion open for dancing! We set up tables and chairs outside of the pavilion for dinner and toasts.

I cried during my father/daughter dance, we played “Little Wonders” by Rob Thomas. My father heard it years ago and always knew that that was the song that he wanted playing for our father/daughter dance and I tear up anytime I hear it play.

LOOKING BACK

I would have started getting ready sooner, I thought I had plenty of time but the day of the wedding was crazy and so many people had questions and all us girls getting ready at the same time ended up with us getting distracted and joking with each other, we ended up running ~45 minutes behind schedule.

We also would have invited more of our friends, we had a few of our older guests leave after the ceremony and even more leave after dinner.

ADVICE

My advice is to start planning as soon as possible and recruit people to help you with certain tasks. I had my mom help me with a significant portion of the planning, there is no way I could have planned everything without her help.

Also to keep costs manageable, attempt to do as much as you can yourself. My mother and I ordered flowers and had a few members to help us arrange all the centerpieces, bouquets, and boutonnieres ourselves. We also asked a family friend to cook for us, they make exceptional bbq! Just with those two things, we were able to save quite a bit.