We just love it when a couple are enthusiastic about their wedding and passionate about their vendors, and today's bride and groom are certainly that.

Melissa & Matthew got married on a charming ranch in Southern California, with a day that was as fun, romantic, elegant, and personal.

And we're so elated to be sharing their beautiful photographs by Kaysha Weiner Photography.

With the stunning backdrop (and entire prop room) of The Condor's Nest at their disposal, Melissa and Matthew got creative, with pretty styling, gorgeous greenery and florals, and lots of DIY touches.

But the standout detail of this wedding has to be the attire.

The bridesmaids in pretty mink and blue mix and match dresses, the guys looking California smart casual in beige, and taking centre stage, Melissa in her stunning strapless Anne Barge wedding dress, and Matthew looking relaxed and dapper in beige and navy with a succulent bout.

Add in the palpable excitement of this pair about getting hitched, and you have yourself one very special, very stylish, very swoonworthy wedding day...

Wedding Day Snapshot

How We Met

We met on Friday, July 13th, 2012 at a local watering hole for the amazing Newport locals, The Bluebeet.

I was out with some friends, and Cassie (one of the bridesmaids) and I were planning an escape route to turn it into a girls night, when a very handsome gentleman came over and offered me a drink, in hopes of, as Matty has told me, to cheer me up, because I looked like I was having a bad night.

I quickly said no thank you and Cassie and I kept talking.

It wasn't long before I noticed Matty was standing at the bar right next to us and every time I would look over he would point at the spot next to him. Very smoothly I must say.

After a couple times of shaking my head no, Cassie and I figured worst case I got a free drink from a hot boy!

Needless to say, after talking to Matty for just a couple minutes, I had forgotten about the drink and couldn't pull myself away from the handsome blue eyed man in front of me. I never got the free drink and a couple hours of talking, which felt like minutes, he had my number.

After the first date I never looked back, he was it!

The Inspiration

For our wedding we wanted it to feel intimate, rustic, a little bit vintage, and romantic. We love soft blue, green, greys, whites, pink, etc. and decided to go with a neutral palette. We were inspired by things we love, some of our colors were inspired by the beach (because we both grew up in beach cities), our hike where we got engaged, and the countryside. We both love old vintage rustic barns and uniqueness of each ranch. We would look at blogs, Etsy, Pinterest, and Instagram to see different styles of lace, DIY projects, suit colors and styles, and just continually formed our perfect day. We also have been to a lot of weddings and pulled some of our favorite ideas from our amazing family and friend's special days. It was most important for us for people to see our personal touches and feel our love not only for each other but for them as well.

The Attire

The bride wore Anne Barge (the best dress ever), the bridesmaids wore Jenny Yoo Annabelle tulle dress in mink grey with the maid of honor in Mayan blue (purchased through Nordstrom and BHLDN). They were able to wear them multiple ways that made each of them able to customize their look. The groom and groomsmen wore custom suits from our friends' company (which is amazing) Grooms Grotto.

The Venue

We had searched online a little bit but hadn't visited a venue. We knew we wanted an orchard or a ranch, and really wanted a barn, preferably a big tree.

Our friend told us to check out Condors Nest Ranch after hearing what we were in love with, they had their engagement shoot there, and it sounded perfect.

We went up to the venue and had to look fast because a wedding was going on, but fell in love.

We walked around the beautiful ranch house that every room had personal touches and a view we could stare at for days, went to the amazing barn that looked used, but at the same time maintained, fed and met all these sweet animals, found an old trailer for possible pictures, a fire engine that made us giggle because it was an area for people who needed to smoke, then they showed us this delicate greenhouse that made me swoon, and it just kept going.

Next there was this adorable rustic and vintage cottage that had old gas tanks, an entire prop shed, an amazing pool, and this lawn looking out over this amazing rolling hill view.

We stood there and just knew, we felt the love, we loved every detail, and the team was amazing.

Every turn we made, had more details we loved but most importantly every moment we were there we could feel love, we had all these moments, and when we drove away instantly wanted to go back.

We both loved it. We only went to one venue and that's all we needed.

Favourite Details & Moments

We feel like our whole wedding was special details! We loved getting ready with our bridal parties in separate houses. The bridesmaids and bride with beautiful robes, and the boys getting a bit of a pool day before getting ready. Some of our favorites were our sweetheart table and all of its decorations, the books for table numbers, our table banners, corn hole boards, patches for groom and father of the bride, the wedding dress and suit, and home made gift sign in board and our gift table set up. We also loved having a little seating area with retro furniture next to the dance floor. For favorite moments the whole day but a few that were extra special to us was seeing each other for the first time walking down the aisle, our first dance, all the speeches, dancing to Gangstas Paradise as the last song, dancing with all of our friends. The most memorable of them all was seeing each other for the first time. We will never forget that walk, that moment, or that look. It was the best feeling of love you could experience.

The Ceremony

At our reading, we had Corinthians 13 read by my sister. Our special touches would include a patch Matt wore (one of his wedding gifts), Matt built part of our arch as well as did all the drapings, the ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket. We said our own vows, and our wedding ceremony music had a very very special place in our hearts. My father also had a patch on the backside of his tie. My mother and father walked me part of the way as a way to honor her and to honor him. My father walked me the rest of the way down the aisle. We did not see each other before the ceremony at all. For us the most important thing was our first time seeing each other, which we will never forget. It was truly magical.

The Flowers

For the bridal bouquet we had loose round botanical gathering of garden roses, dahlias, spray roses, lisianthus, hypericum berries, china mums, dusty miller, and more seasonal blooms and flowing greenery. The colors were mainly white and ivory tones with subtle blush and gray accents. Our florist put these flowers all over our archway, bouquets, and spread throughout the table and prop décor. Our tables had greenery laid down the middle with sprigs of flowers mixed throughout in different milk bottles and vases of different styles, colors, and heights. The flower girl had a baby's breath crown. The groom had a grey succulent boutonniere with textural greenery wrap. The groomsmen had a botanical gathering of greenery . The mothers wore corsages of small posies to match theme of wedding, the fathers wore a simple boutonniere with single ivory spray rose and greenery. We had ten shepherd's hooks to line the ceremony aisle, each holding a mix of textural greenery. The seating chart windows had seven feet of garland to swag along top and down side, asymmetrical shape and the sweetheart table had dense collection of vintage vases holding a mix deconstructed floral and greenery.

The Music

Family processional song: Landslide by Fleetwood Mac Wedding party processional song: Every Little Thing She Does is Magic. Bridal processional song: I'm Gonna Be (500 miles). Recessional song: If you Ever Want to be in Love by James Bay. Grand entrance song, bridal party: Thunderstruck, ACDC Grand entrance song, bride and groom: Shut Up and Dance, Walk the Moon Bride and groom first dance song: I Wont Give Up, Jason Mraz Father/Daughter dance: My Little Girl, Tim McGraw Mother/Son dance: Wildflowers, Tom Petty.

The Photography

Kaysha Weiner is our photographer and so much more than that, she is truly a friend. We were recommended Kaysha by a friend who had her at their wedding, and then another friend who had booked her. We went to meet with her and were overwhelmed with how amazing her studio was when you walk in. It is simple with tiny details and pictures full of love. She had a chalkboard welcoming us, which was the perfect touch. We sat down and got to know each other and laughed a lot. She understood what we were looking for, appreciated our shyness to be in front of a camera, and worked with us on all of our questions. She was perfect. She is extremely talented, felt like we had known her forever, and had so many passions we connected to. She makes you feel excited safe and loved and is a blessing to have in our lives. We couldn't have asked for a better experience and will continue to have her in our lives forever. And find many reasons to shoot with her again! Our videographer was Jordan Niswender, and we met him from a recommendation from a Facebook post of a friend. He was extremely professional, had tons of experience and understood our vision for our wedding video. He made us feel safe in our decision and we were impressed with his talent. Our video is amazing and we are so lucky to have found him. Since then he has already booked two of my friends weddings.

The Budget

We were on a tight budget and had a large wedding of 200 people. We saved by using a venue where most items were included and had a range of guests for each price range. We used a lot of their props and the venue itself was unique. We splurged on gifts for the groomsmen and bridesmaids and family. We spent money on photographer and videographer and flowers. These were very very very important to us and we recommend them being a priority. We saved a lot of money doing a lot of our own DIY projects like the corn hole boards, signs, banners, and some of the gifts.

The Refreshments

We had a signature cocktail that our made of honour and sister of the bride created. It was mint and orange infused vodka with ginger beer and soda water. It was the perfect "mint to be" cocktail to pair with the detail straws we were so excited to use (jean, birch wood, and vintage floral prints). For appetizers we had meat, cheese, and fruit provided from my family restaurant, and tons of other snacks. Dinner was Dalenas BBQ which is amazing! It was a buffet to help with feeding so many people as fast as possible. We had a dessert bar, which included chocolate truffles, lemon bars, a variety of cupcakes, and out naked cake, which was banana flavored and so perfect. We LOVED our desserts.

The Decor & Details

We used a lot of provided props from Condors Nest prop room but also brought a lot with us. We purchased marquee signs, some frames for old photos, banner signs for the gift table and desert table, used some adorable dish clothes about love and marriage (a gift from a bridesmaid), and M&Ms with our picture on it and just married, and other small details. For the father and mother of the bride both had very special gifts made (mother a necklace with brides handwriting engraved, father a wallet and a patch to wear on his tie). Our gifts were mason jars with a koozie inside from us as a thank you to the guests. We made a lot of our decorations including our corn hole table, sweetheart table, M&M box (grooms gift to bride), drinks wear for sweetheart table, all of our signs, we made our own Mr & Mrs a I know I am forgetting so many things we loved! nd Kretshcmar banner for our table and chairs, gift tags, and hangs for the bridesmaid dresses. Bridesmaids had small rose gold heart earrings and my faovorite rose gold antler necklaces. I highly recommend BHLDN, Pinterest, Bridal Musings, Wedding Chicks, Kaysha Weiner, Jordan Niswender, Cute Cakes, Etsy, Elyse Reneau and Jeanna Pizzollo, The White Dress, Blooms by Breesa, The Knot, Honeyfund, Crate & Barrel, myregistry.com. As far as advice, we recommend finding the things that mean the most to you and prioritizing those first. If it is venue and photographer, give yourself the money and freedom to get the ones you want. Next make sure you plan the wedding day not only for everyone else to have fun, but knowing that it is a day for you two and some things will never make everyone happy so do your best and when you can't decide, decide for you. On your wedding day know a few things may or may not go wrong, but no one knows but you. Don't let them ruin any moments and soak up the love. Take a moment with just the two of you to walk a little outside the wedding and look back and all of the people who are there to love you and celebrate with you, and then look at each other. This is an amazing moment, your first moment alone as husband and wife with all the people you love. Embrace it. Lastly don't be afraid to cut things to make the day easier. At our wedding we cut the bouquet toss and garter toss so we could dance more and spend more time with the guests, and it was worth it. Lastly remember to laugh, cry, sing, dance, and love every second of this crazy year and amazing day because it flies by in a blink.

We went on the most amazing honeymoon to Bora Bora and Moorea. We highly recommend making this trip and giving you at least ten days. Make sure to hike, swim with sharks, rent a boat, paddleboard, and embrace the culture. It is a place that you will always want to go back to and will never regret visiting. We can't wait to go back and are already planning a trip!

Advice for Other Couples

The Honeymoon

Be Inspired by more Awesome Real Weddings.

Isn't it gorgeous? I adore the lacework on Melissa's wedding dress, and the mix of grey and blue hues for the bridesmaids is so pretty.

Thanks so much to Kaysha Weiner, and of course, Melissa and Matthew for sharing all the details behind their big day.