DIY Backyard Wedding

I am so excited to finally be sharing photos from our beautiful wedding day. I remember the day Sean proposed to me on a little canoe in the middle of the ocean while visiting my family's cabin off the coast of Canada. The wedding planning bug immediately hit me! I recall diving right in to themes, colors, locations, food, and spending days on Pinterest trying to hone in on what was "us" - what we wanted it to look like, feel like, sound like.

After a lot of trials and mishaps, our lovely florist finally introduced us to an amazing couple who owned a horse ranch in town. We toured their ranch and immediately fell in love with the property. We didn't even have to think twice about renting their location for our big day. The only problem was that everything would have to be DIY, as it wasn't a formal-type of venue that we had been used to seeing. Cue our amazing wedding planner, Javier Valentino. He helped us pick out the tables, chairs, tablescapes, and helped with the general aesthetic. He was so great at taking our likes and ideas and turning them into something beautiful.

One of my close friends and restaurateur helped out with the catering. I honestly think the food was everyone's favorite part, but totally can't blame them - it was DELICIOUS. At that time, Sean and I were meat eaters, so BBQ was the ONLY way to go!

I think what I loved most about the day was how intimate it was (and our song choices!). Overall, we had about 60 guests. Although we would have loved to invite many more, we knew we had to stick to our very strict budget. But in the end, it all worked out perfectly, and everyone was able to mingle and sit at tables without feeling awkward or left out. We decided to have our wedding during the day because the weather was perfect and we wanted to save time in the evening to party with our closest friends before leaving for our honeymoon early the next morning. The winds were outrageous, but they made for some gorgeous hair-all-over-the-place photos. We opted to do a first look, and the tears seriously started flooding right at that moment! And then of course again, when my dad walked me out and I saw Sean's handsome face with tears in his eyes. Such a beautiful and priceless moment! I walked out to "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Haley Reinhart and we shared our first dance to "Video Games" by Lana Del Ray.

By far, favorite day of our lives and we're constantly wishing we could relive the entire experience one more time.

All sources are tagged and linked below -- We could not have done this without every single one of these people!

Dress - Grace Loves Lace // Suit - Topman // Hair - Rachel // Makeup - Zachary Edward // Planning - Javier Valentino // Photography - Jenelle Giese // Florals - ACS Floral and Events // Cake - Peridot Sweets // Venue - White Horse Youth Ranch // Food - Tucky's BBQ