I’m so excited to share Lois and Ryo’s beautiful Spring wedding at Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate. From the elegant, garden inspired invitation suite to the music record sign-in “book,” these two infused so much of who they are as a couple into their day and it was such a joy to capture!

Lois and Ryo met at work, they started hanging out in the break room for lunch – their friendship turned into more after Ryo courageously asked Lois to hang out outside of work over a year later. They found they both enjoyed exploring new restaurants, hiking, traveling and generally trying new things together. They planned their wedding with a garden ceremony in mind – they love springtime and wanted the bright, light colors of florals to set a romantic ambiance with lots of joy.

Zeyda from  The Little Fleur Co did such a fabulous job with their florals. She combined pastel blooms (some from her own garden) and potted plants throughout the ceremony and reception space for an elegant, classic and intimate feel. Each groomsmen boutonnière was unique, which complimented the wedding party and decor.

These two also had a “getaway car” adorned with blooms and the most perfect “Just Married” banner! But, if I had to choose one detail that gave me the most feels, I would have to say that it was the Signature Cocktail Drink named “The Gin Daisy” as it was named after their fur baby which I had the pleasure of meeting for their engagement session.

Scroll down to see some beautiful moments!

Congrats Lois + Ryo!! … + Daisy! 😀 

Share your inspiration and the atmosphere you created for your wedding.

We decided to have a smaller wedding of 75 people because we wanted to maximize guest experience and show how grateful we are to have our guests in our lives: we wanted to provide an open bar, excellent food options, games and a photo booth. We wanted to put a lot of focus on florals for our decor as the bride’s mother was a wedding florist previously, and Lois would go with her to some wedding venues and see how much florals make the space much more beautiful. The atmosphere we wanted to create was a spring, light, and joyous memory for everyone.

Share how (or why) you chose your wedding venue(s).

When we first started reaching out to venues in January 2021, we found out that there was a huge wave of engaged people looking for venues as well, so we frantically scheduled many venue walk-throughs to book our venue as soon as possible. Carmel Mountain Ranch Estate was the first place we went to and none of the other venues came even close to how much we loved the venue. As we did our walk-through, we could definitely imagine our wedding there.

The venue is absolutely gorgeous – white spacious ballroom with gold chandeliers and huge windows that look out to the mountains, and gardens lush with greenery. We liked that there were indoor and outdoor options for our wedding. As an early spring wedding, we wanted to have a garden ceremony, but bring the reception inside as it would get colder at night. Even if it rained, there was an option to have the ceremony inside. The bridal suite, groom’s parlor, and guest bathrooms were so spacious and inviting, whereas some other venues were not. It made it easier for us as food and beverage is through the venue, so we didn’t have to find and manage catering and bartending services. There are so many different areas of the venue so we can have a lot of background options for photography. Finally, working with the CMRE staff for our wedding has been wonderful as they were always patient with us asking many questions and requests during the planning process.

 

What was your favorite part of the planning process?

Our favorite part of the planning process were the tasks we got to experience together: venue walk-throughs, food and cake tastings, our engagement photoshoot, premarital counseling, and taking first dance lessons. It gave us time to get away from the research/not as interesting parts of the planning process, focus on ourselves and enjoy these moments together.

 

 

What is your most valuable piece of advice you can share with future couples?

Taking the time to really research and pick your vendors makes a HUGE difference to your wedding planning experience. I am so thankful we found vendors who actually cared about your wedding experience and provided guidance to us along the way.

Another piece of advice is to remember to have some fun during wedding planning. We would get overwhelmed by wedding planning sometimes, taking a step back and enjoying each other’s company helps remind us that the wedding will go fine as long as we have each other :).

xo,

V