The bride described her wedding as “small-town Saturday night, leather and lace, with a shot of sparkle” and I have to say she’s right!! It’s the perfect way to describe this rustic glam ranch wedding photographed exceptionally by Danielle Capito Photography. From the breathtaking scenery, to the ceremony set against the glow of the sun, to the ranch style venue, and rolling hills the bride and groom and wedding party posed for pictures on. It’s all so unbelievably stunning!! The mismatched palest of pink and neutral colored bridesmaid dresses to the oodles and oodles of cowboy boots, the bride’s sparkly wedding dress, the pops of aqua mint color throughout the reception all equal one perfectly pretty rustic wedding. So pretty, it makes me want to jump right on into it!! Join me, won’t you? :)

Jenny and Charlie first met at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo when he was a construction management major and she was studying accounting. As fate would have it, they wound up in the only two classes (economics and statistics) their majors could have possibly allowed them to share.

On the first day of class, Jenny found herself doing the first day of class scan around the classroom for familiar faces or nice-looking people to sit next to. Charlie happened to be one of those people and as it turned out, the very same guy her friends had been trying to set her up with. As class went on, they ended up scheduling a couple of study sessions together and things began to kind of randomly fall into place.

Before the end of the spring quarter, Charlie asked Jenny to lunch. They chose to meet at a local restaurant and Jenny surprised them both by arriving early and walking in the crosswalk in front of his car stopped at a red light outside the restaurant.

Summer break came soon after that first date, and because they lived hours away from each other, decided to take their relationship no further than talking (a lot) on AIM that summer. Looking back, Jenny credits a lot of the foundation of their relationship and understanding of each other to those few months spent talking, just talking, and pacing the relationship. By the time they returned to school in the fall, they’d already penciled in their second date. They locked in their first kiss and officially became a couple before the school year had even started :)

They spent a lot of time together while at school, taking each other to fraternity and sorority events, heading out to the lake with friends, and slowly introducing more serious things to their relationship like meeting the family. Jenny remembers the first time Charlie came to meet her family – especially her Dad. The conversation and presentation that ensued shortly after Jenny introduced them involved Jenny’s Dad introducing Charlie to his collection of hunting equipment. She’s still not sure if this was due to her dad being excited to share the collection with another guy or if it had implied meaning. Perhaps it was both ;)

Charlie popped the question after 6 years of coupledom. I love that word :) They’d watched many friends get married over the course of their relationship, but never felt the need to rush things. For a long time they were content with their relationship and building their individual lives and careers. They always knew they’d get engaged at some point but never pushed the topic until they both felt like it was the right time. They never sat and talked about rings, dates, wedding details, or anything like that – they just knew that it would all come and all work out at some point. One thing she had always told him however, was that she really wanted some of their friends around when he did it. And even though she felt as though he wanted it to be more of a one-on-one kind of thing, he did exactly as she wished.

It was July 4th and they were in the throes of a shindig at their place. All of their friends were over, Jenny’s sister was there, the margarita machine was in action, and Jenny wore a American flag bandana around her head. (Something she wishes she hadn’t worn that day for pictures sake.) Just as Charlie came out to announce that he’d be firing up the barbecue (which Jenny thought was really weird) he turned, sauntered up to Jenny, and dropped down on one knee. Everyone started cheering and because of that Jenny hardly heard what he had to say except, “Will you marry me?” Of course she said yes!!!

{From the Bride} Our wedding day was absolutely wonderful and was brought to life exactly how we wanted. If I were to describe the overall look and feel I was hoping for at the wedding, it would be something along the lines of a small-town Saturday night, leather and lace with a shot of sparkle. The beautiful flowers and my beautiful dress offered up the lace and the sparkle. The cowboy boots stood in for the leather and the ranch and dive-bar atmosphere provided everything we needed to give everyone a good time, small-town Saturday night style. Everything went so well and I have such a lasting impression of how gorgeous and perfect the day was. I had my worries about small details going in to the day but it is amazing how they melt away as the day goes on. I received endless advice to focus on the day, don’t let it get to you. I made every effort possible to make mental pictures of the day and enjoy what was going on and the people around me there to celebrate.

Charlie and I decided to do a first look. There were so many reasons we felt this was a better option for us. First and foremost, with so much packed in to the day we felt like a first look would allow us to best use the time we had and would allow us more time to actually visit with people along the timeline of the day. I also figured that seeing each other before the ceremony would allow me to experience any extreme emotions before standing out in front of everyone and breaking down. Finally, we really wanted our bridal party to enjoy cocktail hour and not spend additional time having to round everyone up after the ceremony – after all everyone came to party! The first look ended up being a great choice and ended up benefiting the day in all the ways we had hoped. I really honestly think it helped me keep it together during the ceremony which was really important to my Dad also keeping it together. I just knew if I lost it at any point, he would too.

The ceremony was beautiful, short and sweet and covered in sunshine and early Autumn breezes. It was important for us to have a ceremony that gracefully served the purpose, but we just really wanted to get to the reception – the ceremony was merely a formality :) In our true style, we just really wanted to get to the part where it was about entertaining our guests. So with a couple “I do’s”, a celebratory after-ceremony shot of Jameson with a “Sprite-back” for us and the bridal party, we were off to the best part of the wedding – the reception. We started the night with our lively “Gangnam Style” entrance into dinner, ate some wonderful food (although, looking back, one of my biggest regrets was not having a big enough appetite to finish my plate because the food was amazing), and moved on to the first dances. Charlie and I danced our first dance to “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton. My Dad and I danced to “I Loved Her First” by Heartland, and Charlie and his Mom danced to “All My Life” by The Beatles. After those memorable moments, the dance floor filled and everyone put their cowboy boots to work. I remember at one point looking out at the tables and not seeing one seat filled because everyone was up either mingling or dancing. At that point I felt like we had achieved success!!! Everyone was up, smiling and having a good time.

{Advice for Couples} Our advice to other couples getting ready to tie the knot is really to soak it all in. The day goes by so fast so be sure to sit back and take a minute to look at the smiling faces around you and think about how far everyone had come to celebrate your day and take a moment to relish in it. It doesn’t happen again and you’ll be craving the feeling of the day for months and years to come. Don’t worry about details, everything works itself out. Enjoy the day and yourselves and remember to be a guest at your own party and don’t worry too much about being a host!

Congratulations, Jenny and Chuck, and thank you so much for sharing your wedding and love story with us!! We wish you both so much love and laughter in the many years you’ll share together! Many, many, many thanks to Danielle Capito for sharing their very special day with us today!! We’re so thankful to have you be a part of our rustic month :) xoxo