A Charming Ojai Wedding
Kathleen + Stephen are the ideal clients. Honestly, these two were an absolute dream to work with! You know those people that you just instantly connect with? You love their ideas, their personalities and humor? Yeah, these two were exactly that! I spent a little over a year with Kat + Stephen planning their Ojai wedding from start to finish. I helped them venue search, create an overall vision for the day, helped book their vendors, and execute the ideas with them.
All In The Details
We threw out some pretty funny and great ideas throughout the process and a few came to life. For example a mariachi band and an ice sculpture of a bichon frise (see below). I really think their cute pup Tuffy personally loved that idea. I even have to brag a bit about Kathleen because she made all the pots from clay that the table centerpieces were in and all the stands for the table numbers were also made out of clay. Both of them also designed the save the dates, the invites and the table menus! Be sure to check them out below because they are amazing!
Rain, Rain Go Away!
Now although these two were ideal clients and the whole wedding process and planning was so fun, we only had a “minor” hiccup on the day of. Any guesses? Well, let me help you out. It down poured the majority of the day. This wasn’t a light drizzle here and there, although at times it did seem that way. It rained pretty hard until a miracle happened. Let me back track a bit first. The whole team had been going back and forth all day on what our game plan was, we only had a tent for the dance floor and for some tables to be under it and we were running out of time to make a decision.
However, I was feeling pretty optimistic about the weather prediction that it was going to clear up by 3pm, only a short 45 minutes before the ceremony. So I decided to hold out and see what happened and the team agreed to be on board. Here is where the miracle happens. The rain stopped at 3pm and the skies parted, the clouds went away and the there were rays of golden sunshine! It was one of the most beautiful and spectacular things to EVER happen! What made it even better was the gorgeous sunset it produced just a couple of hours later during the most heartfelt speeches.
Planning For The Unexpected
I’ve been pretty lucky in the past 3 and half years (albeit we were in a drought) to have avoided rain disasters on a wedding day. The key my friends is to stay optimistic and work with everyone on the team from catering staff, bartenders, to the venue manager. I mean this was a team effort because even our DJ helped to get things in place at the last minute. Now that’s teamwork! Beautiful things can happen when you work together and have a little faith.
This Ojai wedding was definitely one for the books and I couldn’t be more grateful to have been a part of this season of Kat + Stephen’s life. Thank you for trusting me along the way, making me laugh a lot and treating me like a friend. Congrats to you both and cheers to a wonderfully adventurous life ahead!
If you’re worried about navigating the weather on your big day, contact me on my homepage here and we’ll come up with a fool-proof game plan!
Talented Vendors:
Venue: Private Venue in Ojai
Planner/Designer: Feathered Arrow
Florals: Your Digs Design
Rentals: Ventura Rentals
Tables/Lounge Furniture: Found Vintage Rentals
Vintage Rental Pieces: Otis and Pearl
Clay Pots/Clay Table Holders: Made by the bride Kathleen
Photography: Palms and Pines Photography
Videography: Open Valve Studios
Catering: Lorraine Lim
Donuts: Donut Friend
Hair/Makeup: Babe Cave
Cake: Knead Bakery
Linens: La Tavola
Hotels: Ojai Rancho Inn, Hummingbird Inn and the Capri
DJ: Vox DJs
Live Music- Marachi Band – Aurelio Reyes ” El Gallo de Chuapas”
Alcohol : BevMo
Ice Sculpture: Images in Ice
Tent: Amigo Party Rental
Bathrooms: MarBorg Industries Luxury Bathrooms