Natural Glam Fall Fete

These biologists wanted to make sure their personalities and passions were infused into the design of their wedding. With their venue in middle of nature, they brought in design elements that felt natural to the space, as if they could have grown there.

Credits

Planning + Design: LuckEleven Events
Photography: Cuckoos Nest West
Florals: Nurture Flora Co
Venue + Catering: Pine Hill Julian
DJ: Pacific Entertainment
Hair + Makeup: Beau Dieda /
Kameron Rasmussen / Ankerman Artistry
Day of Stationery/invitations: Mon Voir
Dessert: Mom’s Pie House
Photobooth: Pixster Photobooth
Live drawing: Jessup Illustrations
Dress: Angel Rivera Bride / Kinsley James Couture Bridal
Suit: MH Tailoring & Alterations

Cocktail Hour

As their planner, Melanie of LuckEleven Events, says: cocktail hour is your preview to the reception and you shouldn’t skip over the details! You have limited time with your guests, so every hour is valuable. Nicole hired the lovely Inanna of Jessup Designs to live paint portraits of their guests as they sipped on Fleur 75s (French 75 with florals) and Maximillian Manhattans (a play on their cat, Maxi, who adorned napkins).

Dinner

The dinner portion of the event was located in the third space of the venue, an outdoor garden shaded by pine trees. The wooden tables were decorated with a mix of live and fresh florals, accompanied by candles with pressed flowers from Kate Garcia. Guests found their seats with escort cards containing matching pressed and dried florals. In true biologist fashion, a couple cards per table had drawn bugs on them.

Dancing

As dinner concluded, guests were then directed to the fourth and final location at the venue, an indoor dance hall where Kate Garcia designed and incredible installation that incorporated everything from the day - florals, butterflies, intimate spaces - and added a bit of spice with disco balls. Local bakery, Mom’s Pies, provided all the dessert with 5 different kids of pie paired with cinnamon ice cream and photobooth company Pixster kept the guests entertained with photo strips designed with Brooke’s artwork.

The Venue

From the get-go, they located a cabin-like venue in the mountains of Julian, about an hour outside San Diego. Julian is a quaint mountain town known for its pie and cider. The location itself got guests into the fall spirit with its changing leaves and cabin-like buildings. Nicole and Blake rented out a hotel for all their guests in the downtown area and welcomed them with local jam, a Julian postcard and maple flavored nuts to embrace the woodsy town.

Hair and Makeup

Nicole opted out of having a large bridesmaid group and instead asked her friends to be part of the “girl gang” to get ready with her. Blake’s brother, celebrity hair stylist Beau Dieda, spearheaded the hair and makeup accompanied by his right hand Kam Rassmussen and called in Sarah Ankerman for glam makeup. Blake’s brother in law Erik Rudy styled Nicole’s bridal look to perfection with a mermaid gown and a trailing, detatchable overskirt that easily carried her ceremony look into the reception.

Details

Blake’s sister Brooke Dieda of Mon Voir designed all of the signage and the entire invitation suite. She took inspiration from Nicole’s purple butterfly shoes, the dark green of Blake’s suit and natural tones from the mood board to create the stunning crest and illustrations.

Ceremony

One element of their wedding that made Blake and Nicole the most excited was working with Kate Garcia from Nurture Flora Co. As people who are very passionate about minimal waste and environmental sustainability, the couple were blown away by Kate who grew all of the flowers herself over the course of a year from when they originally booked her services. Kate created a living aisle using potted plants that could be repurposed around the property and Nicole added plant markers with the scientific names to a couple of the pots to recognize their love of life science. With a small wedding party, the family made their way down the aisle including her flower abuela who set the scene for Nicole’s entrance. Their altar