We've got a wedding to share with you guys today, that's not just laced with homely charm and personal details, but also happens to be impossibly elegant.

Stephanie and Christopher married in a chic, wild west celebration at Pappy and Harriet's, Pioneertown, California.

Their day, dotted with homemade touches, sunset hues, and rustic refreshments, was beautifully captured by Leif Brandt Photography.

Fun, stylish, romantic - we love a wedding that merges a lace gown with a hay bale!

Our Favourite Moments

The venue Pappy and Harriet's is a unique spot that I grew up going to, to watch live music and enjoy food with my family. Chris and I love to visit here and it was his idea to hold the wedding here! Our live music by friends that Chris and I have been seeing and listening too throughout our relationship was another highlight. A friend brought a homemade washer toss game and it was a lot of fun for guests too! Our first dance was amazing! I wore a dress from a bridal showcase, it was under $1,000 it had an off-white/café silk under-slip that was tailored to have no train. It had a lace overlay with a v-neck, keyhole back, buttons on the neck and down from the keyhole had a open lace train. I had a fun, simple flower crown with little daisies, succulents, and wild-inspired flowers made by Untamed. My bridesmaids wore Adrianna Papell maroon lace dresses, suede booties, and gold bohemian chandelier earrings from Stella Dot.

The Dresses

We chose our photographer, Leif Brandt because he was used by two good friends. And our videographer, James Tull was referred to me from a friend and loved his journalistic style. Our colour theme was rustic romantic eclectic, and desert sunset, with maroon, yellow, orange, succulents. My friend and I played with flowers a few weeks and then the two days before the wedding, we went back and purchased all the wedding flowers. We made 12 wooden box centerpieces, four bridesmaid bouquets, one bridal bouquet, nine buttonholes for groomsmen and parents and grandma. We had flowers left over to use for the arch and random vases. We used succulents from my back yard, big white flowers, maroon dahlias, red and orange roses, yellow kangaroo paws, mini daisies, baby hydrangea, seeded eucalyptus, and romantic long draping flowers. The button holes all had succulents, kangaroo paws, and maroon wildflower-looking daises.

The Photography

Chris and I together wrote our own vows for each other... "It is the greatest desire of my heart to be faithful to you and to love you always, seeking to meet your every need, striving to help in every way, listening to you, encouraging you, comforting you and standing by your side in whatever circumstances may face us in our life ahead. I promise to share your hopes, thoughts and dreams as we build our lives together. May our lives be as one, our love keeping us together. Our home shall be forever filled with warmth, light, happiness and love. I will respect you, honor you and strive for harmony in our marriage with a devoted and gentle spirit. With these words and all the words of my heart and soul I marry you and bind my life to yours."

The Ceremony

Our rings were a special story to us so our Brother in law Phil read this as rings were exchanged... "Chris's gold band is a gift from the father of the bride who wore it as his own, day in and day out, for over 30 years- the original ring from Stephanie's parent's ceremony in 1977. Stephanie was given two gold rings from the mother of the groom. One is over 31 years old and bears a ruby that was a birth ring Chris's father gave his mother before he was born. Funnily enough, this is the birthstone of Chris's anticipated due date which was to be in late July, however, he was not as anxious as his doctor's predictions and was not born until late August. The creation of the second ring began 42 years ago in the summer of 1972 while the mother of the groom was on a trip to Amsterdam. There she purchased a diamond and later had it placed in a three-flower gold setting after she had returned home."

The Rings

For the ceremony, we had a beautiful swirly arch with drape flowers and maroon dahlias. We had family/friends shower the newlyweds with DIY doily cones filled with feathers and yellow/maroon daisies. For the reception, we had a hay bale lounge with quilts and pillows. We had a poloroid guestbook, DIY table assigner made from an antique window, DIY lace runners, a C&S sign for our table made by Chris's sister for our engagement, DIY table numbers out of cut wood and used cholla branches, found in the desert, for table décor.

Decor & Details

Refreshments

We served beer and wine for cocktail hours. We love Ballast Point beer so we had a variety of them out of the bottles. Madhouse Pies had watermelon wedges with salt and mint passed around, then brie cheese wheels with honeycomb, fig butter, apricot preserve, with fresh figs, berries, grapes, variety of nuts, pickles, crackers etc for the appetizer buffet. For dinner we had Pappy and Harriet's prepare a buffet style dinner: Salmon, kale salad, and scalloped potatoes. Dessert was an amazing three tier pie. We served pies in mason jars: peach/brown sugar, mixed berry, and strawberry.

We had flavored water with sage/blackberry, lemon/lavender, pineapple/mint waiting for our guests when they arrived to the ceremony, s elf-served with ladels and mason jars.

Our dear friends, Gene Evaro Jr. and Family, played live music during the ceremony and had a great set of their own music and some fun covers during the reception. Gene Evaro was also our Emcee. He played "This kind love" for our first dance. He learned Tom Petty "Wildflowers" for the father-daughter dance! My friend, DJ Aly B, did some DJing after the live band for the dance party. She also played music for our cocktail hour and during dinner. We created our playlists on Spotify and let her play the songs as she saw fit - Chris is a music snob so this worked perfect!

The Music

Enjoy the process, get creative and bring your dream to reality with little details. Personally, flowers were one of my favorite items and had such a fun time being a big part of making our bouquets with the help of a friend. I used The Knot for a free check list. We used Honey Fund for our registry and MyRegistery.com because we wanted random things from everywhere.

Advice for Other Couples

Such a charming wedding day, such a unique location, in Pioneertown, and those vows were just perfect.

P.S. We're kind of head over heels with Stephanie's bridal style - we're pinning her hair as we speak!

More more real wedding gorgeousness, check out DIY Weddings + Rustic Weddings.

Thanks so much to Leif Brandt Photography and our wonderful couple, Stephanie and Christopher for sharing their intimate western wedding with us.