The Wedding Chicks

This quirky couple used their shared love of the ’60s and ’70s as inspiration for their wedding day. Set at the rustic The Condor’s Nest Ranch, Kerry and Doug’s special day was chalked full of unique elements.

Be sure you read on to get the full scoop from the bride herself, including their full budget breakdown. Don’t miss any of the interesting aspects of this vintage farm wedding by viewing the full gallery here, all fabulously captured by the amazing Tyler Branch Photo.

From the Bride:
We had such an incredible time planning our wedding from choosing the magical Condor’s Nest Ranch to spending hours and hours on our personal touch DIY projects. Our wish was to have our wedding represent our quirky personalities including our love for the 1960s and 1970s and to make our friends and family feel as special as we did. That beautiful orange VW bus you see in many of the photos and on our invitations was one of the main inspirations in our vision.

I had the bridesmaids dresses custom-made by an incredible vintage designer in Brooklyn that I found on Etsy, Louise Hedley of Soho Mode! She collects 1950′s and 1960′s fabrics and creates these adorable vintage tea dresses! I loved them so much, I had one made for myself and wore it in some of my engagement photos!

A few of our favorite DIY projects that we worked on were the wedding invitations and the couples photo wedding display. For our invitations, we wanted them to be whimsical and fun to get everyone really excited for our wedding and to give them a taste of what to expect.

We were looking through our record collection one morning (mostly 1960′s rock, Motown and disco), admiring the cool artwork of the album covers and that’s when we decided to make our invitations mini versions of old school records.

We designed the front and back cover with fun details about the wedding, a photo taken from our engagement shoot, a sketch of the VW bus, and the artists on the record which would guests could expect to hear at the wedding. We found cd stickers that looked like vinyl and then designed our own label to make the cd look like a mini record. They turned out perfect and guests adored them!

The other project was one that was close to my heart because something I wanted to try to convey to guests at our wedding was gratitude. Weddings always focus on the couple and I wanted to make sure that our friends and family felt important because Doug and I wouldn’t be where we are today without them so we asked all married couples to send us a photo from their wedding along with the date.

We printed 2 of every photo, mounted them on nice card stock, wrote the couple’s names on one side and their wedding date on the other. The Condor’s Nest has this amazing trellis at the entrance of the house/grounds so we hung all of the photos on twine from there so guests were greeted with them when they arrived.

Ever since I saw the wedding episode of the Wonder Years when I was ten where Kevin’s older sister Karen arrives at her wedding in a VW bus, it has been a dream of mine to arrive at my wedding in one. Doug’s sister made that happen by renting us one for the week from Vintage Surfari Wagons … best wedding gift ever!

I feel so lucky because our wedding far surpassed the visions we had for it and turned out to be an incredibly magical day that really represented us. We received the same feedback from guests which meant so much to us. It’s tough to think of anything that I would change but I do wish that I remembered to wear the cute birdcage veil I had made by an Etsy designer for the ceremony.

We didn’t have a cake. We surprised guests with a visit from the ice cream man instead! Doug and I exchanged bites of our all-time favorite treats, Doug — a Ninja Turtle and me — a Pink Panther, as our version of “cake cutting.”

Sweet Treats Truck from San Diego made that happen for us! We also had a dessert table. We had a very talented friend, Janet Brasel, make delicious blueberry cheesecake bars and we had a spread of our favorite cookies from Diddy Riese in Los Angeles.

Doug and I also had a lot of fun making this spoof on A&E for our guests instead of a traditional slideshow so they could get to know more about us in an entertaining way and so we could make them laugh.

Get a closer look at this vintage farm wedding by watching the wedding video from Russell John Films below!

Photographer: Tyler Branch Photo
Venue: The Condor's Nest Ranch
Hair & Makeup: Tasha Dubreuil-Marinier of Beauty Bar
Caterers: Dalena's Catering 2 U & Alchemy
Cinematography: Russell John Films
DJ: Universal DJ Services
Dress Designer: Christos
Groom's Attire: Kenneth Cole & Men's Wearhouse
Shoe Designer: ModCloth
VW Bus: Vintage Surfari Wagons
Bridesmaids Dresses: Soho Mode
Stationery: The Bride & Groom | Veil or Hair Accessories: Sunflower Stand | Flowers: The Bride | Event Designer: The Bride | Officiant: James Grant | Jewelry: Sora Designs

Read on to see how much this vintage farm wedding cost. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.

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Although Elena and Alessandro’s wedding is not a destination wedding, we thought it would be a great for those of you who are thinking about an Italian wedding. Taking place in a small village near Parm, Italy at Museo Ettore Guatelli, a local museum where all the rooms are filled with utensils and objects of everyday life that are grouped together in the thousands and placed in geometric decorative patterns, it really transforms the farm that houses them into a work of art. You can see more of this Italian destination wedding here, all captured by Infraordinario Studio.

How lovely are these favor boxes with custom monogram hang tags? We adore the simplicity and style that these can add to any table. Fill them with chocolates or hand-made treats for the perfect wedding favor.

Photographer: Infraordinario Studio
Venue: Museo Ettore Guatelli
Cake & Caterer: Il Cortile
Dress Designer & Veil or Hair Accessories: Poesia Sposa
Groom's Attire: Maco Shop
Flowers: Giuliana Fiori | Officiant: Comune di Fornovo di Taro | Stationery: design di Gaia Reggiani e realizzazione di Idee di Valentina