Jennifer and Brandon’s September wedding played off of the classic and sophisticated feel of The Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe, while incorporating a DIY (Do It Yourself) vintage flair. Jennifer and her sister Jessica had a blast coming up with unique and intricate details for the wedding, which truly was a labor of love! In fact, the the crafty pair of sisters are now planning to launch a decor company / blog called “Linen, Lace, and Love.” We stopped to chat with Jennifer to get the dish on the details, and the special moments that we captured through our lens. Take a look at what she had to say!

I’m shabby-chic, and Brandon is more traditional and clean. So we met in the middle with a “Gingham and Lace” theme.  He’s gingham and I’m lace and we tied it in throughout.  We wanted it to be clean, classic, and beautiful with a little vintage feel thrown in.  The table numbers took three days because we hand stenciled numbers on them, glued doilies, attached buttons up the backs of all of them, and tied them with a gingham bow. The signs were made by my artist sister as a cute way to direct the crowd across the Crosby to the reception. 

The Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe is not only beautiful, but it is where my parents live. For many years, The Crosby has felt like a second home.  The location is sentimental to me, as well as breathtaking, so it was an easy choice for our wedding venue.

My favorite moment was when my dad saw me for the first time.  Our photographer had me wait in the dressing room and brought my dad into the lobby.  Then I came out and we both almost started crying.  It was really special.

Brandon’s most memorable moment was when the car pulled up and I stepped out and he saw me for the first time. The car is a 1930 Packard that my dad and his father, Donald Wheeler, restored together.  My grandfather passed away three years ago, and it was our way of including him in the ceremony. The Packard was also in my parents’ wedding, and my sister’s, so it’s become a family tradition.

The scripture on the flowers was from my Auntie Mae, who gave me the page of my favorite Bible verse. The page was pulled out of my Great Aunt’s Bible, which she carried down the aisle when she got married. The passage is Ephesians’ 3:20…The cross necklace wrapped around my bouquet was Brandon’s wedding gift to me, and I now wear it every day.

We also had a “frames” theme – the photos, escort card display, and the flower boxes in the reception were all empty frames. We even gave out frames as a wedding favor. We liked the idea of empty frames symbolizing all of our memories yet to come.

We made the guestbook table by wrapping books with navy paper and then gluing doilies and stamping them with letters. I think it turned out really well. With help from our wedding planners at Amorology and graphic design by Peanut Press, we also created an amazing escort card display. Our original concept was to do a canopy of ribbon with the escort tags woven through the ends that were coming down.  Amorology came up with the giant frame idea and I loved how it tied into our theme.

Our experience with True Photography was GREAT! They were very professional, kind (we have both been in weddings where the photographer was yelling at people the whole time), helpful, and prepared. They totally captured our wedding day. Here are a few of our favorite images for the day: