At Home Wedding Ideas that go Beyond the Big Day

Well before COVID made backyard weddings the new go-to, Paige and Phil set the bar high for at home wedding ideas! The couple decided to think beyond their big day and allocated their venue budget towards landscaping their backyard, creating a ceremony space with a stunning view of San Diego – they got their dream venue and a fresh new home all at once! With the help of planner and designer Sisti & Co., they transitioned seamlessly into a hacienda backyard reception at the groom’s parents’ home. The Spanish style of both locations helped inform their fall color scheme of pink, orange, red, and white which photographer Brogen Jessup captured in all its vibrancy in their amazing photos!

This couple transformed their yard for an at home wedding

Planning a wedding at home? Find more backyard celebration ideas!

Paige chose Jenny Yoo bridesmaid dresses for her October wedding – the bridesmaids each chose a silhouette and kept to the Cinnamon Rose color to create a cohesive mismatched bridesmaid look!

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The bride fell in love with a long sleeve lace dress by Flora Bridal from The Dress Theory San Diego. The long tattoo lace sleeves and crochet lace waist detail on the ‘Carmen’ dress felt perfect for a fall bride yet light and airy enough for a Southern California wedding! Her gorgeous autumn-toned bouquet included coral peonies, peach roses, parrot tulips, Hawaiian ginger, and orange hibiscus for a tropical spin on classic fall flowers!

From the Bride:

I wore the Carmen dress by Flora Bridal. This full lace dress has delicate full-length sleeves and a deep V neckline in both back and front. The waist has an intricate crocheted band and the buttons on the sleeves and back were pearl. I also wore a chapel length Sara Gabriel veil that had beautiful lace flowers near the bottom. The flowers on the edge of the veil matched perfectly with the flowers on my train! The dress was one of my absolutely favorite details of the whole wedding:) I found both of these items at The Dress Theory in San Diego.

Phil went gray for his side of the bridal party, with the most chic tweed suit in a dark charcoal print for his wedding day attire! The Suit Supply dark twill weave was paired with a red and white check pocket square to give his look even more pop!

The couple had their first look at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe where they got ready. The excitement on Phil’s face is all you need to know about how he felt seeing his bride for the first time!

On how the couple planned their wedding together:

Wedding planning can seem like a lot when you first begin. We each wrote a list of our three favorite aspects of a wedding and decided to focus our time and budget on making those aspects shine. Through this method, we were able to dream big about the aspects of the wedding that we were excited about and not get bogged down by trying to fulfill expectations of what should or shouldn’t be part of our day. We really wanted to have great food, beautiful flowers, and to have the wedding have personal details (like including our corgis in several ways). Paige also was really excited about choosing a beautiful dress that fit her personal style. We focused on making these aspects our priority and let other aspects be more simple (we did not have a DJ, we did not do favors, we chose to get married at home, etc).

How they decided on an at home wedding –

We envisioned having our wedding in a beautiful garden space that we could always go back to in the future. After touring several local venues, we realized that our back yard was the perfect blank slate for our wedding. We loved the idea of designing and investing in our own wedding venue, so we relandscaped our backyard to be our dream wedding venue. It is really special to be able to spend time in our wedding venue together each day.

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On their vibrant ceremony arch and flowers:

As for design, we wanted the wedding to be warm, natural, modern, and personal. Our color palette ranged from various shades of pinks, to oranges, reds, and whites with deeper green foliage. We love gardening and flowers and really wanted the floral aspects to shine!

After the ceremony, the couple posed with their corgis! Thanks to their at home wedding venue, the doggy pair could stay and chill at their own yard while the guests headed off to drink and dance.

As huge corgi lovers, we wanted to make our puppies an integral part of our special day. We handcrafted a flower collar for Monday, our female corgi, and chose a bow-tie for Mochi, a four-month old puppy at the time!

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The couple transitioned to their wedding reception at Phil’s parents’ home, but not before taking the opportunity to take amazing photos with Brogen Jessup! Capturing the local Spanish Hacienda style and hot air balloons on the rise were just some of the highlights of their portrait session!

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How stunning is this simple bridal mani with a floral detail!

Minimalist white details and colorful Southern California flowers blended together in this stunning reception design with help from Rentals: Bright Event Rentals to create the backyard wedding reception/

Our favorite moment may have been when we first entered our dining area and saw how Phil’s parents backyard was transformed into a magical reception venue. We had not seen all the details prior to that evening, and couldn’t believe how warm and happy the atmosphere felt. The bright, bountiful flowers, the sophisticated tables, the twinkling market lights, and of course all the happy faces of our loved ones.

Because our backyard has limited space, we decided to host the reception at Phil’s parents house because they also have a beautiful outdoor Southern California style patio with succulents and towering cacti.

We kept things natural with bare farmhouse tables, warm cream-colored linens, and white plates, but added a little modern twist with gold flatware.

They paired rustic wood tables and chairs, colorful fall flowers, and modern gold accents to create these stunning reception tables. The tasseled linen napkins added a playful touch!

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They kept the Southwestern style rolling into their food choices with mini deconstructed tacos and passed empanadas from Coast Catering.

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The couple honored their corgis, who were snoozing at home, with their speciality cocktail choices – each dog had a drink named for them, with a passion fruit margarita and a modified old fashioned.

Ready for dessert!

We bought a variety of cakes from our favorite dessert shop: extraordinary desserts. We had a total of five cakes ranging from passionfruit ricotta to black velvet! We wanted people to have the option to choose their own flavor and also wanted to be able to go eat our wedding cake whenever we wanted in the future! Unfortunately for us there were no leftovers…glad we can go back!

We also had custom corgi “Bride and Groom” cake toppers made in Japan.
Another dessert item we had was a churro bar! Coast Catering made mini churros with chocolate, raspberry, or caramel sauce. This was a special detail for Paige, because she and her father try to find churros in every country they travel to!

The couple capped off their wedding day with a special First Dance performed by the groom’s band and long-time friends, who learned “January Wedding” by the Avett Brothers for the couple!

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Some last advice from the happy couple as they approach the first anniversary of their at home wedding –

This is a day for the two of you to feel true happiness and love from all of those who are important to you. Take the time to talk about what aspects are important to each of you personally in a wedding, and focus on making those aspects shine rather than trying to make everything perfect or trying to fit expectations of what your wedding should be. Let your wedding be a reflection of your relationship and what brings the two of you joy!

WEDDING VENDORS –

Photography: Brogen Jessup | Wedding Venue: Private Residence in San Diego | Event Planning and Floral Design: Sisti & Co. | Wedding Cake: extraordinary desserts |Wedding Dress: Flora Bridal | Bridal Boutique: The Dress Theory San Diego | Bride’s Shoes: Paul Green | Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Veil: Sara Gabriel | Jewelry: BHLDN | Groom’s Attire: Suit Supply | Hair Styling: Anthony Martinez | Makeup Artist: Elizabeth Hardy |Rentals: Crown Rentals | Catering: Coast Catering | Furniture Rentals: Bright Event Rentals | Stationery: Minted | Accommodations: The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe | Submitted via: Matchology