“I have good news,” Jennifer’s boyfriend, Ryan, said as she crawled out of bed and began to dress for a brunch date, “and I have bad news.”

“The bad news,” he continued, “is we are not going to brunch. The good news is that we are going to get engaged today.” With that, Ryan knelt down and gave Jennifer the only ring he could find—a candy ring pop, which the Colorado resident still has.

Seven months later, Jennifer and Ryan were married at The Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch, in a wedding that Jennifer described as very casual and family- and friend-focused.

Each of the 150 guests were invited to the couple’s western-themed rehearsal dinner, “which included everything from skeet shooting to line dancing,” Jennifer said. “The highlight (of the night) was my cousin, who showed up to the rehearsal as an Indian, because where there are cowboys, there gotta be Indians!”

At noon the next day, Jennifer and Ryan shared a quick ceremony—“I think we clocked in at 10 minutes,” Jennifer said—followed by a cocktail hour and meal featuring turkey and roast beef carving stations.

“We wanted to enjoy the day with our family and friends, and tried to incorporate the whole day in order to do so,” Jennifer said. So, “by 6:30 p.m., the reception was over, and we all went back to our rooms to change into our jeans and T-shirts. The rest of the night consisted of boccie ball tournaments, horseshoe games and hanging by the pool.

The couple capped off the night with gourmet pizzas prepared by Wolfgang Puck at The Ritz-Carlton.

Thank you to Chris Humphreys for sharing this incredibly fun wedding with Pretty Little Wedding readers.

The wedding:

All along this couple’s story, incredible food can be found: They met at a barbecue, were engaged along an Italian riviera, wed in wine country and celebrated with a family-style fete surrounded by loved ones—the same guests who signed a Williams-Sonoma cookbook on their way in.

Natalie Kaniel and Mike Dovbish chose to marry at Sonoma County’s Healdsburg Country Gardens because, Natalie said, it “was just beautiful—private, romantic, had that beautiful barn and most of all the big oak tree on the hill overlooking the vineyards, where we just knew we had to have our ceremony.” The couple also wanted to “bring a little taste of the Italian countryside from the trip where we got engaged to our guests,” she said.

The “taste” included a cheese spread, heirloom tomatoes, an arugula salad, pasta mixed with fresh vegetables, organic chicken with olive tapenade, local artisan breads and seasonal sorbet bar paired with cake and individual tiramisus.

During the couple’s nine-month engagement, Natalie’s mother baked batch after batch of jam until she had enough to fill 120 jars for the couple’s 120 guests, Natalie said. The bride’s parents also crafted the couple’s chuppah. “My mom embroidered and sewed the canopy, and my dad built the wooden base structure. It was really special getting married under that chuppah knowing the amount of love and effort they put into it.”

Thank you to Julie Mikos for sharing these sweet images with Pretty Little Weddings. Julie told PLW that, “I loved the wine country bounty of this wedding. The family-style food service and local food and wine all created such a colorful shared meal. Sonoma County can certainly be considered the ‘land of milk and honey!’”

When Michael and I first sat down to discuss our wedding, we immediately agreed photography would be our number two priority (second only to making sure we were surrounded by our loved ones). So, we hired a fabulous photographer, and have plans to build a photo booth that our guests can enjoy during our reception.

Two weddings featured on Pretty Little Weddings in recent weeks had their own booths:  Fun-loving Ashley and Alex (shot by VUE Photography) and Baylor University alumni Sarah and Hunter (photographed by Perez Photography). Check them out:

So, how do you construct your own photo booth? Take your cue from Ashley and build a wall—cut windows, wallpaper and hang flea market frames to make it look like you lifted it from your house. Or, consider these Martha Stewart Weddings ideas:

Like either? Download the lace backdrop, or directions to make your own evening under the stars.

And on a final note, what photo booth would be complete without props? My favorite? Mustaches. Dozens can be found on Etsy, but while you’re there, be sure to check out Maro Designs. Vendor Suzi and her husband Jay sell the ‘staches in kits, so you can outfit your guests from top-hat to toe (almost).

To be a guest at this wedding—what a treat! California residents Sara and Nick whisked guests to Los Cabos for their spring wedding because, Sara said, “we love it there, and we knew all of our guests would love it there, too.”

Guests were greeted with welcome bags filled with both local and useful treats—a bottle of wine, candy, sunscreen. “It was very important to us to show our guests how much we appreciated them being there with us,” Sara said.

And to make sure they wouldn’t miss a second with their guests, Sara and Nick chose to see each other before their ceremony. Sara said, “Even though we saw each other before the ceremony, it was arranged in a way to make it very special, and it did not lessen the beauty and emotion of locking eyes for the first time as I walked down the aisle.”

Inspired by Los Cabos’ simple and stunning sights, Sara said, the couple chose “Mexican chic” as their theme. Bright pink and orange pomanders lay on cocktail tables and hung from the ceiling. Mini heart-shaped tequila bottles anchored down the escort cards. And tables bore Spanish words that represented love and affection—amor for love, corazon for heart, beso for kiss and amistad for friendship. “We kept things fairly simple to let the beauty of the natural surrounding shine through,” Sara said.

Thank you to Luna Photography for sharing these stunning images with Pretty Little Weddings.