David Tutera doesn’t do save the dates. And why should he—he’s too busy saving the day to worry about how the bride saved the date.

I fear, however, as I tackle my own save the dates to episodes of My Fair Wedding, that I already desperately need David. What I believed would be a simple scheme has morphed into a mountain of mini-projects I didn’t anticipate, and I worry (as I am sure many brides do) that my first impression will be a flop.

So, brides, wish me luck. I’ll show off our finished save the dates next week, but this week, come back for a Napa Valley engagement session and a vintage wedding for which the bride handcrafted centerpieces meant to mimic trees filled with birds’ nests.

And in the meantime, tell me—how did you make your first impression on your guests, and did it go as planned?—Jillian

It started with a date—unremarkable in every way except for Dmitry’s questionable habit of interrupting a delightful dinner for a text message, Ashley said. When they left their favored restaurant, Toulouse, they took the usual way home—that is, until Dmitry veered right off the road and stopped before they reached the house.

Ashley said, “I, true to form, began to freak out. He basically had to drag me out of the car.”

“We walked over to a hidden staircase leading to a bridge that was lived with more than 500 tea light candles,” Ashley continued. “He walked me down to the bridge, said a bunch of really sweet stuff that I don’t even remember and then said, ‘Ashley Taylor, will you marry me?’”

Through her tears, Ashley said yes, and in an instant, she discovered the recipients of Dmitry’s text messages—four of her friends leapt from behind a bush, excitedly screaming and revealing the cameras they had been using to record the whole scene.

“They had set up the entire scene before we got there,” Ashley said, “complete with flowers and lights in the trees.”

And it was one of those very friends—Ashley’s roommate, Heather—who would set the scene again when it came time for the couple’s engagement photos.

Photographer Lauren Larsen said, “Ashley and Dmitry both love to cook and are quite the wine connoisseurs, so this shoot was tailored just for them.”

The couple took photos inside Ashley’s house, nibbling on pasta and sipping red wine before walking across the bridge where Dmitry proposed, to Toulouse, where the couple enjoyed drinks and dessert to cap off the shoot.

Perhaps California-based photographer Leah McCormick sums up this rehearsal dinner best: “Croquet, laughing, drinking wine in Napa, a jazz band and delicious food—what more could you ask for?” she said. At Pretty Little Weddings, we can’t think of a thing!

MacKenzie and Byron held their all-white rehearsal dinner on the grounds of Meadowood, a luxury resort in Napa Valley, inviting 80 guests to play a family-favorite game and dance the day away.

“We had many guests from out-of-town,” MacKenzie said, “and we thought this would be a fun way for people to get to know each other before the wedding.”

Enjoy—and let Pretty Little Weddings know if you’ve had a unique rehearsal dinner like this one.

Ryan called Brooke’s father on a Sunday afternoon to ask for the man’s blessing. And in so giving, the father said, “So, Ryan, when do you think you’re going to do this?”

Ryan replied, “In ten minutes.”

True to form, Brooke said, her husband asked her to marry him on a whim, just three hours after he picked up the ring. “We laugh about this all the time,” Brooke said.

For their wedding, the two couldn’t commit to a theme—what they wanted, Brooke said, was a wedding simply “relaxed and fun and inclusive of everyone.” And with the help of Salt Harbor Designs, they got just that.

Brooke and Ryan wed outside on Bald Head Island. And with no hotels on the spit of land, Brooke said, “all of our friends and family rented houses for the week, and it was just like summer camp.”

To welcome guests to the homes, Brooke and Ryan made burlap wedding flags, screen-printed with their monogrammed logo and constructed so they could be tied to a golf cart. “One of my favorite moments during the week was pulling up to the beach one afternoon and seeing six golf carts parked in a row, all flying the flags,” Brooke said. “We were quite the crew.”

The logo used on the flags was carried throughout the wedding, used in the guests’ gift bags, programs and a custom-made photo booth. “I admit,” Brooke said, “that we might have gone a little overboard. But I liked the way it tied everything together.”

The couple forsook traditional ceremony readings in favor of quoting Tom Robbins, an author whom Brooke had been recently reading. One of the quotes, Brooke said, now hangs in the couple’s apartment. It reads: “Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won’t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean security is out of the questions. The words make and stay become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.”

To see another reading from Brooke and Ryan’s wedding, see our most recent Editor’s Note.

The couple continued to chuck tradition at their reception, asking guests to type a message on a piece of vintage paper and link it to others, creating a paper chain that is displayed in the couple’s apartment. Instead of cake, Brooke and Ryan served key lime pie, apple pie and peach cobbler, and set up a make-your-own-moon-pie bar. To cap off the night, guests were served boozy-snow cones, a nod to a drink served at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, Cali., one of the places the couple would stay on their honeymoon.

And for the goodbye, guests were asked to wave glow sticks at the couple. “One of the highlights of the night,” Brooke said, “was seeing my grandmother with two wrapped around her head.”