Everything went wrong—Montira and Chat got lost, hit traffic and were an hour late to their engagement session with photographer Sarah K. Chen—until they arrived at Condor’s Nest Ranch, Montira said. “I totally forgot about the traffic and how difficult it took us to get to the ranch,” she said. “This place is gorgeous. Very beautiful, quiet and romantic. It was everything I expected to be.” The couple let the ranch stand out in their images, using a single love sign and a vibrant bouquet as props. “Chat was my stylist on that day,” said Montira, whose makeup was done by Kelly Zhang. “He was the one who bought our prop and even some of my outfits.”

“From the beginning, we knew we wanted an outdoorsy, rustic, shabby chic wedding,” Mallory told Pretty Little Weddings. “The challenge was putting all of my ideas and inspiration together.” The couple collected bottles and jars from garage sales and antique stores that florist Belle of the Ball Designs used to fill with delicate peach and ivory flowers. Mallory and Cody asked caterer Command Performance Catering to serve jalapeño macaroni and cheese—“Everybody loved it!” Mallory said—and gave guests a special space to sit by covering hay bales with blankets.

Melissa and Tripp should have been relaxing in the Riviera Maya, but Tripp was wracked with nerves. “The whole time, Tripp was acting a little off,” Melissa told Pretty Little Weddings. “He’d wake up early each morning and want to take walks. On day three of the trip, he woke up really early and I told him to leave me alone and let me sleep in another hour or two. When I opened my eyes a few hours later, he was hovering over me. He said, ‘I just can’t wait any longer,’ and he placed the ring box on my stomach.” Nearly a year later, the couple wed in Melissa’s hometown of Katy, Texas.”We couldn’t see ourselves getting married anywhere but Agave Road in my hometown,” Melissa said.

Melissa and Tripp chose “earthy, natural colors that played well with our reception venue,” Melissa said. The dark blue, sage and ivory palette “was a very random pairing choice, but it ended up working beautifully against Agave’s orange exterior,” Melissa said. Bridesmaids echoed the color palette with Ann Taylor dresses and bouquets of dusty miller, ivory hydrangea and berries. Because the couple loves to travel, they named tables for their favorite places and celebrated their home together—New York City—by dancing to Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York, before exiting their reception.

As Mallory and Cody tiptoed though Tierra Rejada Ranch, “I knew it would be a perfect place for our wedding,” Mallory said. Without the help of an event designer, the couple began to plan early. “Luckily,’ Mallory said, “we had lots of help from my sisters and parents in making the first basic decisions, like colors and styles.” The couple selected a palette of grey, peach and cream, and choose demure dresses for their bridesmaids and feathery flower bouquets made of hydrangea and roses. They stenciled signs on salvaged wood pointing guests to the ceremony site, and “we also bought an old desk and crackle painted it for our guest book sign in area,” Mallory said. “Instead of a traditional guest book, we made a sign that said ‘please leave your key to a successful marriage.’”