It's always so special when a couple has a real focus and vision for their wedding day. Especially when that focus is about their family, their guests, and starting married life together with truly meaningful gestures.

Amanda & Matthew did just that, with their gorgeous ranch wedding near Thousand Oaks in California.

Their sun-soaked day was a testament to traditions, family and commitment - as well as being pretty beautifully styled - and it was all captured by the super talented Mallory Dawn Photography.

With a pretty garden setting of Orcutt Ranch Horticultural Center, we just love how Matthew & Amanda let the backdrop set the tone for the rest of their day.

From their style, (Amanda's peony crown with her curly hair is just gorgeous, and Matthew's buttonhole is one of the loveliest we've seen), to their ceremony, (which was held under a tree, with a tree-watering ritual), to their reception, (set outdoors beneath string lights and giant oak trees), each detail was influenced by the idyllic surroundings.

But it was their shared history together, their first date to their favourite songs, that also made this day so special and unique.

If you want your guests to remember your wedding for years to come, it's so important to put your stamp on it, and Amanda & Matthew show the perfect example of how it's done...

Wedding Day Snapshot

Our Wedding

Family is incredibly important to Matthew and I so when we began looking at venues we knew we wanted somewhere big enough to accommodate our guests, but also intimate enough so we could spend quality time with our loved ones on our special day. When we found the Orcutt Ranch we knew it was absolutely perfect! We loved this venue's historical adobe house, rose gardens, citrus orchards, and most of all; it's gorgeous oak trees. Once we booked our venue, we were inspired by our surroundings to create our vintage California, garden wedding. When it came to wedding planning, one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted us to be married underneath a big, beautiful tree. It became a little bit of a running theme as we decided to have a tree-watering ceremony to signify the strong roots of our faith, relationship, and our promise to nurture the love in our marriage, allowing our bond to grow. I wanted to make sure every single detail was a personal reflection of Matthew and I and our families, because I above all I wanted our wedding day to be a wonderful celebration honoring the abundant love in our lives. It's hard to pick which is our favorite, from our reading of The Velveteen Rabbit (Matt's grandmother's favorite), my mother's breast cancer pin as my 'something borrowed', old family wedding photos, to my dad fulfilling an old wedding tradition of placing a silver sixpence for in my shoe for luck. They were all so special to us! However I would have to say that our absolute favorite moment of the day was when we read our vows. The sun shone down on us perfectly through the trees, and (from what we were told) it brought a tear of joy to every eye! It was such an intimate moment to share as we read out loud our personal promises for our new life together. I loved all of the personal touches we put into our wedding details. Some of my favorites included a special throwback to our first date where we went out for pie and drove around the neighborhood scoping out the best Christmas lights. Our wedding planner was truly a 'Jill-of-all-trades' as she ran her own pie baking company! For our wedding desserts she made us mini apple, banana cream, and chocolate s'mores pie. She also had recently renovated an adorable retro 'canned ham' camper trailer that she let us use for our photo booth (which tied in perfectly with our theme!). Another major DIY project we had was our wedding favors. I've always joked that mixed CDs were my 'love-language' since every year for our anniversary I would give Matt a mixed CD that was full of songs that reminded us of the year we had. So we decided to share some of our 'greatest hits' with our loved ones. Once my mother and I had labeled the CD's with their playlists, one of my bridesmaids and I spent hours hand stamping each CD sleeve!

How pretty is that wedding venue? I just love the peachy coral hues, and that caravan photobooth is just too cool!

Thanks so much to Mallory Dawn Photography and of course, Amanda & Matthew for sharing their beautiful California wedding with us.

Be inspired by more gorgeous real weddings.