There are so many amazing wedding venues in Temecula. The rolling vineyards and incredible views make Temecula one of the dream destination wedding locations in California. Ashley and Nick celebrated their wedding at Danza Del Sol off De Portola Rd. the main entry to the Temecula wine country. here is a glance at their wedding day, Congrats again guys!

Q: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your wedding day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?

 We wanted our day to be intimate, laid back, and just a big party for our family and friends. We are both big fans of the Nightmare Before Christmas, so we had little touches of that theme throughout, including a cake topper and guestbook. Other than that, we just went with what we liked and it all kind of came together. We surprised ourselves with choosing a burnt orange tablecloth, but it came out beautiful. I’m pretty sure none of the decor matched, but we loved how everything came out.

Q: Let's talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?

DIY was the name of our game!! We kept the decor simple, made signs, and bought a couple of things. I stocked up on glasses and tea lights at discount stores, which kept things affordable but still looked classy. We wanted to have a bit of silliness in the decor, so our sweets bar was decorated with a “Treat Yo’self” banner and our ring bearer came down the aisle asking if anyone had seen the rings.

Q: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?

We ended up ordering our flowers from Sam’s Club and it saved a lot of money, while still adding a lot of color. The quality was great. I ordered mainly roses with hydrangeas. Cream colored roses are my favorite, but I had lots of pinks, yellows, oranges, and green accents. The bridesmaids put the bouquets and centerpieces together, and my mom made my bridal bouquet. The centerpieces were simple bouquets in vases, surrounded by tea lights.

Q: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?

 Yes, we personalized a lot! One of my best friends jokingly offered to get ordained and marry us VERY early on in our relationship. After we got engaged, we decided that we really wanted her to be the one to officiate our ceremony. We could not have asked for a better, more personal, sweet and yet comical ceremony. We also coordinated with our DJ to play certain songs specific to our guests and made sure we had games for our guests to play throughout the night. While we had a cake, we also had a bar full of different types of candy and it was a huge hit. Finally, we started talking because of the song “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” and that happened to be the first song we heard playing after we got engaged, so we made that song our last song of the night at our wedding.

Q: Let's talk fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.

We splurged on our fashion. Nick went with a very sharp and classic tux. He wore all black with a white undershirt. I first saw my dress in an ad on Facebook. It was nothing like what I imagined myself in, but I found a local bridal shop that carried it. I tried on 4 or 5 dresses before my dress, but I knew as soon as I put it on that I wanted THAT one. I loved that there was so much detail to it and that it was champagne-colored, as opposed to white. It matched the warm/antique feel of our venue. My dress was huge and contained a lot of jewels in the bodice, so I got gold jewelry and champagne shoes with similar, but more subtle, jewels.

Q: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.

We are both in the Air Force, and met at a bar one night while we were both living in North Dakota. We knew we’d be moving soon, so we intended to just have fun with one another. Nine months later, we were living on opposite sides of the country and making plans to visit each other every month. While the distance was hard, we turned our visits into trips and explored new places. We decided to go to Nashville one weekend when Nick kept requesting to get to the Pedestrian Bridge. Little did I know that it was because he wanted to propose. We had not discussed rings, but it was exactly my style and I couldn’t believe that he just knew. Overly-excited, I took the ring from him and put it on my own finger. He still teases me about this, haha!

Q: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?

Our families and friends are scattered across the country and had never met. For me, it was so special for everyone to come together and have such a great time, the Temecula wineries are incredible and having our wedding venue in Temecula at Danza del Sol was such a blast. For Nick, it was finally getting to see me walk down the aisle in my dress :)

Q: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you'd like to share with other couples planning their day?

Make wedding planning fun and remember the true meaning of the day—celebrating your love!! We were on the same page for the planning and what we wanted, and that helped a lot in getting everything done. I highly recommend doing your research when it comes to wedding venues, local wedding photographers, and a DJ. We researched quite a bit and decided on amazing vendors who made our day stress free and truly enjoyable. Don’t get caught up in the details or sweat the small stuff, and make sure you set/stick to a budget. Wedding photography was such a crucial component to us and knew we wanted someone who could capture our day just as it happened, we also wanted to add a video highlight to remind us of our entire day. I highly recommend looking for a company that offers wedding video as well, as the team worked side by side and matched the same style.

 We are so excited we got to capture Nick and Ashley’s wedding day! They were so down to earth and fun to work with! If you are getting married in Southern California and looking for a venue to plan your wedding, definitely check out the Temecula vineyards. We are destination wedding photographers and have shot at some amazing locations and always love working at different wineries in Temecula. We are a husband and wife team located in California and love being a part of one of the most special days in a person’s life. If you are searching for a local California wedding photographer or San Diego wedding videographer we would love to chat details to see how we could help capture your day!