Heck yes, it’s Part 2 time! If you missed PART 1 go here —> Jessie+Mike’s Rustic Pioneer Town California Wedding PART 1. The ceremony and reception were out in the tiny desert town of Pioneer Town California, out towards Joshua Tree. The Reception was held in the outdoor corral of Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneer Town Palace, which is an amazing desert saloon and music venue.

Jessie was an avid DIY bride and did everything herself with lots of help from family and friends, making the wedding a beautiful reflection of their unique personalities. Jessie’s sister is a botanist and planted all of the succulents in clay pots as favors. Her friend screen printed the design from their invitations onto little wood tags to put in the plants. The flower arrangements in mason jars were made that morning by Jessie’s mom, sisters, and close friends from wholesale flowers from the downtown Los Angeles flower district. And the whole corral was littered with autumn squash, apple crates, and hay bails to pull the fall barn yard theme together.

Mike is an incredible musician and his band, The Brian Buckley Band, along with many of their close friends bands all performed during dinner and cake cutting. It was so much fun to see Jessie and Mike at their sweetheart table as all of their closest friends serenaded them with their favorite cover song and original song dedicated to the couple. My other favorite detail was that they opted to twist the convention of champagne toasts and poured a ton of tequila shots to toast to! Such a great touch. Very quickly after, Mike hopped up on stage and killed it on the guitar as the Brian Buckley Band got everyone dancing. And the crowd went wild I have to thank Brielle McClaine of Brielle McClaine Photography in Pasadena who took the torch after the formal dances and killed it with dance party pictures, allowing me to dance it out at one of my closest friend’s weddings. Basically the whole day was amazing, and I’m so happy for Mike and Jess, and am already celebrating the life long love that they will share. I love you guys!

First I have to say that it was such an honor to play such an intimate part in my dear friend’s wedding. I was hesitant at first to take it on since it’s hard to not be a present as a celebrating guest at a close friend’s big day, but Jessie has been telling me since the day I met her that I would be shooting her wedding And it was beeeeeeautiful, man oh man, it was beautiful! AND I could not have done it without the lovely Brielle McClaine of Brielle McClaine Photography in Pasadena who second shot the day with me and then completely took over for me after the first dances were done. She is amazing and captured so many amazing dance party moments that you’ll see on Wednesday! Priceless.

The Wedding was out in the desert near Joshua Tree California, in a little tiny place called Pioneer Town that started out as an old western film set. The ceremony was held at Le Haut Desert Aerie BnB just outside of Pioneer Town. Immediately following the ceremony we took cars in to downtown Pioneer Town for portraits in the old western facades and the Reception bash at Pappy and Harriet’s outdoor rustic corral (more on that on Wednesday!). There were so many perfect touches that Jessie and Mike put in that made the whole day so personal. Jessie was a total DIY bride and did pretty much everything herself, with the help of family and friends. The day before the wedding she went down to the flower district in Downtown Los Angeles and bought tons of wholesale flowers instead of going through a florist. The morning of the wedding her mom, sisters, and friends all came together and made all of the reception floral arrangements and wedding bouquets. She wore old cowboy boots under her Vera Wang desert rose-esque gown, and her grandmother’s jewelry. Jessie’s sister made her whimsical feathery hair piece, and her niece was their only attendant. It was a small ceremony, so personal and intimate. And everything was full to the brim with love for this couple. I’m so happy to share these pictures, and can’t wait to post the reception shots too. I love you guys!

Check out the RECEPTION post (PART 2) on Wednesday!!

Right now packing up and getting ready to be on my way to the BIG APPLE for a very NYC engagement session with Carly and Robert that I 1.) can’t wait to shoot, and 2.) can’t wait to show all of you. Casey and I are catching a red eye tonight to JFK and will wake up in the morning for my first time in New York, New York. It’s going to be a quick trip though – we have Carly and Robert’s engagement session that evening, Casey plays a show on the lower east side that night, we have a day to explore, and then we head back to LA. BUT I have a feeling I might fall in love with the city, so all you New Yorkers reading better watch out

In the mean time I have prepared some awesomeness for you to chew on while I’m out- Kattie so graciously offered some advice for all of you DIY brides out there (I love you creative ladies!) and I love all that she had to say, so read on and enjoy PART 2 of their gorgeous rustic barn wedding (See PART 1 HERE!)

Kattie’s Words:
“My advice for the DIY bride- Start early! It takes time to figure out exactly how you want everything to come together in a cohesive way. Find as many items as you can from Goodwill or things you might already have. We found tons of super cheap cake stands at goodwill, painted them all the same color, and then used them all over the reception. Also, keep it simple! We almost let it turn crazy hodge-podge clown wedding, but I toned it down a little and eliminated the unnecessary elements. “

Some of my favorite elements below (some of these are repeated from the Part1 Post) – The bridal Party’s Antropologie dresses and Banana Republic suits; the ladders, wooden crates, wheat, and rustic wood table runners all found around Josh’s farm; the hand dyed mason jar vases, table stationary designed by Kattie and one of the groomsmen and printed at Kinkos, so many dahlias, purchased at Frey’s Dahlias in Salem Oregon and assembled into small bouquets by a bridesmaid’s mother, and the formal bouquets (bridal party) by Denice Seeger of Distinctive Designs (Salem, OR), and Kattie’s special Sangria provided by their wonderful caterer – Valley Catering Corvallis Oregon

I’ve photographed Beazell Memorial quite a few times now, but Kattie took it to another level. Josh is a farmer, and Kattie is an artist so they took Beazell‘s beautiful rustic barn and turned it into a little haven of farm/artist inspired creative details that was so THEM. They truly made the day a reflection of their unique and adventurous personalities.

The Girls showed up first in a white limo (from DC Limos) which they used for the day to shuttle guests in and out of the forest (I thought this was brilliant for Beazell). I immediately fell in love with Kattie’s whimsical Watters Mojave gown and her bridesmaids yellow Anthropologie dresses. Kattie was a total do-it-yourself bride and had come to the barn earlier in the day to set up all of the barn inspired details like the fresh cut dahlias, hand stained mason jars filled with wheat from Josh’s farm, painted signs, found crates, ladders, and other items from the farm. She even wrapped vintage handkerchiefs around the gorgeous bridal bouquets by Denice Seeger of Distinctive Designs in Salem Oregon. The gentlemen were in great spirits when they arrived as well. They were so handsome in their Banana Republic suits and fun Etsy found boutonnieres made by Divine Domestication. After a quick break for some pictures, the boys were on a mission to complete their assigned tasks while the ring bearer and friend played sword fight in the grass. Beazell Memorial was in it’s sunday best that day – celebrating a lovely, genuine and fun couple. The day flowed with a laid back, celebratory, whimsical manor, complete with lots of laughs, hugs, and smiles. I said it in their preview post – but the real word to describe their day was just magic. Check it out for yourself…. Part2 to come on Monday!

Again – part two will be up on Monday – tune in for more gorgeousness!