Fairytale Calamigos Ranch Wedding

After two right swipes on a dating app, Jessica & Glenn were a match made in Malibu!

This gorgeous Calamigos Ranch wedding is the perfect garden fairytale that every bride dreams of. Enchanting walkways, a picturesque ceremony, and the prettiest bride made this day absolutely magical.

From the bride: We had been planning and thinking about it for so long that I couldn’t believe it was actually time. I felt so surrounded by love and friendship while getting ready with the girls. Seeing all the wedding details, my bouquet, my dress, jewelry, opening my gifts from Glenn – I could not stop thinking about how in just a couple short hours, we would be saying our vows in front of our friends and families, and I would be MARRIED to my soulmate! Glenn-After two years of waiting and planning, we were both so excited to finally say I do and celebrate with everyone. I was personally most excited to get to the first look and see my beautiful bride. I knew that we would both be anxious for the rest of the day but from then on we would be by each other’s side through the whole event.

How did you meet?
It all started with two “right” swipes. While we OFFICIALLY met at an oceanside restaurant for happy hour in Malibu, we had actually unofficially met five days prior to a dating app called Tinder. We both had friends convince us to sign up for the app and within hours, we had matched. We are each the only person we met off of the app!

Tell us about your proposal story!
Glenn had bought the ring after work one day while he happened to be home. He was traveling back and forth to Michigan each week so his opportunities to pop the question were limited. The day after our anniversary (which he had missed due to work travels), he was hustling through the Detroit airport, on his way back home to Dallas and suddenly thought “What if I ask her tonight?” I was in the middle of doing chores so we could enjoy our anniversary weekend when he came into the house Friday night. He made an excuse to run upstairs before joining me again downstairs in our pet bunny’s room (yes, she is a very spoiled rabbit). We were sitting on the ground, talking about our upcoming trip to Austin when he made an excuse for me to stand up and dim the floor lamp. I was fiddling with the switch when I heard him start saying so many sweet things. I turned around to say “Aww, I love you too” and that’s when I saw him on his knees shuffling toward me. He continued talking but my ears started ringing as I froze and immediately started crying as he pulled the ring out from behind his back. Our pet bunny, not used to me crying, immediately ran away and hid underneath her tunnel which made us laugh between my happy tears. I’m not even sure I spoke out loud and said yes, but I think Glenn understood my vigorous nodding. He then took me upstairs to some beautiful flowers and a bottle of champagne. After toasting and calling our families and closest friends, he then said “Well, I know you were looking forward to going to the gym tonight…but I made us special reservations at our favorite restaurant in Dallas. It’s your choice, rock climbing or we can go get dressed up and go celebrate.” Of course, I chose the food! We spent the rest of the night toasting to our engagement and me staring in awe at the gorgeous ring that was on my finger, followed by an amazing trip to Austin the next day to continue to celebrations.

Let’s hear about the attire!
For my wedding dress, I wanted a flowy, effortless dress with a little bit of sparkle and some beautiful details. I saw the Wtoo by Watters Cassia dress at the Beverly Hills BHLDN store and was immediately in love. It was the first dress I tried on! I loved the beading on the bodice and the pearl buttons down the back. I added a rose gold crystal sash to the dress and paired it with a floor-length ivory veil. The bridesmaids wore floor-length blush-colored gowns in various shades and styles of their own choice. I wanted them to be as comfortable and happy with their dress as I was with mine!

For the groom’s outfit, he chose to wear a navy blue suit since we felt black would be a bit “too formal” for our vision and style of the day. We had the grooms wear grey suits in various shades as well to add to the mismatched bridesmaids pattern.

Do you have any advice for couples planning a wedding?
GET A WEDDING PLANNER! We are so so thankful we budgeted for a wedding planner/full coordination services, especially since we were planning a wedding from 1500 miles away. Our amazing coordinator, Laura Hazzard of DB Creativity, went above and beyond to help us stay on budget, pick the perfect vendors for us, and helped us save money at every step of the process by negotiating with vendors and advising us where we didn’t need to spend. Most importantly, Laura made the entire process easy, fun, and stress free. We honestly would have not enjoyed our day nearly as much without a wedding planner/coordinator. The wedding went off without a hitch because everyone knew exactly where to be, when to be there, and what was next. Everything else magically happened behind the scenes and we didn’t have to think about it.

Also – get a videographer! We debated back and forth whether we wanted to spend the money on a video or not and we are so glad we did! We chose to do both a highlight video and an extended video as part of our package. We have watched both several times now and it is so fun to show family and friends who couldn’t be there.

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