A Villa Wedding in California’s Santa Ynez Valley

In a Californian villa built with limestone salvaged from chateaus of Provence and Normandy, Teresa and Johnny’s intimate ceremony unfolded.

Against the mountains surrounding the sweeping Santa Ynez valley, the villa’s soft hued stones and dripping vines were beautifully infused into the decor. Complimenting the earthly simplicity, blooms were created to ramble naturally in sculptural arches and untangling end tables.

In a courtyard setting, pillar candles and single stem roses accented the tablescape creating a delicate garden ambiance. The bride chose an earthen palette, bundles of baby’s breath, and a singular chandelier to illuminate, rather than overwhelm, the rustic space.

The California wedding was artfully captured by Senya Studio.

Our Story

Names / Teresa Lou & Johnny Huang

Location / Santa Ynez, California, USA

Wedding Date / October 24th, 2023

Guest Numbers / 30

Budget / $65,000

How We Met

Teresa first met Johnny during his final year of Medical school, an unexpected twist of fate. And it was all because of Mike, Teresa’s older brother.

Mike was on a quest to find love through online dating apps, while Teresa thought this was a terrible way to do so. To prove a point, Teresa downloaded the Coffee Meets Bagel app to show Mike all the unsettling messages that she’d receive. Amidst the various messages that came rolling in, Johnny’s simple “Hi, I’m Shanghainese too” stood out. The Wholesome message set the wheels of their love story in motion thanks to mike’s unintentional matchmaking.

Our Engagement Story

In 2021 they sealed their commitment to each other by purchasing their first home. On Christmas Eve, Teresa’s favorite day of the year, surrounded by the warmth of their new space and family, exchanging gifts under the tree. The last of the evening John revealed the ring as the final present to Teresa and asked for her to be his forever person.  Little did he know that this proposal did not come as a surprise to anyone, John had carried the ring in his pant pocket the entire evening and all the guest had seen the clear imprint of the ring box through his pant pocket. John’s silliness with how gullible Teresa is makes them a perfect pair.

What we love most about each other…

John is Teresa’s rock, his observant nature balances out Teresa’s clumsiness. Her bubbly personality fills in for his calm and collected nature. Her sweet and thoughtfulness touches his heart. Their loyalty, trust and dedication to each other creates a strong bond between them.

The Setting

Wedding Location

Located in the heart of Santa Ynez Valley, the Sunstone Villa boasts 8500 square feet of living space, looking over the breathtaking mountains & vineyards. Built from limestone salvaged from chateaus of Aix Provence, France. Sunstone took five years to build and constructed entirely from artifacts and materials recovered from the 19th Century Queen Victorian Era.

This was the closest place the couple could find in California without traveling in Europe for a destination wedding. Not only could they have the wedding in this piece of historic building, but also stay their for the week.

The cherry on top, once John saw in the wine cellar in the basement that the Star Trek “Picard” took place filming here, he was sold.

Aesthetic

The overall aesthetic is Minimal, Elegant and Timeless. Tastefully done, much like The Lane’s Aesthetics!

Timeless being the Key element that surrounds the decision making process for everything. Hair, Makeup, Floral, Fashion, etc. Teresa wanted to make sure looking back at this wedding years down the line, that it still looks and feels relevant and beautiful. Keeping the colour palette to be subtle and neutral, she had designed linen outfits for all her staff to wear on site as well as printed most of her signage, menu, seating chart on that same fabrication to keep cohesive.

Preparation

Teresa and John did not have a bridal party, their wedding was very exclusive and intimate. The family stayed in the villa the night before and the bride got ready with her mother and even did her mom’s makeup herself.

The couple took a moment during their getting ready time in the morning to delivery personal letters to each other. When seeing each other, the letters were brought to their get ready rooms and they read them in private before having their first look.

Photography

Senya Studio is the team that photographed our wedding. Teresa first met with the photographer Senya for an engagement shoot, they instantly clicked and saw a connection with each other. It was crucial that Teresa found someone that understand her vision and had the same eye for beauty, and all of those things aligned perfectly. Senya also loved the minimal neutral look, her photos are light and airy filled with just the right amount of negative spaces. Senya is able to catch light through her lens that really brings out people’s emotions. The wedding was also covered with a variety of cameras Digital, Film, drone, and Polaroid.

Videography

Our video is not edited yet, but the aesthetic is more cinematic, with string music as the background tunes, it lends itself to be an artfully crafted short film that captures the essence of emotions of the couples special day.

Style Notes

Ceremony Décor

With the beauty of the architecture in the perfect beige and terracotta tones, we wanted to focus on the space and textures of the villa’s itself and using the abundance of baby’s breath florals in an non -uniform shape pouring its way from the arch into the lanes of the aisle framing the space. We wanted the décor to feel soft, flowy without any define or ridged edges. From the shapes of the arch, to the shape of chairs, curves and asymmetry were executed wherever possible.

Reception Décor

The main feature of the reception décor was the candles, we wanted to have a minimal single file line table for the guest filled with candle mood lighting. We knew the venue would get really dark in the evening so the romantic candle light and the singular chandelier would be our only light source creating a romantic and intimate ambiance. The tall single rose stems in vases gave a slight modern twist and the different levels of the roses added to the asymmetry look.

“We wanted the décor to feel soft, flowy without definition or ridged edges. From the shapes of the arch, to the shape of chairs, curves and asymmetry were executed wherever possible.”

Wedding Planner & Stylist

Wedding planner Bethany was the organization planning guru while Teresa the bride orchestrated the styling and overall aesthetic.

Flowers

Bridal bouquets were simple all white Austin roses wrapped with silk ribbon for the ultimate clean and timeless look. Other florals included a mix of baby’s breath, hydrangeas, roses, Spathiphyllum Peace Lilies.

Stationery

Wedding Invitation were hand crafted by the bride, she illustrated the outlines of the Villa and turned the artwork into a stamp. Invitations were done on raw edge paper with custom stamp accompanied with a photograph from the couple’s engagement shoot.

The Vow books were from Papira Designs.

Seating chart, Menu’s Welcome sign all printed on linen fabric

Cake

French Vanilla Earl Grey

Food & Beverages

All wines served at the wedding were Sunstone’s very own array of reds, whites and sparklings.

Hors d’oeuvres at Cocktail: Mushroom Toast, Hamachi Citrus, Mini Beef Sliders

Dinner:

First course: Octopus Carpaccio

Second Course:Little Gems Salad

Third Course: choice of Duck Breast or Alaskan Black Cod or Miso Carbonara Pasta

Fourth Course: Chocolate Budino

Fifth Course: Wedding cake

Sixth Course: Chocolate Truffles from Laderach

Seven: Coffee / Tea and Jasmine Milk Tea Boba for guests to take away

Favors & Bonbonniere

Bottle of sparkling Rose from Sunstone Winery with personalized thank you tags from the couple

Fashion & Beauty Notes

Bride’s Dress & Shoes

Wedding Dress from Pronovias, part of their “We Do Eco” collection, it is a sustainable Mikado gown with an A-line deep plunge sweetheart off the shoulder neckline with self covered buttons in the back, customed to remove all embellishments for a clean simple look.

Shoes from Christian Dior, J’Adior Sling back pump in the ivory lace embroidered macrame effect butterfly motif.

Reception dress from Zimmerman silk midi wrap dress with ruffle hem.

Wedding Rings, Jewelry & Accessories

Bands are the matching set from Cartier Vendome Louis Wedding collection, Teresa has the diamond inset, John has the plain tri-tonal in the 4.8mm.

Engagement ring is from James Allen Solitaire on gold band.

Bride:
A set of South sea pearls from the Bride’s mother

Groom:

Coco Chanel J12 watch in black

Hair & Makeup

Hair for ceremony was sleek back into a low bun, and make up kept clean “the no make up” make up look, Minimal to no eye makeup keeping focus on flawless skin.

Reception hair was changed to large waves with deep side part, darkened smoky eyes with a nude/brown lip.

Groom’s Attire

Groom wore Custom Wool/ Linen blend suit and no groomsmen.

The Details

Transport

By car, but Valet services were provided to the guest on the day of the ceremony

Gift Registry

The couple did have a very small list of registry items, most guest who attended contributed to the honeymoon fund.

“Keeping the color palette as subtle and neutral as the decor, all of the signage, menu, and seating chart were made from the same linen fabric.”

Wedding Songs

Prelude

Song: “At Last” by Etta James

Song: “Arioso” by J.S. Bach

Processional

Song: “Eline kleine Nachtmusik: II. Romance” by W.A. Mozart

Song: “Canon” by J. Pachelbel

Exchange of Personal Vows

Song: “Largo from Xerxex” by G.F. Handel

Recessional

Song: “Marry You” by Bruno Mars

First Dance

Song” Close to you” by the Carpenters

Cake Cutting

Song “Stand by me” by  Ben King

All played by live string artist

Entertainment

The Entire wedding was accompanied with string music by the LA STRING QUARTEST artists both classical, and pop.

Celebrant

The officiant was the Bride’s Childhood best friend Andrew.

He got licensed in order to become their Celebrant for the wedding, its truly someone special to the couple to be married by one of their closest.

Our Advice

A memorable moment…

The most memorable moment for the couple was no doubt the couples first look, the Bride was so nervous walking down stairs of the villa, She could see just the little bit of the grooms back from the top of the stairs. Her brother plays a song from his phone to ease her nerves “Woke up in love” by Gryffin Calum Scott. she lightly taps his shoulder, John bursts into a cry laugh immediately after turning around. This moment both of them break into tears and the photos from this moment were actually the couples Favorites as well, and this song triggers their emotion every time they hear it.

One thing I wish I knew before I started my wedding plans…

“We never knew having a wedding would play such a significance in our life, as we were originally thought to elope. Everything came together like a fairytale and we wouldn’t change a single thing. bottom line, just do it! no regrets.”

Remember how you felt about each other on your wedding day, and keep this feeling close to your heart for the rest of your journeys together as husband and wife.

Sources of inspiration…

THE LANE! (our #1 inspo destination, seriously)

Our Contacts

Wedding Venue / Sunstone Villa Santa Ynez California

Stylist / Bride Herself – Teresa Lou

Wedding Planner / Bethany from CCL Weddings

Photography & Videographer/ Senya Studio

Bride’s Dress / Pronovias

Bride’s Shoes / Christian Dior

Wedding Rings / Cartier

Hair & Makeup / Senya Studio 

Stationery / Papira Design

Florist / Senya Studio

Cake / M Cakes

Catering / Hungry Bear Catering

Celebrant / Andrew Mikhail

Entertainment / LA String Quartet