Springtime Garden Wedding at SSS Ranch

Rachel and Justin have their priorities straight: great food, great friends, and fabulous fashion. They brought it all together at Triple SSS Ranch in Calistoga, the heart of wine country, this spring with the beautiful designs by Off The Beaten Path Events and The Blonde Rose. We were honored to be their wedding photographer!

Their story began so sweet, “We met through mutual friends in college (Syracuse University) while preparing to go see a concert. We stayed in touch after that, until a month or so later when Justin asked Rachel to be his date to his fraternity’s formal in Montreal, Canada. That is when we officially started “dating” and it was a great weekend full of friends, exploration, and dressing sharp.”

Their engagement story is too cute. “We went to Hawaii (Big Island) in November of 2022. The plane tickets were a birthday gift for Rachel from Justin, and Justin had plans to propose on the first night of the trip. We were going to do a summit tour of Mauna Kea and Justin had arranged to propose during sunset and have the tour guides take pictures. However, things were thrown into disarray when we landed to many missed calls and texts saying the tour had been cancelled due to weather. Justin had to improvise and ended up proposing on a black sands beach the next day amongst sea turtles and lovely scenery. Luckily, there was a random German photographer nearby who took pictures of it all happening! We were in hiking clothes which Rachel didn’t love, but that’s okay :)”

SSS Ranch Napa just oozes historic charm, with its beautifully preserved buildings and vintage décor that Derek, the owner is continually sourcing from all over the world. We love grand Victorian house, rustic barns, and cozy cottages, each with its own unique character. It is such charming backdrop for natural, romantic wedding photos and create a warm, inviting atmosphere for guests.

“For the florals we wanted a fun, flirty, and vibrant garden party feel. We let the florist know that we wanted a lot of bright, fun florals and wildflowers, and let her have complete creative freedom from there. She did better than we ever could have imagined and had a great vision of doing half of the tables with large centerpieces down the middle of the table designed as if they are growing out of the table, and the other half of the tables with vases of monochromatic blooms scattered down the table- which came out looking absolutely amazing! We left the rest of the decor simple & modern, allowing the colorful florals to be the main decor.” We love photographing weddings in the Calistoga and wine country because they have such beautiful natural light for all of these al fresco receptions!

“We wanted our food to reflect local, farm to table California cuisine. We worked closely with our planner, Off the Beaten Path, who was also our caterer to craft a seasonal menu highlighting local in-season elements. Highlights included the Parmesan souffle Potatoes with applewood smoked bacon, Casareccia Pasta with Wild Mushrooms and Spinach, Fresh Thyme and a Parmesan Truffle Cream Sauce, and Balsamic Glazed Salmon. The bride is also gluten free, so we had a majority gluten free wedding including all the desserts- which I don’t think any guests even noticed! For drinks, we decide to highlight 3 of our favorites instead of doing a his and hers drink (Classic Old Fashioned, Dirty Martini and a Hibiscus Mezcal Margarita). We also wanted to make sure we focused on having great local wine, as many guests were traveling to the Napa area for the first time!” When a couple sets the stage for such an incredible meal in an outdoor wedding venue, we always photograph the guests enjoying the experience naturally and some of the moment moments are the candid, un-posed memories in evenings like these.

We love photographing in Calistoga with so many beautiful venues, including SSS Ranch. Check out more SSS Ranch weddings here!

Wedding Pros:

• Wedding Planning & Catering: Off The Beaten Path Events
• Venue Triple S Ranch
• Transportation by Napa Valley Wine Tours
• Entertainment by @ideateamband
• Florist (Wedding) The Blonde Rose
• Rentals by Encore Event Rentals
• Photobooth Blooming Photo Booth
• Videography by DP Weddings
• Wedding Photographer Onelove Photo
• Hair & Makeup by @beauty_on_set
• Signage (Seating Chart + Welcome Sign) Shimmer and Stain
• Signage (All other) Off The Beaten Path Weddings/@stephanierenaeinspirations