Q&A with Bride and Groom (Anna and Jordan):

Tell us a little a bit about your wedding (your vision, color, style, and location choices).

A couple of things inspired us to bring together our “theme” of "American Beauty":
(a) President Obama's quote of "They were young and in love in America.  And it doesn't get much better than that" in a State of the Union Speech  -- This was a helpful reminder of what was important to us.  The simplicity of love, companionship, happiness, and our country's natural beauty;  
(b) Ralph Lauren fashion and home design; (and his son's wedding in Colorado);
(c) Ultra-Romantic florals.  I've always liked big, romantic, red and pink red florals (have many floral dresses and many perfumes/cremes are rose scented), so that style and color scheme felt the most natural;
(d) Especially at Keystone Ranch, we felt that less was more -- simplicity (for example, the plain wedding arch) best highlighted the beauty and feel of the location. It is very hard to be restrained when wedding planning when instagram and pinterest exists.  But we kept returning to what felt right for our venue and what felt like “us” in order to resist being seduced by all the wedding stuff that you can get out there.

Tell us about your attire choices.

For both of our attire choices -- the wedding dress and the suit -- we chose locally-based designers in San Francisco.  We also both chose looks that were clean and timeless.

Jordan got a custom black, slim suit from Tailor's Keep.  They also made his shirt, and helped "advise" on his choices to do the YSL boots and no tie.  I think the end result was so cool, sleek, and classic.  A little James Bond, a little Pulp Fiction, and a little Americana.  I especially thought the boot choice was so cool.  (Though my dad was like (after Jordan's decision 5 minutes before walking out), "You're not going to wear a tie to your own wedding??":) )

I knew before I started looking that I wanted a classic, minimalistic but graceful, iconic dress and look that felt like "me."  I loved the "ivory" color and Silk Mikado Faille fabric.  It is actually very hard to find a simple, trumpet dress made in this structured fabric, but it was really exactly what I was looking for.  I also loved the lines on the side (you can see this in our formal portraits in the barn -- my favorite photos because they perfectly captured the style I had in my head).  Surprisingly, I found the SF-based dress in a Colorado store with my family -- Little White Dress in Denver.
Our wedding rings are matching engraved platinum bands from Cartier; 

My engagement ring is a 1920s Ascher diamond ring from Lang Antiques;  Cathedral, tulle veil by Amy Kuschel;  Dior Tribales pearl studs; My grandmother Joan's diamond tennis bracelet; Grandmother's wedding ring (for the ceremony); Classic, block-heel pumps from Marc Fisher.

What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?

We really did not want to overwhelm or "ruin" what was beautiful about the venue -- the natural beauty and ranch-feel of Keystone Ranch, so we really tried to hold back on extra design details and too much decor/flowers.

Jordan had the great idea to rent the huge house that was about 30 feet from our venue for our wedding party to stay at all weekend.  In the end, it was one of the best ideas.  It became a base for everyone and made the wedding more than a couple of events -- but a whole, long, warm and happy weekend. 

What did you do for favors?

Our favor was pancake mix made by Jordan in a jar with personalized labels (with a photo from our engagement session) and instructions.  Jordan is known for making the best pancakes in the world.  I love how we're still getting texts from people about how good their pancakes are turning out.  We also had donation cards on the table with a photo of Shep (our dog).  The donation went to the dog rescue that we adopted Shep from in DC.