Wedding | Zena & Josh

Tell us a little about yourselves! 

We’re Josh and Zena, two 30-ish year olds living in sunny San Diego, CA. We originally met at a tattoo shop in Oakland, where we were both living at  the time. We didn’t start dating just then, Josh spotted Zena on Hinge ~5  months after meeting that first time and then the rest is history. Our attraction was immediate and we found ourselves in a committed relationship very shortly after our first date! Casual California living is central to both of our lifestyles and personalities, we are both totally beach people and love being outdoors.  

Both of us are super close to our families and have siblings, nieces/nephews (Zena with 4 siblings, Josh with 2). We also have such an amazing community of friends from growing up, to college and people we have met in California and have become our new family. We knew intimacy and celebrating with a small group of these important people was going to be a huge priority for us.  

Zena’s an emergency room nurse and Josh works in tech as a “data person” who works from home (large gap in chill factor there). We have a dog named  Bob who lives his best life going to the beach almost every day. We have  designed a really lovely life in San Diego and don’t see ourselves leaving  any time soon!

Why did you decide to get married where you did? 

In my mind, from the beginning my family’s farm in Ohio ticked so many boxes. It was really important to curate more than just a day together, we really wanted to experience the entire holiday (Labor Day) weekend together. With just one day, everything felt too high pressure and fleeting! Selfishly, this was my way to stretch out the experience so that we could soak it all in that much more. The farm property itself sleeps ~30 people. With a guess list of 50, we knew between that and a few Airbnbs/hotel rooms, our people would be totally covered.  

The farm, although quite rural, gave us endless expansive (90 acres) options  for how to create our dream weekend. With no curfews or restrictions, we  had the perfect idyllic backdrop to experience our wedding! Not to mention the nostalgia of a family property filled with memories, this really did make it all that more special. Once we landed on the farm as a venue, the ideating began! We realized we could pursue any crazy idea we wanted (we built our own dance floor and had a pony and horse at the rehearsal dinner, hired a tattoo artist to come over one day for example).

How many guests did you have?

About 50 - almost exactly half immediate family and half close friends who  we consider family. Pretty much every guest played a role in the weekend  festivities, and everyone stepped up in such a big way to make it successful. We are eternally grateful.

What was your budget?  

Around $15-$20k, all-in. Because our venue was effectively free, we knew we wanted to splurge on our photographer (the best in the business, Natalie Joy Mitchell Photography). The next largest cost was food, and even that was partially handled by Zena’s brother and amateur pizza chef, Brody, and step dad, Carl. We  DIY’d just about everything, but we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Tell us about your outfits. 

Zena: I went to bridal shops twice to try on dresses to see what I liked. The first time, the dresses were bespoke and lovely but much more than I had in mind to be honest for a dress. The second place I went, all the dresses were on the heavier side all with 6 feet trains. Immediately I realized my number one priority was comfort, and I just couldn’t fathom getting anything at a ridiculous price point. I wanted to feel much more effortless and not weighed down or distracted by my wardrobe in any way. It was then that I realized I would probably just be buying something off the rack, likely not even necessarily a “wedding dress”.

Honestly, I loved the idea of doing something super funky. But when I saw a simple but timeless off white/cream dress on Reformation’s website, I realized that was just what I was looking for. I wanted  to frankly not wear any bra or underwear and just feel super free and that’s how I felt!  

Josh: Have you ever seen the first Sex and the City movie? In one scene, Samantha is talking to a guy at a wedding, Nicky (who pours concrete for a  living). He’s wearing a really sharp black tux, but in a casual way. I had it in my head that a sharp black suit with shiny black shoes worn sort of casually on a farm with cornstalks in the background would look really sick. Personally, I think I nailed it. My suit was made to order from Indochino,  shoes and shirt both from Nordstrom. No tie, we were on a farm, after all.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning  your wedding?

With each decision that we made, we stressed that it felt like “us”. We didn’t  want to do anything generic, and we didn’t want to do or incorporate things  just because we “should”. From the weekend playlists (curated by Zena) to the hay bale couches, made by my mom and a dance floor made the week of  by family friends, we focused on the details that mattered to us, and did not  sweat any of the stuff that wasn’t important to us.

Giving ourselves almost 2  years from engagement to wedding helped a ton, because we could really  think about what felt right and take our time to make decisions. We were selective and intentional with which details mattered, and what would be low effort and low-maintenance (ie. Trader Joe’s flowers). It is also important to mention given how extremely rural our destination we did have a fair amount  of limitations in terms of vendors/rentals, which is what inspired so much of  our own designing and ideating.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We started dating just before the pandemic, and our families live on opposite sides of the country. So a lot of the people at the wedding were meeting  each other for the first time. It was really important for us to create a space where people felt comfortable (no dress codes), could just hang out with a drink or food, and feel like they were a part of the weekend, not just attendees of a wedding. We also just wanted everyone to have fun. In the daydreaming leading up to the wedding, a few quirky details came to us, that  we felt we really wanted to incorporate.This meant ATV rides around the farm, lawn games, live music from the “family band”, a horse and pony, and a tattoo artist doing (real) flash tats that anyone could, and did, get.

Any tips for couples getting married? 

(Josh) Just know that everything’s gonna work out. If you’re throwing a wedding for the people in your life who you love and love you the most, no matter what everyone’s going to have fun. Oh, and doing a stress workout the morning of your wedding also helps get the nerves out. 

(Zena])Try to identify what matters to you (individually) and as a couple, and  prioritize what matters to you vs. what you think you should do. Be with intentional with the details that matter to you and lose the stress of the rest!

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about? 

Natalie Joy Mitchell Photography , Natalie, and more Natalie. Did we mention our photographer,  Natalie? She is the GOAT, and we’re so lucky to have worked with her for both our engagement and wedding. Cannot express how thankful we are  that she was there to capture the vibe and help control the chaos of wedding  day organization. Nobody does it better!

Photographer: Natalie Joy Mitchell Photography @nataliejoymitchell | Planning & Styling: by the couple | Flora: TraderJoes | Videographer: Bride's brother | Ceremony & Reception Location: Bride’s family  farm in Salineville, OH | Celebrant:  A friend of the couple | Hire: Holly Blackmon & Lifestyle Catering | Makeup: Zena did her own | Hair Stylist: Zena's Sister-in-law | Beverages: Costco @costco | Catering: Lifestyle Catering | Cake: The Cake Lady | Entertainment: Live Music by Zena's family | Tattoo Artist: Angus Hendy @angushendy | Dresses: Reformation @reformation & Thrifted Afterparty Jumpsuit | Suit: Indochino @indochino | Engagement Ring: Sarah O Jewelry @sarahojewelry | Wedding Rings:  (Josh) Costco Wholesale  & [Zena] Marrow Fine @marrowfine | Shoes: (Josh) John W Nordstrom

@nordstrom & (Zena) Jeffrey Campbell @jeffreycampbell | Necklace: Borrowed