Wedding Venue | GVR

July 17, 2023 Jan Vrana

I’m nearing the end of my wedding posts! I plan to share some of the professional photos when they arrive, but for now, the wedding venue, Green Valley Ranch.

Back in October of 2022, we had our site visit with our wedding planners, and you can see that post here. We hadn’t laid eyes on the place since then, and it looked incredibly different. They kept telling us everything is SUPER green in June, and they weren’t kidding!

You guys, we were so worried about rain. We worried for an entire year, but the week of, we really worried. The forecast said 70% chance of rain every single day, the entire wedding week and weekend. Hillary and I sent each other screen shots of different weather apps showing clouds and lightning for every single day. But we drove out on Thursday before the wedding to deliver a few things, and this is what it looked like. Total blue sky! So we stopped looking. It was either going to rain, or it wasn’t.

The tent looked beautiful! The wedding was happening, rain or shine!

The lodge is picturesque with a serious Ralph Lauren vibe.

The surroundings are beautiful with natural beds of floral surprises everywhere you look.

The day before the wedding, while the tent was being set up for the reception, we took some photos of the aisle for the ceremony out in the grass. The backdrop was breathtaking! On the wedding day, the sky was much more dramatic with big, multicolored, moody grey clouds and less royal blue sky. This view is the prettiest to me but the clouds were probably a blessing for the ceremony to avoid sunburns.

We hid behind this barn before the ceremony.

A literal postcard!

This is the cabin that the groomsmen hung out in on the wedding day, before the first look.

Guests walking from the ceremony to cocktail hour.

Here you can see the Lodge’s location in relation to the reception tent. The cabin is just to the right of the Lodge. The sky really cleared up! We forgot about the sunset photos that were on the schedule, and it looks like they would have been beautiful. I think we were too busy dancing.

As I have said in past posts, these unusually gorgeous surroundings set the stage for a dramatic and beautiful setting for the ceremony. I love all the different shades of green represented in the trees. Not a flower in sight!

Love the ferns!

Green Valley Ranch is a dream-come-true for wedding photos.

Love the purple flowers along the side of the escort table.

The bride and bridal party spent the day at the Lodge doing hair and make-up, and in Hillary’s case, having her wedding dress altered by the wonderfully talented Chynna Pope.

Chynna through the lens of Steve Steinhardt. . .

Hillary organized bags, water bottles, slippers and robes for the bridesmaids.. .

The sweetest friends!

The Ralph Lauren vibe is real. . .

I love this veil so much!

The porch is the perfect place for a wedding portrait!

The sky looked different every hour!

This looks like a backdrop for a movie scene.

The tent is especially charming and festive at night. Just look at that blue sky!!

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for the professional photos and video coming in September!

Wedding Venue: Green Valley Ranch

Wedding Planners: Greenwood Events