Kelly Owen & Brian Goshorn
Married July 14, 2012, in Carmel

Tell me about your wedding.
It was on a Saturday night at Mission Ranch in Carmel with about 110 guests. It was fairly formal. Mission Ranch is an old refurbished sheep farm, so it had a rustic farm look.

How long did it take you to plan?
We got engaged in June 2011, and we started planning in August or September. That’s when we found Lora Ward, our wedding planner. That’s how we started—with the wedding planner.

Why did you start with the wedding planner?
I knew nothing at that point. I wasn’t the bride who had been planning her wedding forever, so I had no idea what went into it. She had done weddings for two of my friends already. One of my friends said she’d give us tons of options to figure out what we wanted and walk us through it.

How did the planner help you?
I did what she told me to when she told me to do it. When it was time to meet with photographers, she put us in touch with people and gave us ideas on what type of photographer we wanted. We went to Carmel one weekend with Lora and did flowers, cake, venue—one weekend and it was all done. She took the hard parts out of planning a wedding, which is why it was great to have her.

Why did you decide on an out-of-town wedding?
We had a friend who’d gotten married in Vail. It was like a mini vacation, and we loved that idea. We were debating between getting married at the mountains or the coast. We knew we wanted to get married in July and we wanted to be outside. We found the venue in Carmel and loved it.

How involved was your groom in the planning?
Incredibly involved. He wanted to be involved in every decision, which I laugh about. Every bride says she wants her groom involved. But when he wants to be involved in every decision, that’s a lot to agree on.

Did you agree?
Eventually. There was some negotiating. But it was good—it gave us everything we wanted. He said that this is our day, so we should plan this together.

Were your parents involved in planning the wedding?
My mom did all my dress stuff with me and looked at flowers and was always around to help. His mom made all the favors: little sheep cookies in bags attached to the table cards.

Were your bridesmaids helpful?
I had four bridesmaids. They’ve all been married in the last two years, so they were good sounding boards. Three of them were from out of town. The one who lives here went with me to pick out bridesmaids’ dresses. We had her try on a couple of dresses, then sent them out to the other girls. They were all happy with the dress.

Tell me about your dress.
It was strapless lace with a medium-long train. It felt very right for both me and the venue. It had a very classic feel. I found it at La Soie Bridal. I almost didn’t try it on. I looked at it on the hanger. It wasn’t what I had pictured in a wedding dress. But the minute I put it on, I knew. My mom started crying. It was the last dress I put on, and it was the first time she cried. It was one of those moments they say you’re supposed to have.

Talk about costs. Where did you put your money?
What was really important to us was good food, an open bar and good music. The food was scary: We weren’t allowed to taste-test anything. Mission Ranch is owned by Clint Eastwood, and they assured us that he has high standards. So we picked off a menu and crossed our fingers. It was fantastic. We had tons of compliments on our food.

What about flowers?
The flowers were another place where we didn’t have control. Mission Ranch mandated the florist we had to use. We met with her one weekend and just said make it pretty. That’s the other place we got tons of compliments.

How did you personalize your wedding?
Our guest book was a vintage wood snowboard, because we’re big snowboarders. People signed it with metallic Sharpies. It turned out fantastic.

What was the most stressful part of planning your wedding?
Negotiating all the decisions became a little stressful because we’re both really busy.

What was the most fun part of your wedding?
We had a huge rehearsal dinner—about 80 people. We got to catch up with our guests, so there wasn’t as much pressure to talk to everybody on the wedding day.

What will you remember forever?
As I was starting my walk into the ceremony, one of the sheep started eating the flowers through the fence. There was a huge laugh as I started to walk in.

Do you have advice for other brides?
I would definitely recommend getting a planner because it takes the stress off you and lets someone else worry about the details. Don’t stress about the small stuff.

If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?
Honestly, nothing. I felt like I was in a storybook wedding. It was perfect.