Samantha Silna knew she’d found the one after her now-husband Patrick Castles hand-delivered an unexpected gift.

“A couple weeks after we met, he dropped by to give me a set of vintage–inspired Native American figurine candles,” she says. “As silly as it sounds, in that moment I knew.”

Three years later, the pair—who had their first encounter at Venice’s The Otheroom in 2012—found magic once again in Yosemite. After rafting down the Tuolumne during the day, at a dinner set on the balcony of Fork & Love Restaurant, Patrick got down on one knee with a ring he designed, featuring a diamond from his mother’s own engagement.

The couple, who co-founded the Surfing Donkey Cocktail Co., exchanged vows last fall in Goleta, where Samantha arrived at the grounds of Dos Pueblos Ranch in a vintage Jaguar convertible. Stepping out in a classic Oscar de la Renta dress and Christian Louboutin shoes, she found the walk to the altar an especially emotional one. “I lost my father a few months before our wedding,” she says. “Having my mom walk me down the aisle to my husband was incredibly special. We laughed and cried as we held each other.”

The planners at Bash Please translated Samantha’s vision—“casual elegance from a bygone time”—with touches including hand-drawn astronomical maps by illustrator Joya Rose, intended for guests to use for stargazing after the reception.

The couple’s first dance, to a version of “I Love You Always Forever,” featured choreography with lifts masterminded by professional dancer Julz Tocker.

From there, guests swarmed the dance floor, taking time out to hit the photo booth, until Samantha and Patrick drove off to begin their next chapter. “My cousin’s young daughter followed along the car, waving,” Samantha recalls. “It was the sweetest thing—like she thought I was a princess driving off with my prince.”

ENTERTAINMENT Midnight Special (West Coast Music) DRESS Oscar de la Renta SUIT The Black Tux CATERER Whoa Nelly and Hannah’s Bananas HONEYMOON Ever After Honeymoons

Photography by JOSE VILLA.
Written by ERICKA FRANKLIN.

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of C Weddings.