Wedding couples discover Western wilderness at The Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort, a full-service resort and working cattle ranch in Central California's Santa Ynez Valley. Exclusive to bridal parties who reserve the entire property for their nuptial event, the 10,000-acre retreat offers horseback riding, mountain biking, and hiking adventures through vast plains and canyons, past grazing cattle, twisting oak and soaring sycamore "alisal" means "grove of sycamores" in the language of the Chumash, the Native American tribe that once inhabited the region.

Golf and tennis top the list of favorite pursuits, while the property's 100-acre lake provides for anything from fishing and bird-watching to kayaking and sailing. At day's end, guests return to 73 studios and two-room suites, all designed California ranch-style with wood-burning fireplaces, charming front patios and wood and wrought-iron accents.

When booking the Alisal for a wedding, brides and grooms gain access to any part of the property. Vows may be exchanged on an Irish-green hillside, beneath a sycamore grove or on a wood deck overlooking the lake. Following the "I dos," lakeside receptions are as popular as celebrations in one of the resort's indoor venues, where high-beam ceilings, expansive windows and grand stone hearths create the perfect Western ambience.