October 13, 2023, Evan and I said “I do” beneath the Valhalla Tahoe pine trees. We were surrounded by our loved ones who traveled near and far for our big day. And so, this has become our favorite day to date!
In an effort to prepare for this monument day, we assembled a dream vendor team, and accounted for all the fine details. To initiate the planning process, I purchased the Green Wedding Shoes x Erin Condren planner. The planner accounts for timeline check-points, budget tips and considerations, guest list, venue and vendor contact details, invitations, seating arrangements, gift log, etc. We also made sure to secure our venue about a year out, so we could make wedding decisions based around this. One of the first check-list items I completed was wedding dress shopping and saying yes to the dress. When I went dress shopping with my girls, I was intentional in searching for a dress that had lace and sleeves, due to our wedding taking place in October in South Lake Tahoe. I tried on many beautiful gowns, but ultimately trusted my gut and went back to my first stop at Grace Loves Lace, where I purchased the Olive Gown and Grace Veil. What’s more, Some of the first vendors we secured were our caterer, coordinator, photographer, and dj. After a few months, we also hired our baker, as well as our bartending and waiting staff. To save on costs, we ordered flowers through a distributor and made bouquets ourselves, bought alcohol through Benvo, and had family friends help us with our Photo Booth, hair and makeup, and officiating needs.
Vendor Team:
Venue: Valhalla Tahoe
Photographer: Casey Simon Photography
Coordinator: Vista Events
Dress/Veil/Shoes: Grace Loves Lace
Suit: Tailor Cooperative
Hair & Makeup: Brynna Jones
Nails: Emily Bringhurst at Sugar Pop Nails
DJ: Lake Tahoe DJ
Caterer: Sombreros
Dessert: Lake Tahoe Cakes
Officiant: Family Friend
Florist: Bill Doran Co.
Bartending/Staffing Crew: Napa Phoenix Staffing
Photo Booth: DynaMicDuo Entertainment
Alcohol: BevMo
As a note, several of our vendors are Salt Lake City based, because this is where Evan and I currently live. Specifcally, I got my hair (cut and color) and nails done in Salt Lake City. Evan was also fitted for and purchased his wedding suit in Salt Lake City. However, his groomsmen rented their suits from Men’s Wearhouse, which has locations all over the United States. Still, many of our day-of vendors are South Lake Tahoe based, since this is where our wedding took place. Fun fact, South Lake Tahoe is also where Evan and I were born and raised.
Our Wedding Day
This brings me to our wedding day, which turned out to be everything we envisioned and more!
Some couples have wedding traditions, and while mine were not familial, I did incorporate the historical elements of something old, new, borrowed, and blue. My something old was a locket with mine and Evan’s baby photos in it, whereas my something new included the earrings I wore throughout our wedding day. For my something borrowed, I re-used several song lyrics from Taylor Swift in my vows to Evan. Finally, for my something blue, I tied a blue ribbon fresh water pearl charm around the anklet of my heel. Evan, on the other hand, sported a pocket square with Alfie’s face, cufflinks with Comet’s head and booty, and a tie clip gifted by me, with the words “meet me at the alter.” Our dogs are really important to us, so we wanted to make sure we included them in our wedding in every way possible.
Speaking of our pups, they were able to join us for our wedding ceremony! Alfie was our flower boy, and he was escorted down the aisle by our friend Lauren. Whereas, Comet was our ring bearer, and he was accompanied down the aisle by our friend Alex. I made Alfie his floral dog collar and leash, and I also crafted a floral crown for Lauren. For Comet, we had him wear a bow tie that I purchased on Etsy, and boy did he look dapper! Of course, we had pictures of our dogs on display throughout our venue, a signature drink sign with Comet’s Spicy Margarita and Alfie’s Pink Whitney, and a Connect 4 game with corgi shaped tiles.
For our ceremony, Evan and I both had our parents walk us down the aisle. Our party walked down to Best Day of My Life by Vitamin String Quartet, and I walked down to Tupelo Honey by Arts Fishing Club. We read our vows from our booklets, and we sealed our love and commitments with a kiss! After our ceremony, we took pictures with our families and pups, while our guests enjoyed cocktail hour complete with a photo booth, polaroid picture guest book area, and beer/soda canoe. After pictures were taken, our pups went back to Evan’s parent’s house just up the road, and Evan and I took a few more sunset pictures before dinner. Subsequently, dinner was set outside under the starry lights and sky. We enjoyed tacos and great conversation! For our dinner set-up, Evan and I shared a sweetheart table, so our wedding party could sit with their plus ones. While we did get around to conversing with a few of the tables, I do wish we would have gotten up sooner to make our rounds to say hi to everyone.
After dinner and speeches from my Maid of Honor, Megan, and Evan’s Best Man, Ryan, had concluded, we moved inside for introductions, cake cutting, and first dances. Evan and I opened our first dance to Love Like This by Ben Rector. I, then, danced to I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack with my dad, which was really special! My dad has a hard time walking and dancing due to disabilities, but was able to get through the entirety of the song with my lead. I didn’t cry until the point where I was looking at my dad during our first dance (a special memory we will hold onto forever). Following this dance, Evan and his mom swayed to the tunes of You’re Gonna Live Forever in Me by John Mayer. Once the first dances concluded, open dancing commenced, and things got funky! Evan and I boogied on the dance floor with our friends, and I took a lil too many shots behind the scenes. Luckily, I made it the whole night, though our last dance and glow stick send-off are still a bit of a blur. Though we didn’t make it to the casinos afterwards, the night was still a 10/10! We even had a bald eagle fly above us during our sunset pictures, which is presumably meant to signify good fortune (our Friday the 13th wedding turned out to be lucky after all)!
Say hello to the new Mrs. Brown!!
