It’s no secret that a good wedding film gets the waterworks started over here. Cinematography gets me every single time. But this Montana wedding from Moonstone Pictures really got me. You know that half pout, half smile that happens when you see the sweetest thing ever? Yeah. That’s happening.
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From the gorgeous bride… Chad and I both worked in Pittsburgh and I would often see him walking around the city during the lunch hour. I always thought that he was so handsome! One Friday evening at happy hour with my girlfriends, I saw him there. We ended up talking and exchanging business cards. I worked for attorneys at the time and Chad happen to be an attorney. We said that we could do “business together”. The following Monday, Chad had emailed me and asked me to lunch. I accepted his offer! While walking to lunch, I had told him that I was going to look at an apartment that evening on Mt. Washington. He said that he lived there. It just so happened, that I was looking at an apartment in his building and his roommate was the one that was showing me the place! I took the apartment and we spent everyday together since.
My favorite flower is a lily. Chad would often get them for me and said once I got 12 of them, that is when we would get engaged. I was stuck on 11 lilies for 5 years! One random January weekend we took a trip to a resort called Nemacolin. We would go there a few times a year, so I wasn’t really expecting anything to happen that weekend. On our way to dinner we ran into a couple that we knew and said that we would meet up with them afterwards. We hadn’t heard from them, so Chad recommended that we go to our room, freshen up and order desert until they call. When the desert arrived, there was a lily in a vase on the tray. I said, “Chad, look there is a lily, does that mean that we are going to get engaged?” I said it joking around. Nemacolin was a nice resort, I thought that there was a lily just because it was a nice touch for room service. He looked at me and said, “Actually, yes that is what it means.” I was totally shocked and felt so bad that I ruined the special proposal. At least we have a funny story to tell our friends!
We knew that we wanted to do a destination wedding and travel west every year on vacation. Chad loves to fly fish and the outdoors. Our families have never been out west, so we thought that our wedding would be the perfect opportunity for them to see why we love it so much. We had seen Paws Up on the travel channel and thought that it looked amazing! While visiting there, the wedding coordinator had so many great ideas! The food and service was beyond our expectations and we loved that each of our guests would have their own house to stay in, rather then all be in a lodge together.
I arrived to the ceremony in a horse drawn carriage. We had each of our guests drink a glass of Moet and hold a lily during the ceremony. Jay Straw played our ceremony music on acoustic guitar and played all Beatles songs. The Mayor of Missoula, John Engen, married us.
At the reception, we had a long elegant table set up on the Blackfoot River. We had a band, The Tom Cats, who were amazing and so much fun to dance to! We also had an old western style photo booth.
After the reception, we went to a different location on the resort and had the band come back and play acoustic around the fire. We had more food, a bourbon tasting and cigar bar set up and fireworks!
Our wedding day was actually the best day of our lives and we often say that we wish that we could do it again, because the day was so perfect. I have so many awesome memories from that day. I loved arriving at the ceremony site and seeing Chad standing there with our all of our family friends supporting us. It meant so much to both us, that our family and friends traveled so far to be with us that on that day. It was totally worth the wait!
Photography: Loneman Photography | Cinematography: Moonstone Pictures | Flowers: Habitat Floral Studio | Wedding Dress: Stephen Yearick | Wedding Cake: Wedding Cakes by Ambrose-Barton & Brown | wedding shoes: Badgley Mischka | Jewelry: Kate Spade | Catering: The Resort at Paws Up | hair and makeup: Canvas Studios | Officiant: Missoula, MT Mayor John Engen | Ceremony and Recepton: The Resort at Paws Up | music: The Tomcats