If there was one wedding that would convince me to pack up everything and move to California, this would be it. Captured by Gagewood, it’s a celebration brimming with seriously elegant style and a few Bella Figura flourishes for good measure. It’s classic with a modern twist and we’ve got it all waiting for you to fall in love with via The Vault!
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From The Bride…All it took was a game night setup, lots of wine, and great friends for Bret and I to see that there was something truly special between us. Our relationship was instantaneous from that first night and every year that passed thereafter seemed to fly by faster and faster. Before I knew it we had been together over three years and Bret was proposing to me at his family’s ranch in Northern Nevada. High on excitement and love, coupled with the excitement of our family and friends, it didn’t take long to start planning our nuptials.
We had three mains that were nonnegotiable when we started wedding planning. First was we had to have great food. Bret is an insanely talented ‘amateur’ chef so great food was a must. Secondly was location, we wanted something that was true to our style and to the area we grew up in. Northern Nevada is so incredibly beautiful and we truly have the splendor of all four seasons here. The both of us have grown up spending all seasons outside, doing some type of activity in the Lake Tahoe basin and we wanted to share our love of this area with all of our guests. The last thing, and probably our most cherished looking back, we wanted a resort where our family and friends could stay to enjoy in all the weekend festivities with us. With all of those in mind we selected one of the most stunning contemporary mountainside resorts, The Ritz-Carlton at Lake Tahoe.
From there we enlisted the help of Danielle from Elise Events to tie all our ideas together. She was, by far, one of the best decisions we made. We were able to vocalize all of our ideas, loves, hates and concerns and she took all of them in and delivered way above and beyond anything we could have imagined. With her in tow she brought our wedding style of organic understated romance to life. We wanted everyone to feel cozy and wrapped in the love that, the both us have for each other, and for our families and friends. Because of this, Bret and I pushed to keep our guest list limited and it made for a very intimate celebration.
Leading up to our wedding weekend we had beautiful sunny weather and then that Thursday a big storm rolled in. It started raining Thursday and it kept going all the way till about ten minutes before our ceremony. Determined to have my ceremony and pictures outside we made the decision to bring in a tent for our outdoor ceremony and I still cry thinking about how beautiful that tent was. It made for the most romantic and intimate ceremony we could have imagined. That tent may have been one of my most favorite things from our wedding. Funny how that works out!
It was the work of our florist that helped to create that gorgeous tent and the overall vision of our organic understated romance. Floral for me was one of the most important things and B & B delivered by leaps and bounds. Everything from my bouquet, to the table pieces, the flower crowns and the hanging greenery in our tent it was just beyond. She worked so closely with our wedding coordinator to bring this vision to life and oh my god was it gorgeous.
As we spent the night dancing away it started snowing heavily outside making for the most beautiful and serene evening. I only wish the night could have lasted longer. All of our vendors did an amazing job and we couldn’t be more grateful for their hard work every step of the way.
The best advice I received was to remember that this day is about you and your love and at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that the two of you are together, healthy and happy. Everything else will fall into place. Oh, one more, remember to have fun and enjoy every step because everything goes by so fast!
Photography: Gagewood | Cinematography: Dax Victorino Films | Event Planning + Design: Elise Events | Floral Design: BandB Designs | Invitations: Bella Figura | Stationery: Forever Heyday | Bride's Shoes: Christian Louboutin | Jewelry: Jenny Packham | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Joanna August | Makeup: Jackie Trombley | Hair: Greco Rose Beauty | Calligraphy: Chloe Mackintosh At Boxwood Avenue | DJ: Moonlight Mobile DJ | Groom's Attire: J.Crew | Venue: Vera Wang Papers | Bridal Boutique: Swoon Bridal | Hair Accessories: jennifer behr | Rentals: Celebrations Party Rentals | Rentals: BBJ La Tavola | Rentals: Theoni Collection | Sash: Sara Gabriel | Veil: Paris By Debra Moreland | Wedding Dress One: JLM Couture, Inc | Wedding Dress Two: Willowby by Watters
