The Couple: Rachel and Darren

The Wedding: 6.16.12 – Ehrman Mansion, Sugar Pine Point State Park, Lake Tahoe, CA

What three adjectives best describe your wedding? Rustic, elegant, laid-back

What was your wedding color palette? The bridesmaids all wore different shades of grey dresses with light blue jewelry and brightly colored shoes in a warm shade. The groomsmen all wore grey suits with green and blue plaid ties.

What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your style and personalities into your big day? I think our love of the outdoors played a huge part in our wedding style. We wanted to have a natural feel to the wedding design with nothing that felt too stuffy. Our planner, Felicia Events, incorporated a lot of natural elements into the ultimate design. My husband really wanted to make sure that the food was good (hes a chef!), so most of the menu design was left up to him. We both love wine, and spent a lot of time going to wineries in the region near our wedding venue. Two days prior to the wedding we took a wine tasting trip with most of the bridal party down to a couple of wineries and bought several cases of wine to drink at the wedding. The guests loved the wine, and really liked the fact that it was from little wineries they otherwise would have never known.

Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? I loved my entire wedding! It is a day that I will never forget and will always treasure. One of the things that made it so wonderful was that we decided to not sweat the small stuff and just focus on truly enjoying the day. A lot of our wedding felt spontaneous, but there were a couple of preplanned decisions we made that really helped make the wedding us.

I wanted to walk down the aisle with my soon to be husband. I felt that it was symbolic that we were both entering into the marriage. Our planner suggested I walk alone down part of the hill towards our ceremony site, and my husband was waiting at the bottom of the hill. Meeting him there was wonderful. We held hands all the way walking up the aisle!

We didnt really want to write our own vows, but we decided right before the ceremony that we each wanted to say a few words prior. Neither one of us had planned anything, but we each ended up speaking directly from heart.

What piece of advice would you give to a bride planning her wedding today? First, hire a wedding planner as early as possible. Our planner was the person responsible for making sure that everything came together for the wedding day. Second, dont get stressed with the planning. Remember that ultimately the only thing that really matters is who you end up with at the end!

The Wedding Team:

Photographer: Theilen Photography
Event Planner: Felicia Events
Invitation Designer: Wedding Paper Divas
Catering: Mountain Magic Catering
Florist: Art in Bloom
Cake: Sugar Pine Bake Shop
Wedding Dress: Maggie Sottero
Live Music: Bison Bluegrass Band
Transportation: Discover Lake Tahoe
Rentals: Celebrations Party Rentals
Rings: Ultimate Jewelry Designs

Thank you Rachel and Darren!

Planning a Lake Tahoe wedding? Check out our Wedding Planning Hotlist for Lake Tahoe!