WEDDING BLOG

Imagine spectacular views of a high desert landscape, an otherworldly lava cave ceremony, stunning floral arrangements in a mix of soft pastels with pops of bright tones, and a magical canopy of twinkling lights. Welcome to Marisa and Stephen’s whimsical and glamorous Pronghorn Resort wedding. It’s truly like something out of a dream. 

The couple poured a lot of love into the wedding details. The bride, who is a graphic designer, created all of the wedding stationery and drew portraits of their two cats so they were included in the celebration. They also wanted to make sure that their guests felt taken care of by handing out thoughtful welcome bags filled with big day essentials.

They completed the enchanting vibe with their gorgeous attire—Marisa looked every bit like a fairytale bride in her celestial headpiece that perfectly matched her strapless gown with a full soft tulle skirt and sweep train, while Stephen was a dashing groom in his timeless suit. 

With the help of their planner Amanda Galbraith, the couple was able to pull off a wedding that’s bursting with personality, romance, and full-on glam! Keep scrolling to take in all the breathtaking scenery and ethereal charm captured by Baylee Dennis.

The Couple:

Marisa + Stephen

The Wedding:

Pronghorn Resort, Bend, Oregon, United States

The Perfect Venue For This Pronghorn Resort Wedding

We chose Pronghorn Resort because it provided a unique hybrid between several things we wanted in our wedding venue. First, it was absolutely gorgeous with very diverse and sprawling grounds that helped you feel immersed in the experience. Second, there were so many unique natural elements we felt were whimsical and fun like the ghost tree forest and lava cave. Who knew being a cave bride could be so glamorous? And lastly, the property has the wonderful Huntington Resort that comfortably held all our guests and provided them with a beautiful and relaxing place to stay.

They Poured A Lot Of Love Into Their Pronghorn Resort Wedding

At the end of the day, despite all the planning and worrying and logistics, the most palpable thing at our wedding was an all-encompassing sense of love. The wedding still felt like it was about our union and the celebration of our family and loved ones who’d supported us in our life. All the decor, flowers, and food seemed to just enhance that feeling and not distract from it. Everything was made and done with love.

The Most Memorable Part Of The Day

For both of us the most memorable part of the way was walking into our reception and seeing so many people we love so much in the same gorgeous space. After a year of pandemic living, the joy of being together was almost overwhelming. That love, coupled with the beautiful and enchanting space created by our vendor team, made the day feel like we’d stepped into a fairytale.

Wedding Planner Amanda Galbraith Was Their Fairy Godmother

If your budget allows for it, get yourself a coordinator! I can’t stress enough how much this is good advice, especially if you are getting married somewhere that isn’t local to where you live. Amanda was seriously our wedding fairy godmother. From clutch recommendations to juggling tasks and contacting our vendors—we fully believe the wedding was as successful as it was because we hired her. Also, as a designer, it was important to Marisa not only to find vendors whose work we loved but to also let them have enough creative freedom to get excited and create from their hearts. You can feel the difference when people are inspired and not just executing.

Thoughtful Welcome Bags

Instead of going with traditional favors, we opted to give our guests welcome bags which they received when they checked into the resort. We included an information packet about the weekend and events, cloth masks, hand sanitizer, mints, advil, water bottles, and lots of snacks for them to keep in their room. Pronghorn resort is about 20 minutes outside of Bend, so we wanted our guests to have some comforts readily available to them after their day of travel without having to leave the comfort of their rooms. It was also important to us that our guests knew we were taking their safety seriously due to the ongoing pandemic.

DIY Wedding Details

 I have a lot of great passion for paper goods and snail mail. I designed, assembled, and addressed our wedding suite, curated a selection of vintage stamps, designed wax seals, and had our invitations custom foil printed in rose gold for a little added magic. Then, I hand foiled all our escort cards with the help of my mother and godmother on handmade paper and did all the calligraphy for the wedding. I also drew portraits of our two cats, Bandit and Pete, for our signature cocktails. The only part of our stationery that I didn’t design was our gorgeous table numbers from The Punctilious Mr. P’s Place Card Company. They were just so gorgeous and perfect, I couldn’t pass them up!

Working With Baylee Dennis Photography

Baylee Dennis is a photography wizard. I don’t know how she did it because she somehow managed to take pictures of a hundred things happening at the same time while carefully capturing the magic of it all. She’s so warm and made us all feel so comfortable in her presence. She never displayed any stress or nerves and never pressured us to do anything we weren’t comfortable with. We were able to relax by simply setting her free to work her magic on the day. We’ll definitely use any excuse in life to have sessions with her in the future.

Change Of Plans That Worked Out In The End

We originally planned to have our ceremony on the Event Island in the middle of the golf course. Our wedding was originally supposed to be 185 guests, but because of Covid we had to cut our guest list down to 50. Pronghorn Resort kindly offered us the option of moving our ceremony location to their lava cave at no additional charge as a consolation for all the replanning from the pandemic and we jumped at the chance. Our wedding was smaller than we envisioned, but the fantastic new location coupled with the extra personal level of connecting with all our guests made us so grateful we had a smaller wedding. We wouldn’t change a thing.

Congratulations to Marisa and Stephen on their whimsical and glamorous Pronghorn Resort wedding. Big thanks to Baylee Dennis for capturing the magic of their beautiful wedding.

Just like this wedding, you can set the atmosphere and ambiance by choosing a venue that’s a kind of place that makes your wedding an experience rather than simply an event. Let your imagination run wild and allow your personality to shine through every detail of your wedding. This is your big day. With the right venue and wedding vendor team, you can make it to be everything you ever wanted.