Liz och Matt hade sedan länge planerat sitt bröllop till juli 2020, men när pandemin slog till ställdes de inför ett val: att flytta fram sitt datum eller ändra sina planer. De valde det senare alternativet och istället för det intima bröllop de ursprungligen planerat bestämde de sig för att ordna ett elopement. Valet av plats förblev detsamma, Lake Tahoe i Kalifornien, och idag låter vi Liz berätta om deras speciella dag tillsammans med bilder från VILD Photography.

Så träffades Liz och Matt:

Matt and I met on Hinge in 2016! He's from Buffalo and I'm from Boston, but we met in SF where we both lived. We moved in together after one year together and got our dog, Louie, during Year 2 .After dating for almost 3 years, Matt and I went to Crissy Beach (our go-to spot for walking our dog) on a random Monday in September. While I had some inkling that he'd been working on a ring, I had no idea that he was going to pop the question that day. The sun was nice and the beach was empty, so I told Matt to pose with the dog, and he seized the opportunity to pull out the ring box while I was snapping their photos. Between trying to get the dog to look at the camera and squinting into the sun, he was crouching on his knee for a few seconds before I even realized what was happening! The ring was better than I could've dreamed—a teal, oval sapphire. Solitaire setting. 4.63 carats. He gave the most beautiful speech, then ran back to our Jeep to get a bottle of champagne he'd stashed in the back. We sat, listened to music, and drank some Veuve—enjoying the moment, just us, for a few minutes before starting to call family and friends. Our proposal was perfectly "us." On a random Monday, walking our dog on the beach in our happy place. The second-happiest moment of my life, second only to finally marrying him this summer!

Bruden berättar om bröllopsplaneringen:

While it was exclude family, I'd always secretly found the idea of eloping so romantic. So after giving ourselves the space to grieve the loss of our original plan, we decided to move forward with our lives and elope! That's when we started to get excited about the new plan. We kept our original photographers, Rob and M of VILD Photography. And it was serendipitous because they specialize in amazing, adventurous elopements in amazing Tahoe locations! In formulating the new plan, Rob and M wanted to know how we wanted to spend our wedding day. Now that we were eloping, the possibilities were really endless. Did we want to hike? Go to the spa? Chill on the beach? It was totally up to us. Matt and I knew that we wanted to hang out with our dog, have some drinks, listen to some music, and watch the sun go down (this is basically our weekend routine living in SF). Rob and M took that information and scouted a completely awesome mountaintop location. While it was tricky to get to, we have a Jeep Wrangler, so we could get there! The entire vibe of our day was adventurous, casual, spontaneous, and rustic. I threw on my hiking boots after our ceremony, we popped champagne, and watched the jaw-droppingly beautiful sunset. We got to hang out with our dog. We filled in the details as we went and the evening flowed so organically. We NEVER could've enjoyed that moment, in that location, together if family had been there. It all worked out the way it was supposed to.

Inspireras av brudens klädsel:

Liz berättar om blomsterarrangemanget:

After stripping down our ceremony and deciding to elope, I knew one of the only things I still wanted to make me feel like a "bride" was a big, rustic wedding bouquet. My vision for the bouquet was an "undone" look, with pops of color and quintessential elements of California (such as pampas grass). Andi from Twine & Dandy brought my vision to life beyond my wildest dreams. She curated bright blue delphiniums and red ranunculus, with orange and pink touches and a few dusty elements to soften the palette. She called it my "Tahoe Sunset" bouquet. It was massive and asymmetrical, which lent itself to that wild, "undone" vibe I wanted. Andi also wrapped a piece of my mother's wedding veil around the stems—a personal touch that meant so much to me (especially without our families physically present). In addition to the bouquet, we did a boutonniere for my husband and a flower hair piece for my updo. This bouquet ended up being such a large part of our pictures and really matched the adventurous, spontaneous vibe of our elopement. I felt so special carrying those flowers around that mountain.

Wow, vilken utsikt! Det är alltid lika roligt att se brudpar som inte låter omständigheterna hindra dem från att skapa något unikt. Liz och Matt har gjort ett fantastiskt jobb med detaljerna i deras elopement och det känns så personligt och intimt att få ta del av bilderna från deras bröllopsdag.

Ett elopement i naturen kräver en annan typ av förberedelser. Du vill till exempel vara bekväm och kunna röra dig över stock och sten om det krävs. Väder och vind är svårt att förutse och dessutom kan det blir kallt när solen går ner. Vi tipsar om att välja bekväma skor och packa extra kläder ifall solen sviker. Liz och Matt var lika stiliga som bekväma i sina klädval.

Liz berättar om deras tankar kring kläderna:

The ONE thing I wanted to feel on our wedding day, given our unique elopement circumstances, was to feel PRESENT and relaxed. So I decided to order a few dresses online from Show Me Your Mumu, tried them on in my living room in front of my husband (we're not super traditional), and picked a short dress with flowy sleeves. I bought some simple sandals from Soludos, some jewelry from Mejuri and Rellery, and had my little cousin paint my jean jacket with a classic Tahoe illustration (her name is Daisy Gulla and she's an amazing artist.) The Blundstones and high socks were a completely spontaneous, last-minute decision on the day of our wedding, but, again, I knew I wanted to be comfortable. I'm so glad I threw them in my bag because those boots are my signature look and the pictures are that much more "us”. My husband bought a custom suit from Indochino (and did two road trips to Sacramento just to find a showroom that could do measurements during COVID). He opted for a beautiful, deep linen blue that complements his blue eyes.

Så skräddarsydde brudparet sitt elopement:

Our sunset elopement had a few special touches. Our dog, Louie, wore a blue bowtie from The Foggy Dog. We brought champagne glasses from my brother and sister-in-law and a bottle of vintage Dom from my parents. We also drank Labatt Blues (a tribute to Matt's hometown of Buffalo) and Sam Adams beers (a tribute to my Boston stomping ground). We got to give our dog lots of kisses and watch him run around like a maniac across the mountaintop.The best part of our wedding? Driving down off the mountain in the dark, with the top down on our Jeep, blasting Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey”.
It's hard to pinpoint a specific moment from our sunset elopement because the entire evening was such an adventure. We literally off-roaded in our Jeep Wrangler to the top of a mountain, which was a blast in and of itself. However, I think the most special moment of the elopement was getting to the top and seeing the views—and then having that space all to ourselves. We were so immersed in the natural beauty of the location that it took our breath away. It was a bit overcast at the start of our ceremony, but as Matt started reading his vows, the sun emerged from behind the clouds and beamed directly down onto us. As we drank champagne and the sun started to go down, we were basically just continually gasping at how beautiful the sky looked. Marrying Matt was the best day of my life, but to do it in such a unique way—in SUCH a beautiful location—was by far the coolest part.