Amber + Reilly
(August 31, 2020 in Leavenworth, WA)
Planning a wedding during a pandemic can be stressful, but for one couple, it led to a beautiful and unique celebration. Originally planning a mountain backyard wedding in Fernie, British Columbia, COVID-19 restrictions forced them to change their plans and venue to Leavenworth, Washington. Despite the changes, the couple still had a beautiful mountain backdrop on a patio at an Airbnb they fell in love with. They chose vendors based on their unique styles and locality, from a Seattle-based photographer to a Spokane-based florist. The day of the wedding was relaxed and enjoyable, with the couple incorporating personal touches, such as the bride's handcrafted veil and meaningful jewelry. Their #1 tip for future brides is to start planning early and delegate tasks to others to enjoy the day and the little moments that make it special.
Amber looked stunning in our Harper gown on her big day. This sheath-fit dress is a crepe material for a sleek and fitted look that is still comfortable all night long. It has a plunging v-neckline with a high illusion to provide support and dainty shoestring straps. The back features a beautiful v-shape and seams that accentuate curves. This gown is sleek, simple, and so stunning.
By our real bride, Amber:
What was the vision for your wedding?
Our idea of what we wanted our wedding to be at the beginning was a mountain backyard wedding. We planned on having it in Fernie, British Columbia, Canada however, with COVID we weren't able to travel across the border. Because of this, we had to change our whole day! We switched to having in a mountain town in Washington - Leavenworth, changed vendors, our guest list, and plan. We searched through Airbnb and found one that we fell in love with! I reached out to the owner and asked if we would be able to have a small gathering and she was open to it. We then had to cut down on our guest list a little bit and only had our family with a few friends attend. We still had a "backyard" wedding, but instead, it was on a patio. The house had beautiful views of the mountain as our backdrop! It wasn't exactly as we had originally planned or envisioned it to be, but we loved every part of it.
We chose our vendors for all different reasons! The photographer we found through a wedding blog actually featured the same Airbnb from a previous wedding and fell in love with their style. They are based out of Seattle, and Nick drove over and did such a wonderful job capturing our day! I cannot speak enough of the great job that he did! Our florist was actually based in Spokane - I found her through social media and reached out and she was wonderful! Amanda was so helpful, provided so many ideas for putting together the few pieces that I wanted, and made them easily transported in the 3-hour car ride! (I didn't lose a single stem in the whole process!) For our food, we wanted to use a place that used local farms and found them through just an online search. Nick and Jamie were so great! Easy to talk to and set everything up for us on the day so we didn't have to worry about anything! So amazing - and SO delicious! For dessert, we did pies - because who doesn't love pies? And we still wanted to support someone local so we used Bean and Pie from CDA and WOW! Incredible. We ordered hand pies and they could not have worked out better for self-serving. I also ordered cookies from a friend who designs her own sugar cookies in New Mexico (where I am from) and she shipped them to me! Brooke is amazing.
How did it go the day-of?
The day of our wedding was wonderful. It was so relaxing honestly! The morning of Reilly went for a mountain biking ride with his brother and I went for a run with my dad - to enjoy the beautiful weather that was happening that day. Afterwards my Mom was able to help me make the centerpieces by putting together the extra stems that Amanda provided me to put throughout the house for some decor. We set up a few other things around the house and then I started to get ready. My best friend, who was my Matron of Honor, was wonderful and did my hair and makeup. It was such a special experience to have someone so close to me do this for me and made me feel so much more comfortable. I would say that a lot of our wedding was non-traditional in the sense that I saw Reilly the whole day (up until I put my dress on), we set up everything (except the food) ourselves, and we didn't have a set timeline - we just followed the day where it went, and it was just very relaxing. Once I was finished getting ready, I was able to put my dress on with my Mom's help and put my veil on with my grandma (who handmade my veil!). The jewelry I wore had also lots of special meaning for me. One of my rings was given to me by my mom on the day that was her promise ring from my dad when they were in high school, one ring has a center stone from my great grandmas wedding ring, and I had turquoise from New Mexico my home state. A part of my bouquet had a handkerchief from my great-grandma.
Before the ceremony, Reilly and I did a first look and exchanged our personal vows just the two of us. We found this moment to be so special because we got a private moment to share before the rest of the night was spent with everyone else. Our ceremony was officiated by one of Reilly's best friends which was so special for him. He had the kindest words to say, along with some laughs, of course!
We escaped after the ceremony off to the river that Nick, our photographer took us to so we would be able to get even more amazing views of the mountains and be outdoors which we both love!
The rest of the night was just spent hanging out with our friends and family, enjoying food and each others company. For us, it was the perfect COVID-friendly day!
What is your #1 tip to future brides?
My best tip for others would be to start planning as soon as you can and slowly work on things. I started planning about a month after our engagement and slowly planned things which made it so much less stressful leading up to the day. The week before our day, I hardly had anything to do other than pick up items that others had prepared for us. The day of - I would also delegate as much as you can. I did things that I wanted to be a part of, and other things I asked others to do which allowed me to feel calm and relaxed on our day. Try to enjoy all the little things that day! It goes by SO fast - it's over before you even know it.
