When you are in love they say you feel like you want to shout it from a mountaintop; well this next real-life couple did just that… only it wasn’t a metaphor. Their beautiful and intimate wedding took place on top of a mountain in California, and we are telling you now… it was impressive! But what were we expecting with a proposal story that involved a scavenger hunt and a trip to Paris?! Oh, yeah, keep scrolling for that too.
You can see more of this fabulous mountaintop wedding in the full gallery thanks to the photography talents of Mariel Hannah.
A Love Story
The short (but still very sweet, in my opinion) story of how Andrew and I met is that we were introduced by two friends of ours who were in a relationship themselves. As the usual blind date story goes, our friends thought that we would be perfect together. Actually, Andrew was making our date plans while on a cross-country road trip with his best friend to come and live in Calgary permanently. His best friend, Mike, had used their time on the road to talk me up. He must’ve done a great job because, after the night we met, we were inseparable ever since. As my new husband will tell you, I had charmed him over a joke that we (and we alone) both found absurdly funny. In the early stages of getting to know one another, Andrew even had the chance to move onward and upward at a new career opportunity on the west coast of Canada. I couldn’t believe it when he turned it down, and it was only later that he confessed it was because he couldn’t live apart from his future wife.
A Romantic Proposal
Our proposal blew me away! It was the first week that we had officially moved in together after three years of dating. I woke up in the morning a little bit after Andrew had already left for work. As I usually do, I leaned over and blindly felt around on the nightstand for my glasses. Instead, I was delighted to find a small, beautifully wrapped package. Inside, buried in tissue paper, was a clue hidden in the form of a riddle for a scavenger hunt around our new house. Each little box was accompanied by a small treat, including my favorite dessert macrons. The last box instructed me to pack my bags and look at the first letter of each clue, which would spell out where he was taking me in two weeks time. I was so over-the-top excited, jumping around in my front yard in my pajamas, to learn that Andrew was whisking me off to the most romantic city in the world – Paris, France! Each night after that, he came home with little pieces of a beautiful outfit that he hoped to take me to dinner in on our trip.
Once in Paris, we truly had the best time together walking around the Seine and stopping in street cafés for espresso. On the morning of our engagement, Andrew had suggested we visit the Louvre, an experience I had talked about to him for years. He let me drag him around for five hours before suggesting we get ready for our fancy dinner. After crossing this huge item off of my bucket list, I was buzzing to strike another and to find somewhere we could stop and take in the view of the Eiffel Tower. Andrew convinced me that he had found a popular “selfie spot” where we could see the Eiffel Tower together on the way to dinner. After pulling over on this beautiful bridge over the Seine with a perfect view of the monument, I was almost too busy taking it in to turn around and see him down on one knee. Since we are both naturally shy people, the gathering crowd and hired photographer had us both flustered and his sweet speech turned into a simple question to which I promptly answered “YES” and then thanked him. I guess you could say nerves got the best of us! After snapping a few photos and seeing the Eiffel Tower light up for the first time, we headed off to a beautifully romantic dinner for two under the stars. It was a trip that I will never forget. I’m not sure if Paris can ever be improved, but we definitely were seeing everything through rose-colored glasses!
The Big Day
A palette of dark wedgewood blue and crisp champagne colors complimented the neutral-esque florals with a punch brought in by my favorite flower, anemones. The vibe we were seeking to create was one that could create an intimate, classic yet fresh mood for our guests who had traveled many miles to be with us on our special day. With the help of our wedding planner, Berlanti Azhak of Elegant Ninja and florists from Poppy Design Co we hoped to create a cohesive vibe.
