From Mandy Ford Photography – “This enchanted forest wedding with rich cranberry tones, mauve accents, and gold sequins, paired perfectly with the dark evergreens of the Reno Tahoe mountains.
Hillarie and Bobby wed on the edge of a mountain, at over 7,000 feet, overlooking the Washoe desert valley below at cozy Tannenbaum Event Center. The floral designs were easy-going and dripped with lush, loose accents. Quality Event Design constructed a unique centerpiece on each table, with focal points ranging from glass cloche and candles, to unique, oversized lanterns. Gold and glass textures were a striking contrast to the natural, earthy textures covering the tables!”
THE PROPOSAL
From Hillarie – “After 9 years of being together, one house, two dogs, and on our way to buying another house Bobby decided to propose. He and 3 other friends got together and planned a weekend away in a cabin in the snowy mountains of Truckee, CA over New Years Eve weekend. 3 other couples joined us for this memorable weekend where we played card games and cozied up by the fire.
The morning of New Years Eve all of the guys managed to slip out of the house while us girls finished getting ready. An alarm on a phone started going off and after minutes of looking all over for the cabin for it we managed to turn it off and find our first ‘clue.’ From there we were led on a scavenger hunt all over Truckee, we got pedicures, ate brunch and too many laughs to thinking about what these guys were up to. Finally, we were led to Squaw Valley Ski Resort where I was blind folded in the middle of the resort. Once my blindfold was removed there was Bobby on his knee with the most beautiful ring!”
WEDDING STYLE
“Our vision for our wedding was an enchanted forest with a romantic feel. I wanted guests to enjoy the beautiful tall green trees surrounding us as well as the breathtaking views and to imagine that they were in an elegant fairy tale. It was important to have overhead string lights to cast a beautiful glow on the venue as the sun went down. Our wedding colors were beautiful greens and ivory complemented with rich Burgundy hues and gold accents.
The florals were absolutely breathtaking. I wanted arrangements that had a lot of texture and a whole scheme of our wedding colors not just a couple. The florist definitely delivered! Even the bridesmaids’ bouquets were over the top. One special flower I was drawn to that I really wanted in my bouquet was a Protea, it added a pop to the bouquet and great texture. I also wanted a lot of greenery such as eucalyptus, not only does it smell great but it has a wonderful cascading effect too.”
PERSONAL TOUCHES
“We asked a friend of ours to officiate our wedding since we are not religious, this was the best idea! Our friend was able to talk about us individually and together as a couple because he really knew us and has spent time with us… he was also there when we got engaged!
We wanted to have a unique way of releasing each table to the buffet line so on each table number there was a song title specific to those people who were assigned to that table. For example, several of our friends from small town Fallon, NV (a country/farming type of community) we had a fun country song for them… my mom and her family love the Beegee’s so we had a hit song of theirs play. Guests had to listen for their song and then boogie their way over to the buffet.
As for the seating chart I had my husband make ours because I had a vision I just couldn’t really find. He nailed wood from old wooden pallets together, stained it and placed J hooks where we had vintage skeleton keys hang from with each guests’ name and table number on each.”
FAVORS & CAKE
For favors I had rolled pashminas and had them in a basket for guests because I knew the temperature would drop a little bit a night in the cool Sierra Nevada mountains. The pashminas were in an assortment of our wedding colors — Burgundy, gold, ivory and cream. We also had an open air photo booth for guests to enjoy with lots of different props.
For dessert we did red velvet, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a cake, it just wasn’t on our list of splurges so these cupcakes were great for guests to hold on to easily and dance!”
MEMORIES & STORIES
The week leading up to the wedding I was slightly panicked over an entire table… because my husband is in the NV National Guard they had been deployed to Texas to help with the Hurricane Harvey Relief Effort. Fortunately, my husband did not have to go but an entire table at our wedding was asked to go. The guys that went weren’t sure if they would make it back in time so all I could do was cross my fingers that they would come back safely in time and they did! The day before they flew back into town and they all came to celebrate our big day with us.
The morning of our wedding the bridesmaids and I woke up in a penthouse suite at a hotel in Reno, NV where we had floor to ceiling windows that showed us a view of the city. This particular morning was the famous Reno Hot Air Balloon races so we got to enjoy watching about 50 hot air balloons floating through the city.
Once we arrived at the Tannenbaum I had the perfect view of all of the guests arriving, seeing all these faces come from near and far definitely brought tears to my eyes. I can remember once we all sat down to eat a guest came up to Bobby and I at the wedding party table and told us to turn around to look out at the beautiful view and once we did there was the most beautiful rainbow out in the distance. It was pure magic!
Once the glow of string lights came on as the sun was going down and the dancing began I remember running to the bridal suite really quick to grab something and looking back at the dance floor and not one person was sitting, everyone was up dancing the night away having the best time!”
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Photography: Mandy Ford Photography // Floral & Rentals: Quality Event Design // Entertainment: Epik Entertainment // Beauty: Greco Rose // Wedding Dress & Bridesmaids Dresses: Swoon Bridal // Groom’s Attire: Michael Kors // Venue: Tannenbaum Event Center near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
