When Marcus and I first began talking about and planning our wedding we decided on a summer wedding the following year. We wanted a long engagement so that we had plenty of time to plan (and save!) for the big day. We were engaged on January 10, 2014 and in March we chose a venue and a date of June 20, 2015. When June 2014 came around we had a change of heart. We decided we wanted to do something smaller, and more ‘budget-friendly’ since we were paying for most of the wedding ourselves. I began researching more affordable venues and I stumbled across Quail Hollow Ranch in Felton, Ca. The venue had ONE open Saturday for the rest of the year, October 11th. That was only 4 months away! Marcus and I took a (very quick) trip down to the Santa Cruz Mountains to view the venue on June 28th and we fell in love. I immediately was able to envision our wedding there. We immediately started calling family & friends to let them know about the change since we were bumping the wedding up 8 months! Everyone was on board and excited for us. The following 3 months were crunch time and we spent all of our free time working on our wedding details. We were lucky to have the help from some wonderful friends. Amidst all of our planning, Marcus applied for a job overseas. It was sort of on a whim that he even applied for it, and he felt like it was a shot in the dark. Towards the end of August we found out he was selected for the position! We would be moving to Spain! They wanted him to begin his position by the end of the year. If it hadn’t been for us moving the wedding up, we would have had to either have a courthouse wedding, or I wouldn’t have been able to move to Spain with him. It is truly amazing how things work out! Everything fell into place perfectly and our wedding weekend was a dream come true. Please enjoy some of our favorite photos from the very best day of our life, October 11, 2014. (Thanks to Brent VanAuken Photography for capturing our day!)

We knew that we wanted our wedding to reflect ‘us’ in every possible way. Nearly all of our details were hand-crafted by us. We each wore boots on our wedding day and they were a gift from Natalie (Marcus’ sister) and her husband, Worth. Marcus and Natalie picked them out together while he was visiting her in Austin. They are boots we will treasure forever. Marcus has been a die-hard Broncos fan since birth and I knew I had to incorporate the Broncos into our wedding in some way. I decided to make a Broncos garter to surprise Marcus with. I even designed our invitations myself.

                           

Getting ready the morning of our wedding was so fun. There were so many emotions running through me that morning. I couldn’t wait to see Marcus and I was getting more excited (and a little nervous) with every passing moment. My hairdresser was Hollie, the sister of one of my very best friends. I got to photograph her wedding back in May and it was so fun to have her there for my day! My make up artist is the MOST AMAZING AND TALENTED guy in the world, Chayce. I have never felt more beautiful than I did that day thanks to those two!

                      

Marcus surprised me with a gift the morning of our wedding and had his mom bring it to me. She presented me with his gift, a stunning blue sapphire necklace! I wore that along with beautiful earrings she gave me and a family heirloom – his grandmothers diamond tennis bracelet. I had my sister and Marcus’ mom help me with the final touches of getting ready.

                      

                           

While I was getting ready with my girls, Marcus was at a beach house nearby getting ready with the guys.

Once we were both ready we each got picked up to head to our first look location. I went back and forth about whether or not to do a first look, and I am so glad that we decided to go for it! When we first found our venue we found a nearby park with a covered bridge. It turned out to be the perfect location for our first look and those moments we spent together before our ceremony were some of my favorite moments of the day.

 

 

 

                             

                           

After we spent some time checking each other out and letting the fact that we were getting married sink in, we walked around the park a bit to take some more photos before heading to our venue.

                      

                      

                      

                     

 

While walking around the park we found a gorgeous trail. There was a lady walking her beautiful horse and I was able to talk her into letting me take some photos with him. I have always loved horses and getting to take some photos with one in my wedding dress was so special for me!

After we were done with our photos we spent some time with our bridal party at the venue while we waited for our guests to arrive. Everyone was so helpful in getting everything set up for our ceremony and reception. It was amazing to see all of our plans and ideas come together.

                      

After all of our guests arrived it was time for our ceremony!

                        

                                                 

 

 

 

 

                            

After our ceremony we took some time to do portraits with our families and our bridal party…all of whom were such a huge part of our day. We would not be the people we are today, together and individually, if it weren’t for you all!

                              

                              

                              

                      

                     

                      

                      

                      

                      

                      

                      

After our photos were all finished…it was time to relax and have fun! We had our cocktail hour set up for lawn games. Marcus spent a ton of time building and painting custom lawn games for us. Everyone had a blast!

                              

We shared our first meal, as husband and wife, with all of our family and friends under a gorgeous oak tree. Marcus’ mother and step-father spent countless hours preparing nearly all the food we enjoyed. It was truly a labor of love and there were compliments all night about how wonderful everything was.

After dinner we enjoyed our first dance to Sam Smith’s ‘Latch’.

                              

One of our wonderful friends created a video of our proposal. It was debuted at our reception and it was the first time I had gotten to see any of the footage! It literally took my breath away. Adrian, I will forever be grateful for the amazing gift you have given us by creating a video we will treasure forever.

          

For dessert I knew I wanted to do a dessert bar of some sort, and cookies seemed like a great choice. One of my bridesmaids (Jennifer) made ALL of the cookie dough from scratch…for THREE HUNDRED COOKIES! The day before the wedding my sister/maid of honor, Vanessa and another bridesmaid/best friend, Kelly were baking cookies all day long. I truly couldn’t have pulled it off without them! Marcus’ younger sister, Catalina, is an amazing chef. She offered to make us a cake and I don’t think she could have given us a better gift! She made us a pumpkin spice cake because Marcus’ favorite dessert is pumpkin pie covered in a delicious buttercream frosting. I made our cake topper myself and the cake stand was a tree stump that Papa brought all the way from Colorado for us!

After dessert we did the bouquet & garter tosses and had a blast dancing the night away.

                              

                              

                              

 Our day was truly perfect. It is an amazing feeling to be surrounded by EVERY SINGLE PERSON you love. We could not be more blessed or thankful for the amazing family and friends we share our life with. Thank you to everyone who was a part of our day, the best day of our life!