Real Weddings Wednesday: Amber + Dan's Intimate Outdoor Ceremony

Happy Real Weddings Wednesday everyone! We’ve got a beautiful wedding right on schedule for you this afternoon with a special appearance from some furry friends. Today, we’re celebrating Amber + Dan’s love for not only one another, but the love they have for their Bernese Mountain Dogs, Myla, Zoe, and Enalina, who play an important and heartwarming role in today’s wedding. Happy Wednesday, and happy reading everyone!

Tell us a little about you and your beloved.

We met on Bumble, an online dating site. My profile read “Must Love Dogs!” with a photo of myself and all three of my Bernese Mountain Dogs (the girls) hiking in Colorado. Dan swiped right even though he later told me that he never actually had a dog of his own but always wanted one. Dan was in residency training in Pittsburgh and I had just signed a contract to move to Maine. I was honest with him about my career plans before going on our first date; however, he still agreed to meet and was interested in hearing more about my adventure. That day we discovered we were both in the medical field and we had been working for the same hospital for the last two years. We had never met. It felt like fate. We continued to date while the girls and I planned for our move. At that time, we both decided to try long distance. Our goal was to attempt long-distance for one year and when Dan matched for fellowship I would find an assignment near him so that we could live together. During the year I moved from Maine to Seattle, WA. Dan matched for fellowship in my hometown of Pittsburgh. I returned and worked a local contract for eleven months before setting off on another adventure in Asheville, NC. At this point, we knew that we could both live together and maintain a long-distance relationship. While Dan finished his training we planned for me to continue traveling and he would continue to visit so that we could explore new areas together. The biggest challenge of all came with the pandemic, especially with me being a critical care and emergency medicine travel nurse. I wanted nothing more than to go home to be with Dan and my family. I had to make the most difficult decision of my life. I could no longer take all of the girls with me as my situation was too uncertain and it did not feel safe. I left for Chicago with only Zoe, my ESA (Emotional Support Animal), while Myla and Enalina stayed behind with Dan. This was the beginning of a difficult time in our relationship. I could not come home and Dan could not visit. We were apart for an entire year. One thing kept us going, the girls. Dan would share cute photos/videos of Myla, Enalina and himself in isolation while I sent photos/videos of Zoe and I on hikes and car camping. The pandemic began to settle while I was on assignment in Carson City, NV. This was also the first time Dan was able to visit. It was September and we rented a cabin in Tahoe and planned cute adventures like a hot air balloon ride and a sunset picnic. Dan, Zoe, and I climbed to the top of Cave Rock where we met a really sweet woman (Emma Wynn Paul) who was there to “capture photos of the sunset” (Dan had secretly hired her). We set up our picnic and when the sun began to set Dan dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a total surprise. I obviously said ‘YES!’ while Emma captured all of it. It was magical. The pandemic continued to have waves so we planned to wait to get married. But life had other plans. We received news that Zoe had cancer. We couldn’t imagine becoming a family without all of us being present so we planned a wedding in six short weeks. It was a whirlwind but everything seemed to fall into place. Again, it felt like fate. Emma made special arrangements and would be our photographer, we would be married in Dan’s hometown outside of Philadelphia (Dan’s sister recommenced the venue) which specialized in micro-weddings. The wedding booked for our date was cancelled the day before I called (thus making our date available) and we found amazing vendors (even string musicians that Dan requested two weeks before the wedding). Our wedding planner at the estate worked with us every step of the way to ensure our day would be everything we imagined. The day was a dream come true. Our immediate family (24 people total) gathered around us while we said “I do” with Zoe standing next to me as maid of honor, Myla as a bridesmaid and Enalina as a flower girl.

What was the best part of your wedding day?

The intimacy shared in such a quaint venue with our immediate family as well as all of the special details. The Chuppah was handcrafted by the bride’s brother; our Cantor was a family friend of the groom, our custom vow books in which we wrote our own vows, two shot glasses to use during culturally traditional toasts borrowed from the groom’s grandmother who was unable to attend. [We had] a custom drink list featuring three cocktails named after each one of the girls; a special meal of seared lamb prepared by the Executive Chef for Zoe during dinner, a family style meal served at an extended table uniting both families into one, and a romantic playlist created by the groom which was played during dinner. These were a few of our favorite things.

What else would you like to share about your big day?

We couldn’t share our story without painting a picture of how important the girls are to us. Zoe, Myla, and Enalina are a big reason we met, the reason we stayed strong during the pandemic and the reason we planned such a beautiful wedding in such a short time. We now know that the day we became a family was more special than we could have ever imagined. We are incredibly grateful to all of the people who made it possible and especially to Emma Wynn Paul for capturing every moment. Our photos are beautiful reminders of the love that we all shared that day. Our sweet Zoe passed away on May 6th 2021 (five days after the wedding) and our sweet Myla passed away six months later on December 9th 2021. Both taken too soon by cancer. While working in healthcare we have learned that life is a gift and every moment should be cherished as it may be the last. We would like to dedicate our story in remembrance of Zoe and Myla who will be forever missed but never forgotten.

What advice would you give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?

Give your vendors creative freedom. Instead of providing exact photos of what we would want (or didn’t want), we asked all of our vendors to use their expertise to design the pieces for our wedding and the results were extraordinary. We provided the florist and pastry chef with only our color choices. We shared our vision with the photographer: “We both grew up having large family dinners. We want the day to feel as if we simply invited our family over for dinner to celebrate our love. There will be dogs and kids and it will be beautiful chaos but we wouldn’t want it any other way”. She captured every beautiful moment — the chaos, the family traditions and most importantly, the love. We could truly feel the love in our photos. Not only were we blown away by the passion that each person put into their individual specialty but both Dan and I were able to be surprised again and again on our wedding day as we had no idea what the end results would be until the moment we saw them.