Good afternoon, everyone, it’s Wednesday — so you know what that means! It’s Real Weddings Wednesday! Kick your feet up and put your planner down to read all about this original, long-awaited wedding! Today, we’re getting the inside scoop on Lauren + Simon’s scenic, outdoor lake wedding! With a stunning gown from SPARKLE Bridal Couture, a fun photobooth from Temple Photography and Photo Booth, you won’t want to miss out today’s Real Wedding!
Tell us a little about you and your beloved.
Simon’s brother and my cousin introduced us at their wedding in 2015. (We know how strange that sounds LOL). We started out long distance [since] I lived down in Orange County and Simon lived in Sacramento. That lasted about three months, then we took the big leap and I moved up to Sacramento to move in together. After three years of dating, we planned a trip to South Lake Tahoe. After we unloaded all of our stuff in the timeshare, we went out onto the balcony to watch the sunset. I had my back to Simon and the next thing I hear is “Hey babe!” [and] I turned around and there he was on one knee with the ring out. I’m a giggler when I get surprised and I almost couldn’t get my ‘yes’ out, so I just ran to him and nearly knocked him over and finally said ‘yes’! Then came the hard part — planning the wedding. We were supposed to get married 10/10/2020 in South Lake Tahoe, but we all know how that turned out — thanks COVID! We had just about everything planned by early 2020, then the lock down happened. We were both devastated but decided we had to change our date, so 9/25/2021 it was. It was sad but we knew we wanted our families to be there and also to do it safely. September 2021 finally rolls around and we were ready to finally do the dang thing. However, Mother Nature had other plans. Living in Northern California brings fire season and our venues and vendors were in the path of the Caldor Fire. Our vendors had to evacuate and one of our venues was being used to house some first responders. We didn’t know what to do other than keep in touch and send positivity out into the universe, in hopes everyone and everything would stay safe. Thankfully, the universe was on our side because our vendors were all safe and no harm came to our venues. We were finally able to say “I do” with beautiful weather and a somewhat smoke-free sky on 9/25/2021.
What was the best part of your wedding day?
That it finally happened and we got to say “I do” after all of the trials that stood in our way.
What advice would you give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?
Breathe! It’s going to be stressful, things are going to go wrong but at the end of it, you’re going to be married to your best friend. Also, don’t be afraid to tell people ‘no’. This is your day. If you don’t want to do some of the “traditional” stuff then don’t. For example, we didn’t have a garter toss. That just creeped me out too much.
Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?
We would have had someone check with us before traveling two hours to make sure we had all of the little stuff. It’s okay though, we had family and friends to help us with the little details we forgot, and made due without some things.
Photos courtesy of and copyright Erica Baldwin Photography and used with permission.
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