While nobody can upstage the bride, there was a close call when a beautiful little girl (the couple’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter) wearing a peach tutu dress adorned with lace and cream roses and a thick satin ribbon hugging her waist, shimmied down the aisle and gave the groom a kiss. Not only was this moment a crowd favorite, but the bride fondly remembers it as being a highlight of the simple, short and sweet ceremony.
The path that led the couple to that big day actually began on a softball diamond. Both Ashley and Marc were born and raised in Roseville, and though they went to the same high school, it wasn’t until they both played on the same coed softball team with mutual friends that they met. After a short time on the team together, they went their separate ways and the eventual love story was put on pause.
A few years later, as luck and love would have it, they bumped into each other at a casino and have been together ever since. It was on a trip to Arizona in May 2012, that a lovely dinner with friends became something even more memorable. They ordered some wine, and when it came to the table, the words “Ashley, will you marry me?” were etched into the side of the bottle. Through teary eyes she said yes to Marc who was on bended knee.
“What was important to us was to have all of our friends and family in the same place having a great time—from the food and music to good beer,” the couple shares.
Ashley cites her mother’s help in making the wedding prep go by fairly smoothly. There were bumps and stressors, of course, but the music was one aspect she really enjoyed. She wanted it to be both classically beautiful and meaningful. When she walked down the aisle to “Have a Little Faith in Me,” it wasn’t just a pretty love song—it meant so much more. Shortly after the birth of their daughter, Aniston, Marc was in an accident at work, and through the following year of recovery they had faith in each other and ended up closer than ever.
They both wanted their guests to feel comfortable and to have a good time, and their down-home rustic vibe led to a reception full of dancing and chatting. “What was important to us was to have all of our friends and family in the same place having a great time—from the food and music to good beer.” Loomis Basin Brewing Company (one of the couple’s favorites) provided the beer, which paired perfectly with the ribs, chicken and coleslaw—a meal so familiar it’s almost soothing.
Guests got to enjoy libations at a reception in the Bayley House Barn in Pilot Hill, where the combination of rustic burlap—tied neatly into pretty bows on the chairs—and classic white tablecloths reflected the comfortable-yet-elegant feeling the couple wanted to evoke.
And while little Aniston may have stolen a few hearts during her walk down the aisle, Ashley’s own walk remains a memory she’ll treasure forever. “My favorite part of the day was walking down the aisle and seeing Marc for the first time. I never knew I would get butterflies all over again.”
—Jennifer Resnicke
