According to Haley, her childhood best friend had a huge crush on Miles’s friend. “She dragged me along to his house where Miles happened to be lifting my ex-boyfriend’s truck,” she recalls. “I remember seeing his lowered S10 and thinking, ‘Oh my…who is this guy! Ew!’” Even so, the pair started talking, “He was explaining to me that the S10 had such a loud sound system that from my mom’s house I could hear him driving down Jackson Highway. So, I gave him my number and well, the rest is history!”
For their three-year dating anniversary they went on a weekend camping trip to San Simeon where Miles surprised Haley with a visit to Hearst Castle. The weather was beautiful and balmy for that time of year, but Miles insisted on wearing a fleece-lined jacket. “I kept trying to convince him to take it off, but he would not. He kept saying he was fine. Even though he was sweating and bright red.”
The couple continued touring the property, and Miles took her up to a balcony that overlooked the rose garden and ocean. “To get to this balcony you had to walk up about 100 steps,” she says. “When we got to the top, Miles was huffing and puffing, still wearing his jacket and couldn’t catch his breath. I stood up there for about five minutes and was over it; I wanted to keep walking around. Miles was very persistent on me staying! And before I could give him more sass, he got down on one knee and asked me to make him the happiest man alive by becoming his wife.” Turns out, he was hiding the ring in, you guessed it, the jacket.
Although they didn’t have many expectations for the wedding, they did want their guests to have an amazing time at their New Year’s Eve wedding. “My mother-in-law really did a lot of the legwork and helped out a lot,” shares Haley. “Seeing all the hard work come together was amazing. There were so many little details.”
With the Capitol in full view, the couple exchanged vows in a simple but beautiful ceremony at The Citizen Hotel. “We added in little personal touches to make the ceremony feel like us,” says Haley. “From the custom aisle runner with our initials to the snow falling after our first kiss as husband and wife and dancing on the clouds during our reception (courtesy of the snow and fog machines from Mike at Creative Memories Entertainment), it was all just so magical. I even had a locket connected to my bouquet that had a photo of my great-grandmother, great-grandfather and grandfather on the inside. It really made me feel like they were there with us.”
“There were so many memorable moments,” notes the bride. “From the fireworks and kissing my husband at midnight for the first time to bring in the New Year to the edible replica of Miles’s Bronco driving up the back of the cake. We also did a photo slideshow of us growing up individually and as a couple. We had been together for a little over six years at that point and to see each other grow up together was really fun to watch with our guests!”
— Darren Elms
