Sacramento Weddings

It all started with a walk in the park when they were 15—Laura was babysitting her cousin’s baby, and Cody was with his mom and their dogs. Since Cody’s mom was a friend of Laura’s cousin, she invited Laura (and the baby) to join them. This was on a Thursday evening, and the following Monday, at that same park, Cody asked Laura to be his girlfriend. “It was definitely love at first sight,” Laura says. “We ran with it, and we’ve been together ever since.”

Another important part of Cody’s life was motocross racing. In September 2013, while with some buddies at a local track, he crashed and broke his back in 12 places, his neck in three places, and his collarbone. That was the turning point for his life. “I remember thinking, ‘I need to marry this girl,’” Cody says. “What if I was never able to actually walk her down the aisle or get down on my knee and propose to her?”

Cody began his recovery and, out of the hospital, tried to figure out how to propose. In the meantime, he sold his motorcycle. “It was a big step for me. I’d never been without a dirt bike almost my entire life,” Cody says. “That was one book closing and another one opening.”

Cody told Laura he thought he could handle a walk to the park, though he was in a full back brace and barely able to move. “That mile long walk might as well have been four miles—it was definitely hard,” Cody says. “I was so excited and was shaking all the way to the park.”

Laura had no idea a proposal was coming, but the park had a lot of sentimental value for them. “He got down on two knees, because he couldn’t really get down on one, pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him,” Laura says. “It definitely was a surprise, but being a girl, I always had it in the back of my mind.”

That was in October, and with Cody much recovered, they began planning their wedding for the following March—a country wedding with a formal touch on Laura’s parents’ property.

In preparation, Cody and Laura’s father planted 18,000 square feet of lawn and strung 1,000 feet of lighting. Laura’s father also built a 3,000-pound bridge so they could cross the canal on the property. They were married under an oak tree on the other side, a chandelier hanging from the branches over their heads.

Cody wore a tuxedo, and his personal touches were the Oakley sunglasses and cowboy boots that he and all the groomsmen wore. In fact, the bride and bridesmaids wore cowboy boots, too.

Everything about their wedding was personal and special. Laura and her flower girls arrived in her brother’s candy apple red 1967 Chevelle; and their officiant was Laura’s elementary school principal and family friend, who performed the wedding ceremony for her brother 10 years before.

Laura sums up the entire event in three words: “It was awesome!” And they still live within walking distance of the park.

―Margaret Snider