Rachel and Scott’s gathering of awesome people on top of a mountain on a beautiful day

Photos by Handlebar Studios

The Glö-Couple (tell us a fun fact about each of you):

Rachel, registered dietitian, (I LOVE READING) and
Scott, aerospace engineer (awesome ice hockey player)

Celebration Date & Location:

08/10/2012
Northstar California Resort
Truckee, CA, USA

Tell us how you got engaged:

We dated for 5.5 years before getting engaged. We met while finishing up our last quarter of college. We had both already secured jobs before meeting, one job in northern CA, one in southern CA. So, after a couple years of long distance dating, we moved in together. Scott proposed to me in the town where we met, after recreating our first 3 dates (Starbucks, frozen yogurt, pizza and wine at a beautiful lookout). And I said yes!

What’s the overall ‘feeling’ you’re aiming for with your celebration:

We just wanted the people we love and who love us most to be there for the wedding. We tried very hard to only invite people we both know. We ended up inviting a few people who only one of us knew and giving a “plus one” to a single friend, but it was so wonderful to look out at our guests during the ceremony and see so many people we love gathered in one place.

We knew we wanted to get married outside, and once we picked Northstar. Scott was obsessed with the idea of getting married up on the mountain. So we and our guests took two gondolas up to the ceremony site! It was really fun and different and the view was amazing!

Other than those two things, we really didn’t have any “must haves.” I just wanted pretty flowers, so I told our florist the bridesmaids would be in navy blue and let her do her thing. Having a traditional wedding cake wasn’t a big priority, so we bought several cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes and Scott’s aunt and uncle picked them up for us. They were so good, the guests were raving about the cake!

Are you adding any fun twists on tradition:

We skipped both the bouquet toss and garter toss (although I did wear my grandma’s garter!).
I had my brother walk me to the end of the aisle and Scott met me there. I walked the rest of the way down the aisle with Scott.
My aunt made Scott’s tie out of a dress shirt!
We made s’mores at the fire pit at the reception site! YUM.

What was the inspiration for your Glövite and Glösite design? If you made them yourself, tell us how you did it.

I just thought the design was cute! Simple, pretty colors. It didn’t “match” our wedding, but I didn’t care about that!

Now show us your Glövites and Glösite

Any good planning tips and tricks for the couples who are just starting to plan?

I loved Glosite! It was really fun to see that people had opened the invitations five minutes after we sent them! And super easy to use, too.
I love the blog A Practical Wedding, and recommend it to anyone I know who is engaged! Helps keep the sanity :)

What’s the biggest “say what?”  moment or funny story that’s happened since you started planning?

You may be wondering why we are all wearing sunglasses during the ceremony. It’s not (only) because we are super cool people. It’s because when Scott and I were taking pictures an hour before the ceremony, a big gust of wind blew something into my eye. It would not come out! We called the mountain patrol guys in to help and my aunt, a nurse, tried to help too. But whatever was in my eye, was IN MY EYE like a splinter. I couldn’t open my eye at all for awhile! I think my aunt got a piece of it to break off with a q-tip, because eventually I was able to open my eye as long as I kept my gaze down. The wind and sun outside were going to be too much for my poor eye but I figured I could just wear my sunglasses. I told the wedding party to get their sunglasses on (so I wouldn’t be the only one wearing them) and we powered through the ceremony. Even our ring bearer sported shades!

My eye splinter came out on its own after the ceremony and I had a blast at the reception, even though my eye was a little wonky. During the whole eye splinter debacle everyone kept commenting on how great it was that I was so calm. I wish I had been more upset because crying would have probably flushed my eye out!

This was the ONLY crazy thing that happened the entire wedding/planning process. No family drama, no bridesmaid drama, nothing. So I think we were due for some sort of mishap!

What is your favorite memory from your celebration?

Favorite memories:

My family made a tunnel for us to run through as we entered the reception! That was really fun.

I just remember feeling really emotional as I walked down the aisle with Scott, knowing how important this moment was going to be for us. I was so worried I would cry through the ceremony, but after a couple minutes I was fine!

I had so much fun dancing at the reception! I had no idea we had so many dancers in our families!

Who helped to bring your celebration to life?

Photographers – Handlebar Studios
Hair/Makeup – The Decorated Bride
Cakes – Nothing Bundt Cakes
Bridesmaids dresses – Bill Levkoff
Groomsmen’s shirts – J Crew
Flowers – B & B Flower Designs
Cake Topper -ReadyGo on Etsy
Ring Bearer’s hat from FourTinyCousins on Etsy, bow tie &  suspenders from ListenToThisButton on Etsy