Our Story...

Steven and I met in Rochester, NY in 2017, sharing a love for adventure and cats, luckily enough, his “weird” matched mine. I was studying for my exams to become a licensed architect; he was active-duty military, while attending college. Our lives fit together like two puzzle pieces. Together, we moved to Carthage, NY for Steven’s next duty assignment. This gave us an opportunity to kayak in new waters, hike different trails and get engaged!

Steven had coordinated with The Fern Lodge for quite some time and I didn’t think anything of our trip to Chestertown, as we had stayed at the Friends Lake Inn earlier that summer. I thought this was another one of our weekend getaways, until we went to enjoy the views of Friends Lake from the Fern Lodge’s boathouse. Rose petals were everywhere, I was in disbelief. I panicked, thinking I was intruding on someone else’s special moment and tried to quickly scurry away. Steven giggled as he told me this was for us. The boathouse had been decorated with roses, flower petals, white linens and chilled champagne.  Of course, I said “yes!” and couldn’t stop grinning!

The Adirondacks and the Capital Region hold a special place in our hearts, it’s our home away from home. Choosing the Barn at Lord Howe Valley, with its beautiful mountain views, was the easiest decision. We couldn’t be more thankful for our amazing vendors and the immense love from our family and friends that traveled to celebrate with us.

Advice to pass along... 

• Be true to you as a couple during wedding planning. There will be many decisions and opinions. We planned our wedding to be very much "our" wedding and enjoyed every second of our big day. We have absolutely no regrets.
• This is a rare, fleeting moment in time when all of your loved ones are in "one room" together. Make sure to take time to sit back and soak in every ounce you can.
• If you love your vendors, make sure to take photos with them! They are the ones that pull your big day together and have been with you every step of the way. I wish I had made a point to do this!

• Special Touches •

Rehearsal dinner
Paradox Brewery

Rehearsal dinner cake
Joleigh Cakes

Our cocktail hour playlist was rock music! We both share a love for rock and wanted to mix things up for our guests.

Each chapter of our life together has been started with a shot of tequila: when we started dating, when Steven proposed and when we said "I do!" at the arbor. 17 is my favorite number which coincidentally (and not so coincidentally) aligns with the dates of those milestones: 4.17.17, 9.17.22 and 5.17.24!

I'm an architect so design is very important to me. I took on making our invitations, drawing our table numbers and designing the rest of the signage set up throughout the venue.

Yellow is my favorite color which I expressed with pops of yellow through my bouquet, Steven's bowtie, the lemons on our cake, our napkins and small felt bees we had hidden around the venue for our guests to find!

We had a glow stick and LED glasses bar set up for our guests to enjoy. It was a huge hit!