We had a busy morning of wedding prep. Sarah and I got mani+pedis, packed, and loaded everything in cars. Niles picked up Dani, an old friend of Sarah’s, at the airport and I fell in love with her. I hope she is my new best friend. We all headed a couple hours east into the Cascade Mountains to the Brown Family Homestead in Leavenworth.
The drive was beautiful as the mountains got bigger and snowier and the Wenatchee River was raging. I dropped Henley off at the boarder, as he is not allowed at the venue. This is my first (and probably last) time boarding him and it is heart-wrenching.
It is so special that so many friends and family are here for longer than just the evening of the wedding. I have met more people every day; people I’ve been hearing about for so long. At the homestead, there are several farm houses we are taking over. The girls in the wedding party have a big house right next to the tent, the boys have a house a few minute walk down the street, and a lot of family are staying in a whole lodge down another street.
Downtown Leavenworth is modeled as a Bavarian village. We drove into town, actually a half hour from the homestead, for a casual German sausage dinner in a beer garden at Munchen Haus then walked down the Bavarian streets to Icicle Brewing Company. Here is where I finally got a tour of a Sprinter camper van. Friends of Sarah and Niles, an amazing newlywed couple, are living my dream and starting to live full-time in their van they are converting themselves. All my obsessing over vanlife and I don’t actually know anyone that does it. I finally got to nerd out with like-minded people.
In the morning, Sarah’s family cooked breakfast for everyone at their lodge. I was overwhelmed with the love everyone had for this couple and again, it is just so special we were all together for the weekend celebrating them. We then made brown bag lunches and went for a walk around Lake Wenatchee to marvel at this place. I snuck out afterwards and drove the thirty-five minutes to the boarder to take Henley for a walk. I was worried that on top of being neglected and tortured there, he also wouldn’t be getting enough exercise, which would just exacerbate the pain of me leaving him at a strange place. I got back with enough time to rush to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. The dinner, which Sarah’s family cooked themselves for about fifty people, was amazing as many friends got up to say very kind and true words about the couple.
On Saturday morning, we got the tent ready for the evening and got ourselves ready, milling around, drinking champagne, getting help from the professional hair and make up girls Sarah happens to be friends with.
The wedding was as beautiful as expected. We had a long walk from the house up a grassy hill to the ceremony while Our Love by Judah & the Lion played. I wept through the rest of the ceremony, as I watched Niles cry tears of joy through it all too. Sarah walked down to Soon, My Friend by M83 and I know I am biased, but she very well may have been the most beautiful bride to ever walk down the aisle.
Sarah and Niles happen to be a physically attractive couple, but I promise their beauty comes from so deep within. They are some of the kindest and definitely the most joyful, positive, intentional people I know. They are lights and the world is lucky they exist and I’m so happy they exist together. Their love for each other is inspiring, which I talked about at the wedding and have included below.
The rest of the night was so fun, as Sarah and Niles happen to be friends with the best dancers around. It was a late night of typical wedding shenanigans that will go down in history in professionally edited photos and videos I cannot wait to watch one zillion times.
Ugh. I just have so much love for them.
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