Grouse Mountain Lodge Wedding

Montana Wedding

Our Story: Jesse and I are lucky enough to be high school sweethearts. We both grew up in the small town of Polson, Montana and went to both Middle School and High School together. We were never in similar friend groups but always kept an eye on each other over the years. Jesse finally texted me early on senior year and that weekend we had our first “date” – a movie night over at his house! We never planned on being serious our senior year, as we had both picked colleges across the country from each other. Jesse was heading to Pennsylvania while I was set for Arizona fall of 2011. Turns out we had actually grown quite fond of each other over the year, and we didn’t want to separate when it came time to move from Polson. One college fall semester traveling across the country to see each other and we realized we couldn’t keep it up. We moved to Missoula for the following spring semester and have been inseparable since. In September 2018 we celebrated eight challenging years of dating, growing up, and falling even more in love with each other. We currently reside in Missoula with our two crazy pups, Scooter and Sophie.

Wedding: I’ll let you in on a little secret: Marriage has not changed a single thing about our relationship (except my last name)! With how long we have been together, the wedding celebration was more of a formality to bring our opposite-coast families to one location to commemorate the union. Jesse’s family originally hails from Rhode Island, while all of my family resides primarily all over the state of California. This brought a unique challenge when trying to plan our wedding. Where would we host the event? Where would we like our friends and family to come visit? I was thrilled to find a quiet venue in Whitefish, Grouse Mountain Lodge. Whitefish was the perfect town to select for our nuptials. Our guests new to the area would get a chance to experience the true beauty of Western Montana in the fall, and we were blessed with perfect weather and sunshine for our big day!

I would like to extend a special shout out to Soucie Soucie Salon in Kalispell, and specifically Christina Thiem: They have the most BEAUTIFUL location for bringing your bridal party for beauty + treats. We were blown away by the service of the salon, and appreciated the attentiveness we all received. Christina is an absolute ray of sunshine to work with. Her positivity and kindness just radiates, and she always has a smile on her face! All of the vendors I chose were fabulous to work with, and I could not have pulled off my perfect day without their help. Special gratitude to our photographer, Keeley McKay. While planning a wedding may be stressful and full of curveballs, I was blown away by her. Her resources are incredibly useful and detailed, and I cherish her friendship throughout the entire process. We were lucky enough to choose her for a mini session last fall, and Jesse immediately wanted to book her for our wedding photographer. It’s not easy to make him feel comfortable in front of a camera! We are looking forward to creating more lasting memories over time with Keeley behind the camera.

– Bride, Madison

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