Craig and I met in my hometown of Dallas, TX in 2016. Craig grew up in Snohomish WA but spent a lot of time visiting his extended family in CDA during the summers growing up. After a few months of dating, he took me on vacation to CDA for the 4th of July (it was even my first time meeting his family!) I had never been to Idaho and instantly fell in love with the beauty of the area. On that trip, we talked about possibly moving there one day. A year later, after he finished his residency and fellowship, we made the move! As soon as he proposed we immediately reached out to the CDA resort. We knew we wanted a July wedding, and I wanted my friends and family from Texas to be able to experience the same beautiful weather and scenery that I did on my very first trip. We knew the resort’s lakeside event center would be the perfect place to showcase that. We were so excited to share our beautiful city with all of our favorite people, and the week’s events all turned out perfectly. The week was full of festivities, including lake days & hiking, golfing at the resort’s famous course, and renting a poolside cabana. For our rehearsal dinner, we rented one of the resort’s boats for a sunset dinner cruise around the lake. We truly tried to maximize the experience for everyone. It is hard to put into words how special it is to have all of your closest friends and family gathered in your favorite place for an entire week!
The Big Day
We were all set for July 18th, 2020 until the pandemic started to set in. We made the decision early on to postpone a full year to July 17th, 2021, as we really wanted our guests to be able to experience a Lake Coeur d’Alene summer. After nearly two years of planning, the day turned out even more magical than we could have hoped! We woke up the morning of the wedding to beautiful weather. The wedding ceremony was in a garden overlooking the lake, which helped us choose our overall theme for the wedding. We went with shades of blue florals and blue watercolors to complement the beautiful backdrop of the lake and sky. We were excited to include local touches on the menu for all of our out-of-town visitors, including salmon and fresh huckleberries for cocktails. The live band and the bistro lights really set the mood for the reception, and all of our guests danced the night away! We even had surprise visitors at the reception, including our dog stealing the show dressed in his tuxedo, and Craig’s mascot from his college football playing day. Planning the wedding really gave us a chance to showcase our individual personalities, love for each other, and our love for our city. The final product was everything that we hoped for, and it will always be remembered as the best day of our lives!
