Featured by Inspired By This: MOODY + WHIMSICAL LAKE TAHOE WEDDING

There’s a magical feeling in the air at this Lake Tahoe wedding on our wedding blog today. The bride, who herself is a wedding planner, had high expectations for her and her groom’s big day. They wanted it to be nontraditional, just like them, and reflect their personality as well as their travels, which they achieved through a cocktail style reception, a “Will you have this Rosé” bar, and signature cocktails. Beyond the personal touches, the whimsical forest wedding is also beautiful, featuring incredible lakefront views, abundant floral arrangements, plush lounges, and rich and moody wedding colors. Read on to hear the bride’s inspiration and favorite parts from the day. Lake Tahoe Wedding, Whimsical Forest Wedding

Lake Tahoe Wedding, Whimsical Forest Wedding

The bride shares, Jason and I first met while we were still in school, at our alma mater’s Thursday night hot spot bar. We were inseparable since that first night and wound up moving in together after just a few months of dating. He proposed while we were on vacation in Belgium, and after a two-year long engagement, we tied the knot at Gatekeeper’s Museum in Tahoe City, this last October.

We’ve never been a traditional couple and we really wanted our wedding to reflect that. We wanted something that our friends and family had never seen before – and being a wedding planner myself, we knew our friends and family had big expectations. As did our vendors!

I knew I wanted a lot of dark colors throughout our palette. We accomplished this through dark charcoal grays and blacks in our reception decor, complimented with softer hues to help soften the look. As the reception was cocktail style and there was no formal seating for guests, we designed the tent with this in mind. We made our bar a focal point, with a super stylish bar back draped in greenery. Floral was designed by the talented Stems by Diana and we had our paper elements crafted by Prim + Pixie.

We brought the palette into our bridal party’s attire through midnight navy tuxes on the gentlemen, and soft rose gowns by Katie May on the ladies. When it was time to choose the bridesmaid dresses, I took the girls to Swoon and had them choose one designer they liked that they could select any gown from. Everyone loved the rose color so that was an easy sell!

I’d been crushing on my gown since I first laid eyes on it almost a year prior, when looking for a gown for a styled shoot we had been planning. I absolutely love the shape that Pronovias gowns give and knew it was the one the moment I tried it on.

Lake Tahoe Wedding, Whimsical Forest Wedding We opted for a cocktail style reception in lieu of a traditional sit down dinner, with a menu inspired by our many travels over the years. Jason’s love for poké, led us to create a deconstructed sushi and poké station and a recent trip to the Basque Country inspired a pintxo style charcuterie station. Appetizers just kept coming out, all night!

Our guests were greeted with rosé at the ceremony site, with a sign giving a subtle nod to our fave guilty pleasure TV show – The Bachelor. Signature cocktails included a gin and tonic and a dark and stormy.

Hands down, our favorite part of the night, was when we came back from sunset photos with our photographer. Jason’s family and our bridal party had organized a flash mob, which totally took us by surprise. It was the perfect way to get everyone on the dance floor.

Lake Tahoe Wedding, Whimsical Forest Wedding For more weddings in this moody color palette, check out this modern & moody geometric wedding or this botanical wedding in Barcelona!