Mark and I literally met at the last possible moment. We met our senior semester at Stony Brook University and two days before graduation, he asked me to be his girlfriend. So we graduated, not sure what to expect and went our separate ways. He stayed on Long Island and I moved back to Saratoga.
We did different variations of long distance for about 4 years until Mark proposed in 2018. We were on our annual primitive family camping trip to Indian Lake (aka my favorite place on the earth). Mark had this grand plan of where and when he wanted to do it. Unfortunately, it poured the entire time and a couple of hours before it was time to leave, the sun came out. We quickly got our family photos down by the lake and afterward, Mark fell to one knee.
Mark liked the sound of getting married in 2020 so we decided we would plan everything and relax. Found an amazing venue in Lake George, literally everything was planned. We just had to wait for the date. Then COVID hit. We decided to keep our date and elope in my parent’s backyard in Saratoga and postpone our celebration 1 year, thinking everything would clear up by then. So on May 23, 2020 we had his family and my family (10 people max) there to witness our wedding. It was a gorgeous day.
We immediately got everything moved to the new date, looking forward to 2021. Between our 2020 wedding and 2021 celebration, we had our original photographer close her doors, our rehearsal dinner was given to someone else, cut back on the guest list due to COVID, had to hire a new baker with 3 weeks left and 1.5 months before our new date, our venue told us they couldn’t host us. After scrambling and MORE replanning, our wedding celebration arrived and it was perfect.
Our vendors kept all of our guests safe without taking away from the experience. We had so much to celebrate on May 8th. We were happy, our guest were happy. Even though it wasn’t our original plan or vision, everything was beyond perfect. It was really the best day!
The Details:
Elopement May 23, 2020
Wedding Date May 8, 2021
Location The Saratoga Hilton
Photographer Dori Fitzpatrick Photography
Photo Booth Smile Lounge Interactive
Stationery Suite CoopiaCreativa
Wedding Gown Bridal by Sandra
Bridesmaids' Dresses Bridal by Sandra
Groommen Attire Mr. Formal Wear
Hair Hair by Amanda Marie
Makeup Baileigh
Rings Zales
Flowers Dehn’s Flowers
Caterer The Saratoga Hilton
Cake Oh Goodness Cakes
DJ or Band Metro Music NY (Patrick Beregon)
First Dance Acoustic Version of "Here Tonight" by Brett Young
Honeymoon Destination Azores, Portugal
Advice to Pass Along... You can plan all you want. Trust me I’m a HUGE planner. But a hiccups will happen. We had a bunch of them planning it through a pandemic and our day was honestly nothing like we originally pictured. Go with the flow. Whatever happens will happen and regardless, your day will be beautiful.
