A Multi-Day Mammoth Lakes Wedding Adventure
It’s always so special when “one of our own” gets married and I had all the feelings when it came to Kelsey & Matt Mammoth Lakes Wedding.
I met Matt first when we discovered a mutual love for photography. I took his senior portraits about a decade ago, and we kept in touch sharing photography snippets over the years. He is now an accomplished real estate photographer.
Kelsey and I met through weddings. She is one of our go-to hair and makeup artists and we’ve spent many a wedding morning together (and have done lots of creative projects together too).
As you can imagine, when they announced their engagement I was:
a) secretly hoping they’d reach out about photography.
b) really curious about the kind of wedding day they would have since Kelsey has seen it all.
I obviously freaked out when they contacted me. We met at our favorite local coffee shop, and started planning their big wedding and reception. I’ve been to a lot of these pre-planning meetings and I can tell you there is a lot of emotions, nerves, excitement, joy, and maybe a little bit of overwhelm…
We left our meeting with a date on the calendar and big wedding, with big guest list on the books.
Fast forward about 6 weeks later and I got a text from Kelsey that went something like, “If we were to elope, what would that look like?”
I had to control myself at this point because I wanted them to choose for themselves what truly felt right. That being said, I did whip up a week long adventure schedule pretty fast and sent it along, hoping it would paint a picture of what an elopement could be like.
Turns out, they were both feeling a lot of pressure about the kind of wedding day they were supposed to have. Especially Kelsey, who has seen the behind the scenes at countless weddings, knew something wasn’t sitting quite right for her. She said there was a moment when the planner at the winery asked her what color napkins she wanted and it all felt so alien. She didn’t care about that.
Then these two gave me the gift of the most beautiful experience. They let me plan an adventurous elopement for them in one my most favorite places in the world: Mammoth Lakes. I got ordained to marry them legally. Susan at Sweet Lilacs Studio jumped on board to provide all the decor and florals and was even the pizza runner. We ended up planning an incredibly adventure that included 3 days of documented outings:
-a pre wedding day 4wd adventure to Crowley Lake Columns, a place I’ve been dying to shoot at.
-a “Just us” Mammoth Lakes Wedding day on the top of a mountain.
-a celebration on the following day with friends and family followed by dinner and bowling at Mammoth Rock N Bowl.
Matt & Kelsey will take over from here, sharing in their own words:
What brought you to the decision to elope, specifically what was the “tipping point” where you knew a big wedding wasn’t for you?
Having worked in the wedding industry, a more traditional wedding timeline is somewhat restrictive when it comes to getting time alone as a couple, everyone wants to be involved with lots of well-meaning advice and celebrate with you as a couple, which is fun but for us- very overwhelming. It was difficult to think in terms of what we really wanted the day to look like and how we wanted to spend our time together without somehow compromising, so we decided to make it a week long celebration, including both alone time for us as well as family/friend celebration time.
Kelsey, can you comment to sharing the getting ready experience together? (Something that is often done separately on big traditional weddings)
I loved spending the morning together. His energy balances mine and calms me down, so getting ready together was very meditative. I think it really let me see and appreciate everything that makes Matt unique and every reason I fell in love with him.
At some point in the planning process, I heard Kelsey say something like, “I didn’t want my wedding day to be like Disneyland and I was Minnie mouse.” Kelsey can you elaborate?
I’ve noticed that every guest wants to spend their own time congratulating the bride and groom, but as weddings get bigger and bigger and guest lists get larger, I notice brides can get stuck like Minnie Mouse at Disneyland: trapped behind a velvet rope as a line of well-wishers grows longer. I wanted family time to be something more heartfelt and special for each person and not just a quick photo before cocktails. We wove family time into the week and tried to make it an adventure for everyone to enjoy and make memories.
From the proposal, through the engagement, to wedding planning, to elopement day, did your idea of the “ideal wedding day experience” change at all? In what ways?
We had already been considering eloping from early on in our engagement as we both are more private people and saw our Mammoth Lakes wedding as less of a big family get together and more of a confirmation of our future together. Our ideal experience became more about slowing down and making intentional moments together at our own speed.
Once we decided on eloping, so much pressure was taken off our shoulders and we could really enjoy ourselves with less stress and moving parts involved. The morning of our wedding day was so relaxed with no nerves at all.
What is your advice to couples who are on the fence about doing something smaller or different?
DO IT. Seriously though, everyone should take a step back and decide on what it is that THEY want to experience and get out of their own wedding. What would make it special, and what might just be adding extra stress. Do what brings you closer together and centers your future life partner in your thoughts on the day, you don’t need anyone’s permission to do what makes your day special.
Do you have any helfpful advice to help other couples tell their family and friends they’re eloping?
That’s probably the hardest part to be honest… So much of our culture in America is wrapped up in family expectations and traditions. Be open and honest with your loved ones, explain that the day is to celebrate you as a couple and eloping would make you the happiest. For your loved ones, they want to see you happy and making memories with the person you love.
What is a personal touch you included in your day?
A big personal touch we wanted to include was to somehow add our kitties to the day. We found some cute handmade kitty cake toppers to include our furry family members too!
What was your most memorable moment?
Matt’s most memorable moment was definitely being at the top of Minaret for the vows and picnic.
Kelsey’s most memorable moment was watching the sunset behind Minaret with a slice of ‘za and a first dance under the stars.
How did you include your family?
On the second day, before the (family) ceremony we had a picnic lunch with family at the local park where we all came together and played frisbee, visited and everyone had a chance to get to know each other. We wanted to make sure everyone had a relaxed afternoon before the ceremony enjoying the summer weather. At our ceremony, we included a family vow and space for family to speak and give advice, tell a story, etc. We had a lovely dinner at the Mammoth Rock N Bowl with some time at the end for a few rounds of bowling with everyone.
Planning a Mammoth Lakes Wedding?
Whether it’s an intimate elopement or a bigger celebration—comes with so many possibilities. If you’re dreaming of an adventurous day that’s truly your own, I’d love to help you make it happen here in the Eastern Sierra.
Vendors:
Hair and Makeup Artist- Kelsey, the bride herself!
Kelsey’s wedding cape from Etsy
Florals, Decor & Design (including both a dried and fresh look)
