This St Edwards Grotto wedding was so sweet – filled with so many tender moments and lots of laughter.
Sarah, the bride, gives us some of the details of their relationship and wedding:
How did the two of you meet?
We actually met through my cousin who he went to school with. We have technically known each other since I was 11. (I always thought of him as my cousins hot friend!). We finally started dating when I was 23.
How did the proposal happen?
Little bit of back story! My favorite holiday is Halloween! I love the spooky and seriously considered a gothic/tim burton style wedding. (My nature-y side is stronger though!) Also, every year for our anniversary (nov 13th), we go to a photo booth. Since this last Halloween was on a Sat and was a blue moon, Ryan said he wanted to make it special for me. Morning of Halloween, we swung by Top Pot next to Edmonds beach for coffee and donuts. (Coffee and donuts are special to me as they remind me of my passed grandpa.) We took our goodies to Edmonds beach park and chatted on a park bench. Ryan told me that since covid shut down all the photo booths that he downloaded a photo booth app on his phone. He suggested that we “test out the app” in preparation for our anniversary in a few weeks. So he picked out a spot with a nice background. While photo app was taking shots, Ryan pulled out the ring! He was so nervous that when he went to open the box it was upside down and backwards! Then he knelt (on ground that turned out to be very muddy!) and forgot the entire speech he had and was finally able to say “will you marry me?” I totally burst out in to tears and barely got my “yes” out!
Is there a special reason you chose your venue, St Edwards Grotto?
We had an air B&B reserved until not quite 2 months ago. It was suddenly revealed to us that we were not allowed to have events there. (We found that location on a site that recommended it for micro weddings. We should have confirmed!) So during our last minute scramble we discovered the Grotto. I got drawn in to the history of the building and spent far too much time reading about it! While Ryan used to be Christian and I was raised Catholic, neither of us are religious anymore but do kind of consider ourselves spiritual. Just don’t follow any religion. We learned about the Grotto specifically and love that it was a place for meditation and prayer among nature. We visited the Grotto in person and loved the energy. We had never been to St Edward Park, so we spent the day following the trails and exploring. We are both people that belong outdoors and seeing how natural the park is all around, we knew this was meant to be!
What inspired your color choices for your wedding?
Our favorite colors. Green is my favorite color and blue is Ryan’s. We love those colors so much and coincides with my deep love of the forest and his love of the ocean.
Are there any special parts to your ceremony?
We will have a Quaich, a Scottish tradition where we each sip from a cup called a Quaich. (Ryan is part Scottish.)
We will also be doing a handfasting as a nod to Ryan’s heritage and my having identified as Pagan for most of my life.
St Edwards Grotto Elopement Vendor Team
Baker:
Mel & Mias
Wedding Gown:
Wedding Dress Fantasy
Photographer:
GSquared Weddings Photography
