Shay and Taylor

1. How did you two meet or what was the proposal like?: We met on “move-in day” at ASU freshman year in August 2009. He introduced himself to me at one of freshman mixers for first year students living on campus and we began dating soon after that. Taylor proposed in July 2018 at the Butchart Gardens in Canada when on a vacation.

2. Were you happy with the venue?: We loved the venue and it was the perfect setting for what we wanted; an outdoor venue that was not the common Phoenix desert scene. We had envisioned having the ceremony in an area where there would be a dramatic and uncommon background for Arizona. StoneRidge had exactly what we wanted. Not to mention, we loved the cooler weather!

3. Describe the theme or color scheme of your wedding, and what you chose for your table setting at the reception: We wanted a theme and color scheme that correlated with the high desert landscape. Nothing with bright colors since we didn’t want to take away from the beautiful scenery that surrounds StoneRidge and the Prescott area. We went with neutral tones such as white, cream, tan, shades of green, and gold accents. We wanted everything to have a very organic and romantic feel. For the table setting, we went with gold chargers, hunter green napkins (to match the hunter green the groomsmen had on their pocket square and tie), a menu card with the custom menu created by Chef James Porter, wood table numbers, and beautiful floral and greenery centerpieces that mimicked my bouquet that included cherry blossom stems to play off of the natural and organic theme. We gave each of our guests jars of local honey from Prescott (The Honey Man). We focused on having a lot of greenery for all of our decorations and paper products/stationery.The Show Me Your Mumu bridesmaid dresses could not have been more perfect for the environment and theme.

4. What piece of advice would you give other couples planning their big day? If you have the opportunity to meet your guests the day before the wedding, try and plan a meet and greet after the rehearsal dinner so you can speak with each of your guests and thank them for coming in a more relaxed setting. Having a meet and greet the day before allowed us to speak to each of our guests one on one, rather than having to feel rushed at the wedding. For the wedding day, hire a band! A band sets the tone for the whole celebration. If you have a great band, like The Walkens, they will know how to get everyone up and dancing all night. We don’t have a single picture at the reception of the dance floor empty, that’s how you know everyone is having a good time!