emerald and pink wedding first look bride and groom

Green and Gold Spring Wedding at the Eloise

April 29, 2021

What I love about working with event planners is that they know what all goes into events and truly appreciate and understand what could happen if there wasn’t someone there to manage the chaos! Just a few years ago, Sarah’s twin sister, Amanda and I worked together at UW on the same team as event planners! Of course, by the time that Sarah’s wedding came, they had so many things already planned.

If you’re curious what it’s like to work for another planner, here’s what it’s like: AMAZING! Sarah was so organized, detailed, and knew exactly what she wanted. At the same time, she was also incredibly laid-back, joyful, and never lost sight of the true meaning of marriage in the midst of pandemic wedding planning. And of course, when a planner is planning her own wedding, you know it’s going to be absolutely beautiful!

They chose The Eloise because it provided a blank slate for their elegant wedding. Their wedding design was focused on elegant simplicity with fun pops of color. The Emerald green and gold color palette, paired with the most GORGEOUS Spring blooms translated so beautifully at their venue. Throughout the wedding day, Sarah told me a few times how exciting it was to have her vision come to life how she always imagined it. It was such a beautiful day!

Sarah and Hunter’s Proposal Story (In Sarah’s Words)

From pretty early on in our relationship we began talking about the future and our desire to date with intention of marriage. We were both confident in what we were looking for, and knew that we wanted to pursue a Christ-centered relationship and marriage. These conversations all happened very naturally, and as we talked about our future goals and desires for a marriage and family, everything lined up for us. Soon after we decided to pursue marriage together, the world got flipped upside down with COVID-19. Over the next few months we navigated quarantine and working from home while still living 50 minutes apart from each other – something that only strengthened our relationship and brought us closer together. As soon as things started to open up a bit, and we made plans to start seeing a few family members, I suspected the engagement might happen soon, as I had told Hunter that I REALLY wanted my family to be a part of our engagement. A few days before we got engaged, Hunter asked me if I would want to go to Sun Prairie to get tak out from the restaurant where we had our first date, Market Street Diner. I agreed that it would be fun, and in the back of my head thought it might have something to do with getting engaged, but wasn’t sure.

On Sunday morning, we drove from Beaver Dam (where Hunter lived) to Sun Prairie. I was trying to see if Hunter was acting any differently, but he was acting completely normal, and not nervous at all, so I thought maybe the proposal wasn’t happening that day after all. As we parked and started walking towards the restaurant, Hunter said, “actually we’re going to do something else first.” My first reaction was “But, I’m hungry!” LOL 🙂 Hunter insisted and instead led me to the park/courtyard across the street where we had sat on a bench and talked during our first date. As we turned the corner I saw my twin sister, Amanda, and Hunter’s sister, Elizabeth, with their phones and cameras, and I realized OKAY, THIS IS HAPPENING!

Hunter brought me over to an area that Amanda had helped decorate with flowers, and said some of the most thoughtful and sweetest words (I remember some of them, but it all happened so fast- haha), he then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said YES! We hugged our sisters and I showed them my ring, and then Hunter said we were going to need to get back in the car. He then drove us to a nearby park where both of our families and a few of my best friends were waiting with a small surprise celebration that my sister had helped put together. We popped champagne, ate lunch, and took pictures. It was the perfect celebration and it was the best afternoon spent with those closest to us!

Wedding Day

Just a few weeks before their wedding day, Dane County opened up from 10 people to 150 people (hallelujah!!!) and Sarah and Hunter were able to have their closest family and friends attend. Even with a more challenging planning journey, they navigated everything with grace, planned every last detail, and had the most joyous, heartfelt day!

My favorite details from the day:

That wedding arch was built by Hunter’s dad and will be repurposed to their headboard in their bedroom!
The green. Honestly, I don’t see a ton of emerald green weddings as much anymore, but I’m a huge fan of it.
The contrasting bright floral to the emerald green! And how giant the peonies are. Stunning!
The gorgeous Invitation suite with the One Tree Hill reference (Sarah’s in love) which also got honorable mentions in their ceremony. Their wedding ceremony was probably the funniest ceremony I’ve ever witnessed.
So many happy tears from HUNTER! It was so special and sweet to see him seeing his bride for the first time

Sarah and Hunter, I can’t thank you enough for being SO wonderful to work with. You made my job easy, and gave me much needed excitement for the beginning of our wedding season!

Your wedding will be a highlight for me! I seriously cannot get over your photos (well done Katie Schubert!) and videography (Mik Videography) and am grateful I got to be a part of it!