We decided to have our wedding ceremony in Tahoe at Emerald Bay because it holds a special place for us. It was just a few years ago when we realized that we haven’t had a vacation in Lake Tahoe yet. When I was younger, my parents would bring us up regularly for camping or snowboarding. Rodrigo had only been a handful of times. We rediscovered our love for snowboarding when we took a trip to Squaw Valley. Natures’ beauty is really lost on children because I don’t remember Lake Tahoe being this gorgeous in the winter. We started talking about taking more trips. Talk turned into multiple season ski passes and that brought up the subject of Emerald Bay. Rodrigo had never been to Emerald Bay before so his first time was when I brought him on our 5th anniversary in 2016. We came back again a couple times and we just knew that this is where we wanted to retire together in Lake Tahoe.

Every morning, we wake up and ask each other, “is this real life?”

It’s an incredible blessing to be married to your best friend.

Rodrigo and I met 8 years ago. Fun fact: we had our ceremony on our actual 8th anniversary. We were both working at Wells Fargo and for the first year of being together, we had to pretend we were not together at all because dating a coworker was not allowed at work. We would steal secret kisses behind doors and travel out of town to spend our days outside of work together so no one would see us. This made our relationship stronger, I believe, because it helped us grow into best friends.

From the beginning, we were honest with each other. We always shared our thoughts with each other. It’s still very surprising to us and everyone around us when we say that we never have arguments. We find it so incredibly easy to be in love with each other and we are still in disbelief that our love is so easy between us.

In 2018, we came up for our anniversary weekend during the summer and talk of getting married was being pushed around by family members and friends. Jokingly, I suggested we should get married in Tahoe next year (2019) because it would fall on a Saturday. Rodrigo surprised me and said, “That’s a good idea, let’s do it.” All I did was laugh it off but he was serious. We told our parents of our plan and it didn’t seem real because he hadn’t proposed yet. So naturally, everyone was skeptical.

January of 2019, he brought me to Emerald Bay and I had no idea he was going to propose that day but he walked us down to where we could see the Tea House island, away from the crowd, got down on one knee, and asked me to be his forever. Or at least I think that’s what he said because he started to cry which in turn made me start to cry!

In just a short 8 months, we were under so much stress and pressure to plan something that both we wanted and also what our parents wanted. It’s hard to plan a multicultural wedding! My parents are Persian, Rod’s parents are Mexican, and both Rodrigo and I consider ourselves as American. We can’t believe how fast the time has gone by because it’s been almost a week since our special day.

One of my favorite memories of our morning is remembering how calm Rodrigo was. He always seems to be so cool with his thoughts and emotions. Even in a moment of stress, he’s calm and gentle. My nerves were all over the place but when I looked at him, I saw how happy and relaxed he was and that reminded me of how much of a good man he is and how amazing of a father he will be to our future family. He will always be my anchor. He will always be my other half. My best friend. My Love.

Rodrigo’s favorite memory of our wedding day is the location of Emerald Bay. It was such a struggle to plan a wedding that we wanted because our parents have strong opinions of what our wedding should be. We stood firm with our ceremony at Emerald Bay and we are so glad we did. We couldn’t ask for a better location. It was exactly the way we dreamed it would be like: just our families and ourselves overlooking the water with the sun above us. It was peaceful and perfect.

Vendors:

Makeup: Lisa Pietrzak

Hair: Rosa Mercedes Catu

Skin: Gloria Suarez