Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden, CA Elopement Photo Story Award

The couple shares their first kiss at their intimate garden elopement as wedding guests gather around during their outdoor ceremony.

Hannah said after planning multiple weddings and having all their plans change: “Not going to lie, being a covid bride is probably number 1 on my ‘do not recommend’ list, but dear universe sometimes you have it so figured out…”

When Hannah and Max’s Washington wedding was canceled due to Covid, they came up with an alternative plan…or five. Like so many of my couples, they simply just wanted to get married. In the end, the universe provided and a small group of their family and friends drove from the Pacific Northwest to South Lake Tahoe, CA, where they vacationed together for a weekend and had a simple, beautiful LTCC Demonstration Garden elopement presided over by their best friend and co-worker.

The Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden provided the perfect backdrop for this couple, who both work in natural resources so somewhere outdoors and filled with the nature they both love felt perfect. 

The Lake Tahoe Demonstration Garden is a community partnership designed to protect and preserve the Lake Tahoe Basin by showcasing landscapes to promote the use of water-efficient native and adapted plants and gardening practices, display native and adapted plants in an attractive natural setting, demonstrate Best Management Practices (BMPs) and other backyard conservation practices that prevent erosion into Lake Tahoe and allow us to preserve our lake’s clarity, as well as, providing a public venue for inspiration and education.  Max and Hannah were incredibly thrilled to provide a monetary donation as a contribution in thanks to the garden for the ability to use it for their ceremony.

Another fun fact about this wedding is that I had actually just returned from abroad and came home with a bout of traveler’s sickness that turned into dysentery.  I was on some pretty serious antibiotics and hadn’t been able to eat for days.  I’m proud to say that I did not faint as I thought that I might and in the end, Hannah’s review says it all: “What's more 2020 than your photog getting dysentery… but still $*&#! KILLING THE GAME….May faint will still provide a good time.”  As for me, I’m fully recovered and adding “Successfully can forge any river or task…even with dysentery” to my resume.

Hannah and her father proceed down the aisle in the LTCC Demonstration Garden to her intimate ceremony.

Hannah's wedding party is overcome with emotion while she reads her vows.

Hannah's wedding party tries to assist by cooling her off while family formals are being taken.

Hannah and Max share a moment in the aspens at the Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden.