September 01, 2009

Our Wedding in Tahoe

Our original plan was to fly to Bali and elope. After we'd decided our destination, we started telling people that we were planning on eloping. That's when we learned rule number one about eloping: don't TELL people that you're eloping! Duh! Both of our parents told us that they really wanted to attend our wedding, and since they kind of birthed us and all, we figured, what the heck, let's give these parents a wedding! We told them that we'd look for an interesting place that we could stop off and get married on our way to Bali. My parents ending up finding a place to stay in Lake Tahoe and we said "Sounds perfect!"

Sunday, August 30th

me, meredith — 4:30am. Taking the elevator downstairs to head to the airport...TO GET MARRIED!

chuck, joann, mom — Meredith's parents were seated right behind us and my parents were seated behind them. I tried to take a sneaky photo, but my mom was on to me. Haha.

chuck, joann, meredith, mom — Meredith and her parents during our layover.

We rented our own car and headed out on the drive to Lake Tahoe!

So is the fast food landscape. Hello, Del Taco.

Any place where you can get tacos *and* french fries is alright by me.

We caught our first glimpse of Lake Tahoe a little bit past 3:30.

Lake Tahoe is breathtakingly beautiful. The road winds down from the mountains...

...and it fills the horizon; ringed with mountains on the far shore.

My parents had traded in some timeshares they had and got us all rooms at the lovely Stardust Lodge.

It was an old, roadside motel that someone bought and refurbished in an even stranger manner.

The bedrooms were separated from the rest of the unit with *sliding glass doors*(??).

Later that night, we went out to dinner with both of our parents.

Check out the hotel's awesome sign out front.

Monday, August 31st

I went to bed the previous night feeling a little crummy, but chalked it up to being tired from the flight. But the next morning I woke up feeling terrible and running a fever! Oh noes!

A little after noon, we decided to go to a doctor and make sure I didn't have Asian Swine Flu. On the way to the car, I spotted this awesome blue jay!

When we got to the doctor's office, they gave me this face mask to wear! Remember back two years ago there was a big panic about swine flu? They had just started quarantining people and I was worried that they weren't going to let me board our honeymoon plane to Bali if I was running a fever!

According to the Wong / Baker Faces Rating Scale...

...I was experiencing LEVEL 4 amounts of pain and discomfort. The doctor told me I didn't have swine flu; just a nasty cold...

and send me on my way with a note. Meredith dropped me off back at the hotel where I promptly went right back to sleep.

While I slept, Meredith took my camera and went on some kind of sight-seeing adventure with our parents. Gondola ride?

Afterwards, they went down to one of the beaches on the lake.

joann — Joann showing off the pine cones she collected.

Meredith showed me the necklace our two mothers gave her as a gift!

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I still hadn't written my wedding vows yet? (I like to consider my options for as long as possible and not actually put pen to paper until the very last possible minute.)

Tuesday, September 1st

dad, me, mom — On the morning of the big day, everyone let me sleep in while they went out for breakfast. Meredith took this photo of my parents coming in to wake me up! Haha.

meredith, mom — My mom was so excited to have another daughter-in-law.

...and we set out to drive around Lake Tahoe to a park called Sugar Pine Point State Park.

And the views of Lake Tahoe from higher up in the surrounding mountains are spectacular.

chuck, joann, meredith — When we pulled into the parking lot of the state park, Christa, the Justice of the Peace that we'd hired to officiate our wedding was there to meet us! We asked her to take us to the prettiest place on Lake Tahoe and it was Christa who suggested Hellman-Ehrman Mansion!

dad — Brian Sr shooting his cuffs and getting spiffified for the ceremony!

Lake Tahoe is incredible close up. I've never seen a lake with such bright blue water.

It's because it has an average depth of 1,630 feet!

After walking along the path next to the lake's shore for a couple of minutes...

...we came to the magnificent Hellman-Ehrman Mansion. (One of the first private homes in the world to get an elevator!)

We got married in a gazebo on the hill next to the mansion overlooking the lake.

chuck, dad, joann, me, meredith, mom — The wedding party!

chuck, dad, joann, mom — Our parents! Thanks for making the trip, guys! We're really glad you came!

chuck, joann, me, meredith — With the Silvermans!

dad, me, meredith, mom — With the *other* Mr. & Mrs Battjer!

dad, meredith — After we were done taking pictures, we headed back up to the parking lot to finalize the paperwork for our certificate of marriage!

...we had a tail-gate bumper champagne reception!

On the drive back, we decided to find somewhere on the lake to have lunch!

chuck — Chuck trying his hardest to keep up with my dad (who drives like he's a bad guy from an episode of The A-Team).

A little past 4pm, we found a nice restaurant that had a deck overlooking the lake.

After we'd finished eating, Mer and I took a quick walk around the shore and admired the view.

While we were in our hotel room getting our suitcases packed to head to the airport (to catch our honeymoon flight to Bali!), our parents sneakily decorated our rental car!

12 comments

dseptember 4, 2011
We only met once, maybe twice, but I've always enjoyed catching up on your story every so often. This is the best one yet, congratulations to the both of you, even two years later.
mattseptember 6, 2011
Congratulations (belatedly!).
- Long time reader
jobrien360september 7, 2011
Great post Brian! Love seeing how happy both you and Meredith are and it is great you have such strong family support!
ellen hartseptember 8, 2011
I've seen it before, but still: Mawwwwwwwww!
s.d.september 8, 2011
So great -- you guys are (were!) glowing. Huge congrats on your lovely lovetimes.
if i can be so boldseptember 10, 2011
Hottest bride ever. Worst sunglasses for a man ever. Congratulations two years later.
bowieseptember 11, 2011
Is David Bowie Meredith's father?
davismcdavisseptember 15, 2011
Congratulations! The two of you have the bluest eyes in the world - crazy! Meredith really looks *gorgeous* (as she always does, but especially so in these pictures.) I've been following your diary for years and I'm really glad to see you two got married. Yay!
jake gordonseptember 16, 2011
Congratulations. It's almost fitting we have to wait two years to get an update on real life. It wouldn't be as good up-to-date. Keep on trucking' bro (& Mer)
guestseptember 24, 2011
beautiful photos, beautiful couple. Was worth the two year wait! A very belated congratulations to you both.
julian lawsonnovember 6, 2011
Best wishes to you both, long time reader of your site since when I was living in NYC. Julian.
meredith silvermanseptember 2, 2016
Happy anniversary, Brian. Glad we're still family.