Disney Frozen Inspired Wedding in Lake Tahoe

This Tahoe winter wedding will be hard to beat, it was so gorgeous. I’ll say it like a mom about her kids… Not to say I don’t love all my brides, but sweet Olivia is one of my favorites.

It was clear that she valued the overall experience and look at their wedding and truly cared about her photos. When I get a text about what ring boxes look best in photos, or flies out from Phoenix and wants to meet me months before the wedding, details like these are amazing to a photographer. (You’re great too Brandon, you went along with it all!).

Since being Disney fans, Olivia and Brandon went for a winter wedding in South Lake Tahoe. The movie Frozen was a big inspiration. Tahoe is a special place since its where her parents got married years ago.

Well…Tahoe definitely delivered their wishes; a complete winter white wedding.

Getting Ready in South Lake Tahoe

Olivia’s family have a house in South Lake Tahoe, so it was perfect for everyone to get ready at. As the morning went on, and I was photographing all her beautiful details the weather just kept getting worse. As we are ready to leave , it was a downpour. We skipped the first look and headed up the mountain to the Ridge.

Wedding Ceremony and Reception at the Ridge Tahoe Resort

As we climbed elevation the rain turned into huge snowflakes and on the way there, there were cars pulled off the road left and right and not even off the road. It was a full on snow storm right in time for Olivia and Brandon’s first look. Of course, that didn’t stop us, I put Brandon in place and the girls helped Olivia by holding as many umbrellas and jackets as they could. Despite the freezing cold winds and snow, their bride and groom pictures are stunning! We did the whole Frozen the movie moment and then ran inside to thaw out. After thawing out a bit, we ran back outside to finish wedding party photos, taking turns with the guys and then the girls.

As I’m taking the guys photos, they kept the NFL playoff game on their phone playing so they could still hear what was going on but they were the true sports players by standing out in the cold for their photos!

Thankfully the ceremony was inside if it wasn’t we would have all been looking like Olaf 😉 Although it was inside, the subtle details still tied the outdoor Tahoe beauty in. From the muted blues and greens that represent the lake and trees, to the sugar pine cones along the aisle and pine throughout the garland.

Some words + tips from the bride:

• What are some of your favorite parts of your wedding day?

Being around our favorite people, in our favorite place! The few moments with my cousins right before leaving, walking out in a blizzard for the first look photos, the minutes before walking out to the ceremony with our wedding party (champagne please!). Everyone thought that Brandon and I had planned the shout out to Grey’s Anatomy in our vows but we added “Pick you, choose you, love you” independently. It wasn’t even written on my paper, but I added it as I was reading them during the ceremony. There were a couple of times where we were walking around or talking to someone and I know it hit us both how incredibly special the day was. So many people traveled to Tahoe in the crazy weather to be there and we could not have asked for more.

• Describe your wedding style and the little things you added to make your wedding special unique to you.

I had a few ideas in my head. I know I wanted everything to be mostly neutral, with the colors coming from the florals and the matching pillows on the furniture. We (I) wanted it to be elegant but reflect parts of Tahoe and include subtle nods to Disney, since that is where we were engaged and where we love to go when we can. The sugar pine cones along the aisle and pine throughout the garland, along with the muted blues and greens reflected the colors of the lake and the trees that we love so much. Obviously, my cape was 100% inspired by Elsa. We picked Sweet Caroline as our last song as a shout out to the University of Arizona (where we met) and our favorite bar- Dirtbags (i know right). Sweet Caroline was the last call song- what else would be appropriate for wrapping up the best party of our lives?

• Any advice to future brides?

Don’t try to control things that are completely out of your control (the weather) and be patient! Enjoy the little moments and enjoy being with all of the people who mean the most to you. If there is anything really important to you on that day, make sure you tell multiple people and make sure they force you to do it. My only regret about the evening was not going back into the cold for 5 more minutes to do individual photos and not being patient enough to get the family photos that I had originally listed. I mentioned individual photos to my maid of honor- but the day of she was busy taking care of everything else and didn’t force me to go back outside.

I think communicating the most important things to basically everyone is key (in advance)- but make sure those things aren’t unrealistic. Don’t try to control the details on the actual day because it’s never going to work, and make sure you assign someone to go out before the party starts and take pictures of everything you spent months planning for. Make sure someone puts plenty of bottled water and carbs in your hotel room for after the party!

Want to book your Tahoe Winter Wedding with me?

“Alyssa is incredible. I will forever cherish the moments that she captured throughout our wedding day. Even in the middle of a blizzard, she stayed so positive and cheerful, handled my mini meltdowns, and got the most amazing photos. From our very first meeting I knew we just clicked and I was so grateful to have her!”

– Olivia