The Rock Climbing Wedding of Our Dreams | Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Hi, friends!

This post is a little overdue, but we're excited to share the good news: WE'RE MARRIED!

When we started MONOPKT in 2019, Nick and I were just dating! Like, just boyfriend-girlfriend status! Such babies we were! A few months after our launch, Nick proposed in Thailand... then a year and a half after the big question, we finally tied the knot.

I have nooooo idea why it looks like I'm pulling off the ring in the first picture, I think I'm playing around with Nick. I love our smiles though, I think I was still in shock when this was taken!

It's wild to look back and think about growing our small business and trying to simultaneously plan a wedding, but we did it (I think)! 

One of my absolute favorite parts of our wedding was spending quality time with Nick. You see, our friends and family traveled far and wide to come to our destination wedding so you can imagine how busy our schedules were the moment we arrived! We had a blast with everyone, but the memories that stay close to my heart are the quiet moments Nick and I snuck in together. It's what kept me grounded all weekend. 

I don't really like giving wedding advice, but if I HAD to share on tip, it would be this: Build in time to be with your significant other. One of the ways we did it was by scheduling some climbing the day after our wedding! 

I remember thinking that I may have overbooked us (this turned out to be true) but having these silly memories are priceless. Both Nick and I led this fun hand crack that was just off the road in town. And YES, to add to the ridiculousness of it all, we both climbed in our wedding attire. I had this amazing dress from Rue De Seine that was flowy and fun (and most importantly, easily allowed me to wear a harness).

How was leading in a wedding dress? FUN but a lil tricky to see my feet! I was so exhausted on the day of this shoot that I almost didn't want to lead, but I thought... when will I EVER have this chance again?! So, that's that! I had a moment where I told myself, "Now's not a good time to whip....", so fortunately we both sent without any mishaps! Plus, we ended the day with our photographer climbing for the FIRST TIME EVER, too! She absolutely crushed it - it was the perfect end to the weekend. 

We got married on May 29th, 2021 in Kanab, Utah at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Although we both grew up in California, we've had some of the best adventures in Utah. As soon as we learned about Best Friends, we knew we HAD to have our wedding there. Best Friends is an animal sanctuary that houses over 1,400 homeless pets at any given time. From pups to cats to birds to horses to pigs, they take in and rehab any animal that needs the love. They're on a mission to save them all! Because we adopted our pup, this mission really resonated with us. It was perfect. 

Our wedding was kind of like a never ending weekend so I couldn't just share a few of our favorite pics. I had to do it all! The weekend looked like this...

ITINERARY

Day 0: Drive from California - Utah. Settle in and have a fun family BBQ and s'mores night.

Day 1: ATV Adventures with our bridal party and family at Peek-A-Book Slot Canyons, followed by dinner at Peek-A-Book Wood Fired Kitchen (super yummy vegan restaurant).

Day 2: Intimate engagement shoot at Great Chambers (we didn't do a formal engagement shoot when we got engaged), Welcome Hike and $5 vegan lunch at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary with early arrival guests, and Rehearsal Dinner at the amazing Vermillion 45.

Day 3: Wedding Day! YAY WE DID IT! We stayed at the Best Friends Roadhouse and Mercantile. Nick and I didn't do a first look, so we were in TEARS when we first saw each other down the aisle. Sometimes we joke that it was the saddest day of my life because I am totally a crier and I was just sobbing the entire time. I also choreographed our first day (complete with lifts and death drops)! If you ask Nick, the dance party at the end of the day needed to be 5 hours longer and it was his favorite memory of the day (besides saying "I do", of course)!

Day 4: Exhaustion, but also our intimate rock climbing wedding photoshoot at Port of Entry Crag. The climb we did was Double Crack, 5.9. I'd maybe upgrade it to a 10+ because of the whole wearing-our-wedding-attire thing ;) 

Day 5: From here, we headed out of Kanab and embarked on our super fun and extremely sketchy honeymoon at Lake Powell and in Moab! We kayaked, mountain biked, off-roaded, and climbed our way through wedded bliss, then came home and collapsed.

Okay, you ready to see the goods?! Photos are by the incredible Shannon Zurawski - if you needed a photographer that's down for ANYTHING (and turns out she's a climber, too), she's your girl!

DAY 1: ATV Adventures at Peek-A-Book Slot Canyons 

DAY 2: Engagement Shoot & Rehearsal Dinner

DAY 3 - PART 1: Getting Ready on our Wedding Day

DAY 3 - PART 2: Getting Married

DAY 4: Rock Climbing Wedding Photoshoot

And that's it! We have literally 2,000 more pictures believe it or not, but those are our top faves! 

Photographer: Sunshine Shannon | @sunshineshannon | sunshineshannon.com
Videographer: Kait C Films | @kaitcfilms | www.kaitcfilms.com
Venue: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, Angel's Landing |  @bestfriendsanimalsociety
Hair: Cindy Zamora | @cindyprostylist
Make up: Apollo @makeupbyapollo
Wedding Dresses: Rue De Seine | @ruedeseinebridal
Live Band: Christien Anthony | @christienanthonymusic | christienanthony.com
Photobooth: Poppy Photo Bus | poppyphotobus.com
Florist: By Bloomers | @bybloomers
Wedding Catering: Sego
Rehearsal Dinner: Vermillion 45
Engagement & Rehearsal Dinner Outfit: Shopaholic Sample Sales | @shopaholicsamplesales | shopaholicsamplesales.com 
Bridesmaid Dresses: Fame & Partners | @fameandpartners