Real Weddings: Paige and Chris’s La Caille Garden Wedding

May 6, 2024

THE COUPLE

Utah natives Paige, a manager at Biolife Plasma Services, and Chris, a Software Engineer, met in their high school’s robotics club. Though they didn’t speak much at first because they were nervous, they both had crushes on one another. After a year of not talking, the two attended Rocky Picture Horror Show and have been best friends ever since.

THE PROPOSAL

Chris’s elaborate and thoughtful proposal plan started with a call to Paige’s boss, asking for her to be released from work early. After having a “weirdly insistent” conversation with her boss, Paige was greeted by Chris, telling her to pack for a “staycation” in Portland. Chris continued to surprise her with tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton and a weekend stay in a rejuvenating spa hotel in Oregon’s wine country. Chris finally popped the question over dinner after a relaxing spa day for Paige (and nerves so intense he couldn’t eat). The couple celebrated their engagement with a post-proposal late-night bite at In n’ Out so Chris could finally get something to eat.

THE CEREMONY

After a fourteen-month engagement, the couple was finally ready to tie the knot in a beautiful hand-tying ceremony at La Caille.

“La Caille was actually the venue of the first wedding that I had ever attended. I remembered the greenhouse and the compass mosaic on the floor and the beautiful gardens. Ever since then anytime I thought of ‘wedding’ it was La Caille that came to mind,” Paige said.

The wedding, which was witnessed by 170 people, took place on the venue’s luscious Vineyard Lawn and was officiated by Paige’s mom’s favorite winter weather expert, Craig Gordon, who even signed an autograph for the bride’s mother.

Paige was adorned in an a-line, off-the-shoulder wedding dress, a golden tiara and comfortable blue heels. Chris donned a chocolate-colored suit with their wedding date embroidered inside the blue lining and a red tie, to match the couple’s wedding colors. The bridal party matched their pearl necklaces with the groomsmen’s pearl tie-tacks.

By her side, Paige had her best friend from college, Morgan, her elementary school best friend, Sam, and brother-from-another-mother, Jack, along with her dear friend James who was stationed in Japan and not able to attend. Next to Chris were his best friend from high school, Rayden, online gaming friend, Chris, his friend, Tom, from high school and Chris’s sister, Rebecca.

THE RECEPTION

After making it official, the newlyweds danced the night away at their reception in La Caille’s. The couple’s DJ played the song Planetarium from La La Land for the couple’s first dance, which they had been secretly choreographing since six months into their engagement.

The mouthwatering menu of the night included steak, green beans, pasta, chicken and the “best mashed potatoes [Paige had] ever eaten.” The signature drinks of the night were named after the couple’s two cats, The Lazy Hazel and The Bear Lake Monther (named for their cat Tobey whom they rescued while in Bear Lake).

The happy couple’s wedding cake was made by the bride’s sister and was made up of a layer of rich chocolate raspberry cake and another of delectable strawberry shortcake, with matching cupcakes for the party’s guests to enjoy.

The reception was furnished with antique decor and books for the guest’s visual enjoyment. A seating chart made up of antique books helped guests to find their table.

“We spent our entire engagement going to every antique shop (as well as sending our overly loving and patient family/bridal party as well) we could find to furnish the little décor items and find books to put everywhere,” Paige said. “I wanted it to feel like every item had a story (and a little magic) and that guests could pick things up and play with them. It was so fun to talk to guests and share the story of our centerpieces and décor.”

The couple had a final, private dance to Sufjan Steven’s Mystery of Love before riding into the sunset in a vintage white Ford Thunderbird. Guests were able to take home glass magnetic hearts, made by the bride’s mom, as party favors.