As everyone in the Wood River Valley knows, it has been a crazy busy and fun filled summer in Sun Valley already! It’s taken me a couple of weeks, but I finally had a few minutes to give Ricki and Eric’s wedding the time it deserved, to go through their images and put together another post.

Ricki and Eric really had one of the most spectacular celebrations that I have been a part of in a really long time— one filled with love, beauty, endless thoughtful details, very dramatic weather, and an incredible amount of fun and dancing! It was a wedding worth waiting through a year of COVID for!

Pulling off such an incredible, seamless event requires a vision, many, many hours of planning and an incredible team. Shout out to Ricki and her parents for putting it all together, with the help of the fabulous Esther Williams of For Such a Time Events, and all the great vendors that helped make it all happen!

Ricki and Eric have the cutest story about how they met, so I thought I would share that here, along with some more images from their wonderful wedding!

Wedding Planner: Esther Williams at For Such a Time Events | Florist: Two Hands Floral | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Galena Lodge | Music: Haute Mobile Disco | Second Photographer: Christina Carlson | Catering: Galena Lodge | Hair: Danielle Anspach | Makeup: Lea Webber | Wedding Gown: Anais Anette | Videography: Jeffrey Lee

It was love at first Snapchat...Despite having overlapping friend groups all of college, Ricki & Eric decided to wait until the last semester of college to exchange their first real words - over Snapchat. Even though Ricki had a burgeoning social media following (the start of the infamous La Vida (E)rica food blog), Eric's friend request caught her eye.

On a warm February day in DC, Ricki and her roommates were slurping down Jell-O shots before the Georgetown basketball game when Eric began responding individually to her Snapchats that were being sent en mass. Later that day, they bumped into each other at California Tortilla, where Eric invited Ricki to a party he and his roommates were hosting after the game at their Saxby's mansion. After soaking up the sun together on Eric's roof (see picture of the two on said roof to your left) all afternoon and learning they enjoyed each other's presence even more in person, the two ended the night at Good Stuff Eatery where Eric did not offer to buy Ricki's mushroom burger. While taken aback, the aloof act did not drive Ricki away.

A few days later, Eric asked Ricki to go on a "jog," which turned into an anaerobic 6 mile run. They've been running together ever since....or at least until 2016 when they did the Austin Marathon together that ended (hopefully not forever!) Ricki's short running career. After graduation, Eric visited Idaho with Ricki. Since neither of them had yet to define the relationship, Ricki took matters into her own hands and declared Eric her boyfriend by introducing him to everyone in Sun Valley as such.

After 2.5 years of long distance, countless weekend trips between Houston, DC, New Hampshire, Denver, and DC again, one incredibly unpredictable & overweight Obi cat that was adopted without Ricki's consent, one repaired hip labrum, one repaired aortic valve and 10 days in Cleveland, too many Wizards games, one World Series win, one Stanley Cup, and 6 years of Sunday night Thai dinners, Ricki and Eric could not be more excited to finally be living in the same city together and to make their Snapchat romance legally official in their favorite oasis of Sun Valley, Idaho surrounded by their family and friends.