Maria + Wes have a love story that truly encompasses that true love always finds a way.
Maria first reached out about her elopement back in 2021, but due to the pandemic regulations and travel restrictions, Maria was unable to leave her home in Brazil, and it wasn’t until July of 2022 that they were able to finally exchange vows. In Maria’s words, “We matched on a dating app right as COVID restrictions started. Met a week later at Fish Lake Regional Park, in Maple Grove. Our first date was pretty much hours of walking around and talking like we had known each other forever. Lots of changes happened quickly. Weston was moving to Oklahoma, I had to move back to Brazil. Even with all that, we kept seeing each other whenever we could, we drove up to his hometown and I met his family. We have talked every day ever since.”
Despite having to live long distance from each other, they told me that they knew that they were it for each other. Maria was finishing school in Brazil, and Weston had moved from Minnesota to Oklahoma, so both were in this transition place. However, they were still there for each other, throughout all of it. When I asked them what the proposal was like, Maria shared “We were at Weston’s mom’s house and the sun was about to set. I wanted to go somewhere to watch it – I always do. He drove us to Loon Lake, which was frozen, since it was the end of November. Other than some people ice fishing, it was just us. We walked on the ice, danced around and played in the snow. Weston then did the whole “going down on one knee” thing, which kind of sent me into blackout mode cause all I remember is snapping out of it with some people cheering in the background. I don’t really remember what he said so my favorite thing about it is how he thought it all through. How it was just us, doing simple things and having fun. Weston says his favorite part was that he got to keep it a surprise. It was pretty special.”
With every couple I work with, I always ask them about describing each other as a couple in a few words, and I feel like Maria and Wes picked the perfect word for the two of them: Resilience. With everything they went through to get to the place they are today, it was a story of perseverance and never giving up on each other.
As we started planning the elopement, the two of them always described it as intimate, casual, woodsy/out in nature. Wes specifically asked that he doesn’t wear a suit. They didn’t want anything fancy; they just wanted it to be about them – which is what eloping is all about! They decided on a dreamy rental house in the woods, complete with a treehouse-type walkway and this beautiful, tree-shaded backyard that gave the perfect intimate space for exchanging vows. Leading up to sunset, they played cards and shared stories with me, with lots of laughs and cuddles. During sunset, we wandered over to a local lake, and took some fun photos as golden hour turned to blue hour. It was truly a magical day, and an elopement I will never forget.
