May 6, 2021

DIY Celebration in Rural Nevada - Sarai + Peter

When we first met this couple it was on an extremely windy day in the middle of the dusty dry lakebed. Really... smack-dab in the middle. They were on a Vegas wedding planning trip and they wanted to meet their photographer and check out locations in person. Smart idea... and if you can, you should! Google maps is a great tool to "walk" along the streets using the little yellow Pillsbury Dough Boy lookin' guy. Especially when you "walk around" the Chapels on the strip, you can see what you are getting into. Anyway, Peter and Sarai are a happy, outgoing fun couple. Patient too, as they had to wait as their photographer was in the middle of a photoshoot when they arrived. By chance, the couple was within a mile from where she was shooting when they contacted her and she said, yes, come on by.

Sarai made all of her own decorations and Peter even designed their own wedding logo

We chatted a bit about different locations for their nuptials. At first the decision was to be where we were, in the middle of the dry lakebed but as they continued to explore what southern Nevada has to offer, they changed their location to a more picturesque location. Sarai made all of her own decorations, the circular arch, vases of flowers and Peter even designed a wedding "De la Torre" logo which they attached to the champagne bottles, the aisle runner and welcome sign. What a creative couple! This couple was a match made in heaven. Read on to learn more.

texts escalated to all-night phone calls

The story of Peter Delatorre and Sarai Ortiz in the words of Sari...

Our story began in this springtime of 2017. Peter was considering enrolling in graduate school and while he was attending an open house at the school that I was currently attending, we crossed paths and made small talk. We decided to trade telephone numbers. Shortly thereafter, we began sending each other text messages and before long, those texts escalated to all-night phone calls. As we started to build a rapport with one another, we decided to go on a date. One date led to another and before we knew it, turned into a whole summer of fun.

In the fall of 2017, my mother became ill with leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant and as fate would have it, I was a perfect match. Through this challenging time, mine and Peter's relationship became much more formal. While I was in the hospital donating bone marrow, Peter stood by my side to help support me through every step of the process. My donation to my mother proved to be life-saving as my mother made a full recovery. This experience helped Peter and my relationship blossom and grow deeper roots.

During the fall of 2020, Peter felt it was time to take the next step on the journey with our relationship. He proposed to me near the lighthouse on the cliffs of Palos Verdes in California and of course I said "yes"! As the country was going thru the Covid-19 pandemic, we decided to have a very limited do-it-yourself wedding in the desert of Nevada.

We found awesome people that worked with our budget

We planned and coordinated an entire wedding on a limited budget. Luckily we found a Facebook group page that proved to be instrumental in finding all of our vendors. We found awesome people that worked with our budget to make our intimate ceremony meaningful. I wanted something elegant, unique and meaningful. Posting on the page was the fastest way to get the vendors.

be prepared for curveballs and last-minute changes

A few things that we learned from my experience planning my wedding. Make sure you have a contract with all of your vendors and don't pay all fees upfront. We had our video guy cancel two days before our event. Luckily he did provide a replacement, but we had to pay the new replacement more than we agreed with the original guy. Make sure you read your contracts. Work with experienced professionals and check their credentials and reviews. Please make sure you work with seasoned experts; it makes a difference. Ensure that you have some wiggle-room in your budget for surprises. We also ended up changing our location at the last minute to a great little venue in Nelson, Nevada. Changing the venue was the best decision that we made, and it allowed us to get epic pictures captured by On the Rocks Photography. So be prepared for curveballs and last-minute changes if necessary. Most of all, have fun, relax and enjoy the experience.

We got married with a limited budget; however, the vendor's experience, know-how, and creativity made up for this. On April 17 of 2021, Peter and I became officially known as "The De la Torre's." We got married with a small collection of family and friends. The ceremony was whimsical and romantic and everything we could have hoped for.