Dallon & Taylor: Black Tie Wedding in Salt Lake City
Photography by — Bri Vail
"Taylor and I both swiped right on Tinder. We are a Tinder success story. We matched, went on a date the next day, started steady dating a week after, and were engaged 4-months later.”
Dallon and Taylor had a speedy start to their relationship after first connecting in October of 2018. For their first date, they decided to go to dinner together at a Mediterranean restaurant, then enjoyed the views with a fall canyon drive.
“My favorite thing about Taylor was that from the moment I met him I knew he was good to his core. He was athletic, smart, and clean. We come from similar backgrounds, have similar values, and similar goals.”
Taylor loved Dallon’s blue eyes and thought he was pretty hilarious. “He was new to dating and was nervous the whole time, but I think I was able to make him feel like himself.” Dallon added.
It wasn’t long before the two realized that this was love. Their relationship accelerated into something serious, and they began to talk about their future together. “Taylor came to hang out at my family's house. We went on a walk with my youngest sister and ended up playing lava-tag with her at the elementary school playground. When we saw how we interacted with her together, we just knew!” Their ability to bond with one another, and being so family-focused, they simply fell in love.
“We haven't known each other for a relatively long period of time, but it's as if we’ve never been apart. We know each other really well and we have learned to navigate our differences. We are opposites in many ways and I think that's what makes us such a great team!”
Taylor planned the surprise proposal. “He had asked me where I had thought I had first fallen in love with him and I told him it was on a Sunday when we were at the elementary playground with my youngest sister. On February 3rd, the same day as the Super Bowl, he surprised me by taking me back to the playground where he had posted pictures of us and had our favorite song playing. Some boys pretended that they were engaged on the playground, but they were there for us!”
Dallon and Taylor started looking at wedding venues for their celebration, and decided that The Vista in Cedar Hills, Utah would be the perfect location for them. "The style was Simple Elegance. We wanted it to look clean, bright, and happy in the daytime. It was all about family and being inclusive. Then when it got darker we made sure to have a lot of cafe lighting and candles. We wanted the night to be fun and relaxed.”
They set their wedding date for late summer, August 31st of 2019, just shy of one year being together! In the presence of their closest family and friends, Taylor and Dallon read their vows to one another.
“Taylor, you are my best friend and today I choose to tie my life with yours. Wherever you go, I will go with you. You are and will always be my greatest adventure. I promise to encourage and inspire you, to respect you, to laugh with you, to comfort and support you, and to fight for us every day.
“I promise to always sing our favorites at the top of my lungs in the car, to really try to quote more movies and TV shows with you, to have a protein bar ready whenever you are feeling moo-tay, and to try to remember to turn the lights off whenever I leave a room. ;)
“I promise to love you in the good and bad times, when life seems easy and when it seems hard, when our love is simple and when it takes more effort. I promise to change and adapt. I promise to grow with you and to never give up when that growth is difficult. I promise to forgive your short comings and to ask forgiveness for mine. And no matter who I might become or who I’ve been before, I will always be yours. I love you.”
Taylor and Dallon said, “I do”, kissed, and proceeded down the aisle as their guests cheered. The two continued to dance and celebrate throughout the summer evening.
“It was well thought out and I thought I knew what to expect. But on that day, when I was actually standing in front of my hunky future husband and saw all our family’s faces looking at us with nothing but happiness and support….It hit me. It hit me because there were so many dark times in my life where I felt completely alone. Times where I felt that everything about me was wrong, worthless, and ugly. Times where I felt like not being here, would be better than seeing what happened at the end of my story. But, after all of the days of feeling like I would never find somebody or that I wasn’t enough or that things were never going to work out for me… something that I thought could NEVER happen… did. It was a day of pure happiness that came and went far too fast. We felt love for each other, but we equally felt love from the community that had formed around us.”
Dallon and Taylor joined hands on the dance floor and shared their first dance to “I Will Always be Yours” by Ten Rector. “We had a lot of dancing. I think it was the best part of the wedding! We hired a DJ and danced for over two hours. Everyone got down on the dance floor!” The newlyweds ended the night by slow dancing to “Lover” by Taylor Swift, a romantic and beautiful moment they will never forget. “It was fun to have moments to ourselves and other moments where we were able to enjoy all of our closest relationships.”
What was most surprising about planning the wedding was how much work it was. Dallon and Taylor agreed that it really is a ton of work. “There were multiple times where we started to second guess our decisions. Sometimes in the midst of planning you start seeing the draw of a destination wedding or just eloping! Ultimately the work paid off, but we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.”
Most importantly, they realized that this was going to be their special day, and theirs alone. “Your wedding is for you and no one else. No one cares about the details, they care about how they feel. People just want to support you and show how much they care for you. Everything from the food to the decor should be a representation of your relationship. If you love it, everyone else will too.”
When asked about what advice they would give to others planning their wedding they said, “It will be over so fast! Make sure to have people there who can take care of the details so that you can just enjoy the day. Plan for times where you can really enjoy what this day is—a celebration of love between you and your hubby.”
After the wedding, Dallon and Taylor escaped for a week long Disney Cruise in the Bahamas. “We could not recommend this enough! Disney does such a great job at making you feel special and taking care of the details that all we had to do was relax and have fun! We had the fancy spa treatments, ate at top-of-the-line restaurants, and mostly just enjoyed doing nothing together! It was easy, fun, entertaining, and relaxing. There wasn't a thing we would have changed about it!”
Dallon and Taylor, now husbands, live and love together in Utah. To follow more of their adventures, check them out on Instagram at @twinget and @dallonsmith.
Photography — Bri Vail (Instagram)
Venue — The Vista at Cedar Hills
Officiant — Jim Winget
Catering — Caley’s Catering
Cake Designer — LUSTR
Apparel — The Black Tuxedo
Floral Designer — Nannette York
