Venue – Hayden Lake Country Club
Photographer – Jerome Pollos
Sarah Tsou doesn’t like weddings. “I don’t understand why people get offended when they aren’t invited to a wedding,” she said, “because I’m always relieved.” When it came time to plan her own wedding, she tried as hard as she could to eliminate all the things she didn’t like about weddings. And, according to photographer Jerome Pollos, she pulled off “the biggest small wedding I’ve ever been a part of.”
Eric, a graphic designer, and Sarah, a middle school teacher, naturally don’t fit into people’s expectations. They met through Eric’s brother, and began emailing each other before meeting in person. Their six years of dating caused some frustration with Sarah’s family, but Eric takes his time with the important things and Sarah knew he was the best for her. “He’s a very calm, loving person,” she said. “I’m fierce, fiery and in your face. I get him to do things a bit faster, and he makes me stop and think about it and not just jump in. That’s what I love about our relationship.”
Eric proposed on their 6th dating anniversary, and they got married on their 7th so they only had to remember one date. Since Sarah has a big family, and Eric is from a large Chinese family, they knew they would have to be judicious in choosing where to have the ceremony and who to invite. They took the money they could have spent on 200 dinners and spent the same amount on an excellent dinner for 20.
When thinking “small” and “custom,” Sarah and her wedding planner Jessica English from Red Letter Events struggled to find the right venue. They finally settled on the deck at the Hayden Lake Country Club, an intimate space overlooking the water that could be set up for the ceremony in the afternoon and then swapped out for dinner as the sun set. Sarah’s parents did have to join the club in order to book the wedding, and the extensive transition of the space from ceremony to dining room was an extra expense, but the boat cruise on Hayden Lake during the switch and the fireworks over the water after dinner made every struggle worth it.
Through every detail, roadblock and decision, Sarah was thankful that she had two wedding planners – Jessica and the planner from the country club. She had someone who worked for the club on her team, and even if she hadn’t had Jessica, she still would have had a planner there on the day. She also said, “I would hire Jerome a thousand times over!” and is now working with him to take her pregnancy pictures and hopefully baby pictures next year.
In December, 2019, her father passed away. But he was able to attend her wedding in 2018, as well as her twin sister’s wedding in the spring of 2019. “We are both daddy’s girls,” she said. “I just keep looking back at that night and am very, very grateful that he was there with us.” N
