Michael and Caitie Martinez

The wedding of Michael Martinez and Caitie Hoehlein from Hackensack New Jersey held in Cache Valley Utah with over 100 guests coming from the East coast turned out to be simply amazing.

Why bring a wedding from New Jersey to Utah

Michael and Caitie Martinez planning a wedding in New Jersey after the pandemic found that many venues after having many cancelled weddings was hard to book a venue. They started looking for a destination location in mansions and other places in the rocky mountains. What they found first in Colorado and Arizona in the search just was not suitable to weddings. There are direct flights from Newark airport to Utah. They realized compared to the prices of the east coast, the price of the Venue and hotels and everything was affordable. "It just made so much sense to us". They both come from a good size family and with lots of friends. Yet they wanted an intimate wedding instead of 400 plus guests they would have in New Jersey. Having a destination wedding gave what they wanted in a wedding and took out the obligation out of the hands of family that did not want to travel. So it allowed them to have a much smaller and intimate ceremony and reception than if they would have had it in New Jersey. According to Micheal, "The weddings on the east coast where we come from get very expensive very fast. We wanted to be financially conscious with the way we did our wedding. And Cache Valley offered all those things to us"

When the wedding location was announced for Utah, there was some push back. "Why Utah?" It did turn a lot of heads. "However, everyone that came out to the event was absolutely astonished with the beauty Utah had to offer and what we were able to get accomplished in the venue and the perfect day of the wedding".

Cache Valley appeal

They found the vista and arid climate of Cache Valley and was impressed with the beauty. When they discovered the Vineyards at Mt. Naomi Farms. They zoomed a call with Brenda Miekle and she was a wealth of knowledge and just fantastic. Michael and Caitie knew the task of planning a wedding from across the country was going to be difficult. Brenda had recommendations of vendors and the "boots on the ground" experience of the local area. Michael and Caitie discussed this and both just knew this is the place. It had the rustic and modern appeal for their wedding. It just had everything they wanted.

Yes this is real.. They are both Cheerleader instructors.

It was a whole week celebration

They flew in on a Tuesday and was married on a Saturday. They flew home on Monday. So they had a week blocked out at the Springhill Suites Marriot in Logan. A bunch of their guests came out early in the week. They toured many of the locals sights. They went to Bear Lake, hiked the wind caves, dined at great local restaurants and seen lots of local scenery. A highlight for some of the guests was traveling to Preston, Idaho to see the home of Neapolitan Dynamite. Hailey Navarro, the Campus Sales Manager at the Marriott was key to give advice on things to do in the area. All the guests commented how much fun they had.

But for Michael and Caitie it also gave them time to do some last minute business. They got their marriage license. Gathered food for the gift bags for everybody. Getting all the final arrangements for the wedding like flowers and following up on the vendors. So they had final planning to do while their guests kept busy with all to do in Cache Valley.

The last day was such enjoyable celebration. Caitie's step dad went out and got burgers and with the left over food from the wedding they had a barbecue on the patio over looking the Logan River. That Sunday turned out to be one of their favorite days. It was not as busy and hectic. It was just the "bare bone crew" that was still there. "Just our closest friends and immediate family" that they hang out with. Time in the pool and activities together gave them an opportunity to connect.

Planning a wedding across the country

Both came out the fall before to check things out. However most of the planning was done over the internet. Caitie joined several Utah wedding facebook groups. Social media does not give clear locations of where businesses are located. So this did create a problem. Brenda recommended The Fleur Market in Logan for their flowers. In doing a search for Fleur on social media they found a Utah business that was actually in Salt Lake City and booked their flowers. It was revealed to Michael and Caitie when they went to The Fleur Market for their flowers in Logan that their flowers were actually 90 miles south. That is one thing that can happen when planning a destination wedding. You are communicating on social media and "you are working with someone who are not who you thought they were"

However, they were able to find super wedding professionals for everything they wanted in their wedding. The couple pointed out that Cache Valley provides a rural setting for weddings, yet it still had everything easily accessible with everything for the final touches. Logan has the stores where they found everything and with UPS and Fed Ex shipping it was convenient to ship things home. If they knew about them before it would have been nice to have used them for a place to ship things to before the wedding.

The wedding

The celebration with the 100 plus guests begun with a rehearsal dinner at the Riverwoods Conference Center. The dinner took place on the patio overlooking the rushing Logan River. Most of the guests were staying at the Springhills Suites Marriott or across the river at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott. Hailey Navarro from the Marriott took great care of the guests.

A major part of preparation of a wedding is the beauty. Caitie had her Hair done by Hanna Hirsch- Hanna Beth Beauty. Makeup was done by Magdalena Langdon - Maggie's Hair and Bridal. The team from Glo Mobile Spray Tanning and Teeth Whitening was on hand to give the ladies a bright smile and a warm glo.

The wedding and reception was at Vineyards at Mt Naomi Farms. The venue which is a working farm is located on the east bench and provides a grand panaramic view of Cache Valley with the Wellsville mountains in the background.

The wedding event photography and video was covered by the Scarlet Oak Studio team. Micheal raved about how well they did. They had a team cover the photography and videography. They had microphones on everybody. Their drone was in the sky and got a bird eye view. They even set up livestream with Youtube to provide an opportunity for friends and family that were not able to attend could be part of the celebration. The whole package was half the cost friends paid in New Jersey for a comparable service. "Tanner the lead photographer and his team did wonderful work"

Food was catered by Iron Gate. We had people with dietary restrictions and they took care of this. They had gluten and dairy free food. There was a great team that was keeping the food hot and fresh and keeping the food served. There was a great cheesecake desert. Plenty of great food. There was enough left over for that next day party mentioned earlier. Iron Gate did the bar tender service. "We got the alcohol ourselves".

The wedding cake was from Temptation Cupcake. It was a three tiered cake that served over a hundred people. Beautiful and delicious it was a great part of the party. Micheal made a point that "wedding cakes on the east coast, where we come from, are priced gouged to the end of all time. They are incredible expensive and what we got from Temptation cupcakes would have cost us five times in New Jersey."

Something that is uncommon but added great interest was a live Painter. Live Painting with Bailey was there to create a beautiful keepsake of the day. Guests were amazed to watch the painting come to life. The painting was presented afterwards to the couple as a memorable token that will be cherished for many years. A picture that takes hours rather than a click to produce.

Gathered Memories provided the arch for the backdrop. They delivered and picked it up afterwards. Red Poppy added to the bistro lights. It was a great combination to have the Vineyards at Mt Naomi Farms decorated just perfect.

Fleur and stems did the flowers. Silver Ties was the DJ. Four Seasons did the transportation with a 34 passenger minibus and luxurious car service with a Cadilac Escalade after the wedding service for the wedding couple.