Summer Wedding at The Cottage at Riverbend in Eagle, Idaho

Wedding

Feb 18

Written By Madi Novak

Wedding at Cottage at Riverbend in Eagle, Idaho

Beautiful Summer Wedding at the Cottage at Riverbend

When I tell people the Cottage is a top 3 venue for me, it’s days like this that reinforce that opinion. Ayla & Dominic’s day was so special and the epitome of a summer wedding in Boise. From the green grass to the refreshing drinks from the bar cart, the Olive Garden buffet for dinner to the popping dance floor at the end of the night, their wedding was so fun and so them. Our first session together was back in 2021, and it meant so much to me to be there to photograph their wedding day!

A few notes from Ayla & Dominic about their wedding day:

Our favorite part of the wedding day was seeing all the plans we had made finally come to life and all of our friends and family celebrate with us!

We really enjoyed how part of the river ran through the venue, and the shrubs and greenery giving it a romantic French/Spanish vibe. Having the venue exclusively from Friday to Sunday and being able to stay there for the whole weekend was also a major game changer. Our favorite part of the venue was the expansive grass area by the river, where both the ceremony and reception took place. We didn’t have to worry about renting a tent for shade because the venue had recently added a permanent one, so guests didn't have to walk far to cocktail hour after the ceremony concluded. The river provided some cool air as well, considering it was 95 degrees on our wedding day.

Their advice to couples currently planning their wedding:

If you don't already have certain vendors and are struggling to find some that will work with your venue, ask your venue for a list of vendors they have worked with in the past and have had good experiences with. This made our planning a lot easier when it came to booking specific vendors that were unique for our wedding because those vendors spoke directly with our venue to handle licensing and other paperwork or logistics required.

More About the Day…

I said it above and I’ll say it again, it means so much to me when I get to be a part of someone’s wedding day after having photographed them years before. I met Ayla through a mutual friend and we did their first session back in 2021. When she reached out about capturing their wedding I was SO excited; not much means more than people booking with me more than once. When we started talking about wedding planning and engagement sessions, Ayla made the comment about wanting to do their photos on the Air Base they lived on in Texas. I like to think life works in mysterious ways sometimes, because the base was a short drive north of Dallas, where I have family that I had been wanting to visit. So I took a trip to see my family, and also spend a day with Ayla & Dom capturing their engagement photos! It was such a special trip and made us all the more excited for their wedding the following summer.

Now flash forward to the next August and their wedding is finally here! And their day really solidified that the Cottage is a top 3 venue in the Treasure Valley for me. The venue has so much space that you can quite literally do anything you want, but it’s also so beautiful on its own that you don’t have to do much decorating for the day to be stunning. And a huge perk: you get the venue for the entire weekend!!

Ayla & Dom’s classic, timeless theme melded so well with the beauty of this venue. I loved the all black for the bridal party combined with the white decor, and adding in the natural greenery of the Cottage made the whole image come together! Another of my favorite things they did was actually the catering from Olive Garden. We have a ton of great caterers in the area that I love, but having a buffet of Olive Garden comfort food was so fun and I could tell how much the guests loved it. A giant basket of breadsticks? Say no more.

See more of their day here.

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