Destrie Dee + Brandon Mendoza

No one puts more love and passion into creating the wedding gown of her dreams than a Utah wedding dress designer turned real-life bride. When it comes to crafting stunning bridal gowns, no one understands incorporating sentimental details into every stitch better than Destrie Dee.

As the creative force behind Boda Bridal, Destrie’s designs have been worn by countless brides. But what happens when the designer herself steps into the spotlight?

Destrie and Brandon’s wedding was a celebration that beautifully reflected her unique style and passion for all things bridal—all while implementing the most romantic details from their love story, both into her dress and the whole wedding day itself. It was timeless with a twist, it was Boho Classic, it was Western Chic.

A Love Story in Moab

According to Destrie, she and Brandon fell in love in Moab, Utah, which made it the perfect place for their ceremony and wedding day festivities. “When we both talked about where we fell in love, we both remember those first feelings, being on our first trip together, which was a camping trip to Moab.

“The best part is that the location where we got married—Red Earth Venue—the backdrop is the canyon toward Dead Horse State Park, which is right where we camped. It was so special to us that the backdrop to our ceremony was where we fell in love!”

World-Wide Custom Wedding Dress Design

From a surprise engagement in Lake Tahoe to traveling all over Europe, Mexico, and more together, Destrie and Brandon’s love story quite literally spans the globe. And not only is their love story worldwide, but her dress is its very own globe trotter as well.

“This wedding gown was designed in multiple locations over the span of 11 months. I first started getting inspiration from our travels in Europe. Whenever I had a free moment, I was taking in the scenery, culture, and fashion of many cities in Italy, including Positano and the Amalfi Coast, Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome, and Milan.

“Other cities in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and of course, Paris, France—so many different areas of these beautiful countries inspired the designs of my own wedding gown!”

And there are perks to being the owner of one of the best bridal shops in Utah. You know how to sew and crochet every stitch and stay. “Not only was this designed in Europe, but parts of it were worked on during our other travels to places like Mexico, California, The Oregon coast, Brandon’s hometown in Washington—even in Moab!”

Sentimental Details in Destrie Dee’s Wedding Dress Design

And with complete control over the design of her wedding dress, Destrie incorporated every single detail that has sentimental value to her and Brandon. From the lace to the boning, each piece of her wedding gown represents part of their love story.

“My lucky angel number is 11:11. When I first met Brandon, I kept seeing this number all the time. This was the number that let me know I was on the right track, and that I truly found the love of my life. I used crepe fabric-covered boning on both sides of my bodice to represent 11:11. I also used boning on the front bodice to represent this as well, so that you could see it from multiple angles.”

She also included some letters in her wedding gown design. “The back boning on my bodice was in the shape of an M, to represent my new last name! M for Mendoza.”

But it doesn’t end there—even the beautiful beading on her wedding dress has significance to them. “The beading to me represented the stars in the Moab night sky. I wanted to have part of Moab in the design of my gown. One of our favorite things is looking at the milky way galaxy whenever we camp, so this was represented by the way the beading reminded me of stars on my straps and under the slit.”

Who wouldn’t want their very own Moab Utah wedding with views like that?

Ostrich Feathers on a Wedding Dress

Another detail on her dress—and our very favorite one—is the ostrich feathers. Her dress, because she spent so much time reimagining it and designing it to be perfect, didn’t arrive until the day before her wedding, an hour after they were planning on driving to Moab.

“It wasn’t until 1:00 am the day of the wedding that I actually got to try it on! I was with my mom, sisters, nieces, my best friend—who is also a wedding gown designer—Afa Ah Loo, and his wife. When I put my wedding gown on, we all just knew it was my dress. I had my, ‘I am obsessed with this dress!’ moment.”

And every Boda Bride knows all about that ‘obsessed with this dress’ moment!

“The only problem was that I really wanted ostrich feathers, and they were not added to my gown due to time. So my mom and Afa were amazing and sat and added all of the ostrich feathers as fast as they could. The ostrich feathers added the little touch of Paris, which was such a special thing for me and Brandon, so it meant a lot to me that they were able to add those in time.”

From the feathers right down to the double stitching, “representing the fact that Brandon and I will be side by side the rest of our lives,” Destrie’s gown was the perfect, and dare we say the most stunning, representation of their love story. And that’s not even all of the details Destrie took into consideration while she was designing the dress of her dreams.

“Every single inch of the gown had some meaning to me in some way. The most special part of all was when Brandon saw me in it for the first time. After so much anticipation of me working on this gown, he was so happy when he finally saw it. It truly was one of the best moments of my entire life.”

Unforgettable, Unique, Utah Wedding

As Destrie waited to walk down the aisle in her one-of-a-kind dress, there was a huge wind storm that threatened to ruin the floral arrangements and break the glass decorations. After waiting for so long for it to die down, and praying for a miracle, they decided to get married with the wind.

“When I saw Brandon line up with his mom to walk down the aisle, all of a sudden my anxiety about the wind just went away, and I thought, ‘This is not about the wind. We are here to get married, with or without the wind!’”

And as they began their vows, the miracle kicked in. “As I got up to Brandon and we held hands, the wind started slowing down. By the time I was saying my vows the wind nearly stopped. It was so calm and so peaceful. I remember saying, ‘You bring me so much peace, and you can always calm my storms, kind of like how the wind decided to stop right now.’”

For Destrie, her vows were the highlight of the whole wedding day. “It was truly an honor to make promises and vow my love to him for the rest of my life, in front of so many people that we love. It was a very powerful moment! Listening to him vow to me as well… It was so special and so indescribable.”

Musical Moments for the Mendozas

A special surprise for Brandon and their guests was that Destrie changed into Brandon’s grandmother Marte’s wedding gown during the reception—one that she had tried on years before. It was a 70-year-old wedding dress, and it had everyone in tears when she walked out for the big reveal, including Grandma Marte.

Music also played a big part in their big day. Their first dance song was written by Brandon himself, for Destrie, as a Valentine’s gift. It was all about their love story.

And her dress wasn’t the only thing that was custom. During their send-off, Destrie wore an embroidered veil. “I had another surprise for Brandon, which was my veil! It said, ‘From this moment on…’ Which is a lyric from the Shania Twain song! We went to her concert earlier that year, and had a special moment during that song.”

With every single detail from their wedding day, from the very stitches in her custom Boda Bridal dress to the place where they said I do, Destrie and Brandon’s Moab Utah wedding was full of love and sentimental moments for everyone. With a powerful love story like theirs and Destrie’s talent for creating the most beautiful wedding gowns in Utah, it’s no wonder that we can’t get over these photos. And we probably never will.

It was timeless with a twist, it was Boho Classic, it was Western Chic. There isn’t a better or more romantic place than Moab Utah for a wedding!

Photographer : Kierstin Jones Photography

Videographer : Kaye Shaye Film

Wedding Planner : Terra Vida Events

Venue : Red Earth Venue

Catering : Forage Sisters

Beverage : The Bison Bar

Music & Entertainment : Griz Entertainment

Cake : Event Cakes By Han

Florist : Olive & Sage Floral

Aisle Flowers : RoozenGaarde

Jewelry : J. Brooks Jewelers & Kendra Scott