Always and Forever, Forever and Always

Ashlan and Frankie’s love story began the way many do—on a dating app. Ashlan wasn’t ever planning to go on a date with someone she met online, but luckily she had a mutual friend with Frankie, who convinced Ashlan to go out with him. A first date at a coffee shop in 2019 led to an engagement in May of 2023 and a beautiful destination wedding in Zion, Utah, one year later.

Ashlan is a veterinarian, and animals played a big part in their love story and on their wedding day. She brought her new puppy at the time, named Palmer, to their first date, and Frankie fell in love twice that day.

“She was like, three months old at the time, I’m kind of getting emotional thinking about it, because she was such a baby, but he really took to her.”

Our Love is Timeless

Frankie is in the military and was deployed right after their engagement. “The first six or seven months of our engagement were long distance. He was deployed in another country, so I did a lot of the wedding planning, but he was still very much excited to help.”

During the wedding planning process, Ashlan knew she wanted everything to be dainty, vintage, timeless, and have the feel of a European wedding. A destination wedding at Zion Red Rock Villa was the answer—and Frankie was the one who chose it. Originally from North Carolina, these two wanted a romantic escape.

“I travel a lot, and Frankie was stationed in Europe for three years before we met, so I knew I didn’t want a hometown wedding—I wanted something that we could make a whole weekend out of. I really wanted this villa-type vibe—I wanted the fountain, I wanted the gardens. It was really hard to find. Initially, we were going to get married in Italy, but because he’s military, and all of his groomsmen are military, it’s really hard to get leave out of the country.”

Instead, they decided to stay in the States for their big day and spend a few weeks in Italy for their honeymoon afterward!

“I still wanted to feel like we were in this oasis, and so he went digging. And then when he showed me the Villa, I was like, ‘This feels like this European getaway that I’m wanting.’” Who knew Utah would be the perfect place for Ashlan’s dream European getaway-inspired destination wedding in Zion?

Enchanted

Another big part of Ashlan’s timeless wedding vision was having a live violinist—one that could play all of her favorite Taylor Swift songs. And Ana Done was the violinist who could make Ashlan’s dreams come true.

“I’m a big Taylor Swift fan, and I really wanted to put some low-key Taylor Swift into my wedding. The Taylor Swift violin pieces that she orchestrated sounded so ethereal and timeless and classic.” Who wouldn’t want to walk down the aisle to a romantic violin version of Enchanted?

And that wasn’t the only T-Swizzle reference on their wedding day either. “My best friend Sophie’s entire speech was in Taylor Swift song titles, and it told the story of our friendship and of me meeting Frankie. The whole time, I had the biggest smile, I was jumping up and down in my seat. I don’t think half the people got all of the song titles—there were 92 references.”

If you’re looking for wedding speech inspiration, look no further than the queen of songwriting herself! We know all too well that her love songs leave us wonderstruck!

Come in With the Rain

But their wedding day came in with the rain.

“One thing that you always hope doesn’t happen, but people say is good luck, is that it started pouring rain, and this terrible windstorm came in. Ultimately, the ceremony got delayed about an hour and a half, so we started at 5:30, but by the time we were walking out, it was more cloudy, which was actually perfect for the pictures.”

And we have to agree! Despite a ‘swift’ wind, their photographer perfectly captured the magical moments of their wedding day in the afterglow of the sunset.

“The pictures are absolutely stunning from that moment, and it was perfect timing for a cocktail hour. Everything had been a little bit delayed, but I’m kind of glad it was because once we went to the reception it was absolutely beautiful.”

“We had the Zion Mountains in the background as the backdrop, and it was sunset, we couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather at that point.” Talk about a beautiful gold rush on the red rock cliffs!

Destination Wedding in Zion Details

Another fun detail for Ashlan was bringing that Italian charm into her reception through her seating chart, with some vintage bottles of Limoncello as part of a cute photo-op next to it. “For our seating chart, it said, ‘Take a shot and take a seat.’ My crowd’s really rowdy, my family’s really rowdy, and so I knew that that was going to be a crowd favorite.”

And it’s a favorite of ours too! From the seating chart to a champagne tower, to cocktails inspired by each of Ashlan and Frankie’s fur babies, this wedding was a party from start to finish.

Because they couldn’t bring their pets all the way to Utah for their wedding day, they decided to name a cocktail after each one—two dogs, Palmer and Paddington, and two cats, named Fish and Chips.

“For Palmer’s drink, we did the Palmer Rose, and it was a Rose Spritzer. I love Old Fashions, and I thought that was perfect as a Sir Paddington Earl drink.” For Fish and Chips, they had Limoncello Spritzers, with a non-alcoholic option. “It was a way for them to kind of be there with us because it’s sad when you can’t bring all your animals.”

The Best Day

A very special moment from their wedding day was Ashlan’s tribute to her mom. “She was diagnosed with cancer and had been going through chemotherapy. We weren’t quite sure how bad it was going to be in the beginning, or if she was going to even be able to make it to the wedding, but amazingly, she did really well, and she’s officially in remission.”

Ashlan surprised everyone with a heartfelt speech during the reception. “We didn’t want to do the traditional garter and bouquet toss, so I had planned to dedicate my bouquet to my mother. She was definitely shocked, but I just could see her face light up, and everyone was crying at that point, really happy tears, and she got my bouquet. It was a fun moment for me and my mom.”

And to bring in more European inspiration, the party favors they gave to their guests were genuine olive oil from Greece.

“I scoured the earth for someone who could make homemade olive oil, and I found a small business owner from Greece. She made the olive oil in her hometown in Greece with Italian spices. And they were in vintage little bottles, and tied to it was something that said, ‘A little taste of our honeymoon with love from Italy, A&F.’”

“That was a big overarching theme in our wedding, A&F, which means Ashlan and Frankie, but also Always and Forever. It’s something we’ve always said to each other, and it’s actually what we have engraved in our wedding bands.” These are the kind of love story details that Taylor Swift writes about—forever and always!

Starlight

And the fun didn’t end with the end of their wedding day—they had an incredible after-party that lasted until the early hours of the morning.

“Honestly, that was such a highlight, because our actual reception dance time was probably only 30 minutes, because of the timing of everything with the rain. But the after-party really saved the dancing portion—everyone got to come and dance until 1:00 a.m., and it was so fun, it was the best time, and the DJ was awesome.”

If you’re looking for a reason to have an after-party, here it is!

And we’ve barely even scratched the surface. From stunning vintage outdoor furniture decor to the dainty flowers in Ashlan’s bouquet, every shot from this wedding day is gorgeous. Not only was it heartfelt and exciting, but Ashlan and Frankie’s wedding was as beautiful as the cliffs behind them.

With every detail of their wedding day, Ashlan and Frankie brought their love story to life through a romantic, timeless celebration centered around family and fun. They had their dream destination wedding in Zion, right here among the beautiful red rocks of Utah.

From the “enchanting” violin serenades to the playful cocktails inspired by their fur babies, this wedding was better than our wildest dreams, and we don’t blame you if you are in love with it too.