Forget about the cake, the hair, the makeup, the centerpieces. Forget about the place cards, the photo booth, the bouquets. The best part of Julianne Hough’s July wedding was the intangible: the first time she locked eyes with the love of her life, Brooks Laich, just as she was about to walk down the aisle.
“I’ll never forget the moment I turned the corner and locked eyes with you,” she began a lengthy caption dedicated to Laich on Monday. “I knew that my future was in front of me, and WOW, did it look great!!!”
Hough admitted that she was slightly high-maintenance when it came to planning the actual wedding. “As we all know, I was a bride that knew every single detail about the decor and flowers, to the church pew seating and the confetti that went off at just the right time,” she continued. “The umbrellas the guests were holding to get some shade from the beautiful weather that day, to [their dogs] Lexi and Harley’s grand entrance. The way we cut the field in a square so that we would be wrapped up inside all the tall grass, so that our guests and ourselves were intimate and close and being surround[ed] by love. The list goes on and on … ‘attention to detail’ has always been important to me!”
But, Hough admitted, when she first laid eyes on Laich, all the tiny details melted away so that all she could focus on was her future husband.
“People always ask ‘what was the best part of our wedding’ … locking eyes, walking down the aisle to you, standing in front of you, holding hands, exchanging our awesome vows, kissing for the first time, finally looking out to see all of our favorite faces that we love so dearly and walking off, hand in hand as husband and wife!” she continued. “The best part of the day was you!”
Hough, 29, and Laich, 34, got married in a gorgeous outdoor wedding at Lake Coeur d’Alene in Northern Idaho, where Hough and her family spent summers throughout her childhood.
The dancing pro wore a stunning strapless Marchesa gown and walked down the aisle to OneRepublic’s 2009 song “All This Time,” and was later surprised by a dance her friends and bridesmaids had choreographed to Sia’s “The Greatest” at the reception.
Following their picturesque nuptials, the newlyweds then jetted off to an enviable honeymoon that included one part relaxation and one part adventure; the couple jetted to a secluded island in the Indian Ocean for the first portion of their getaway, and then headed to Kenya to take part in a wildlife safari, sharing plenty of photos along the way.