THE COUPLE: Kaitlyn McCleskey, a clinical intern at the Center for Human Services who is working toward licensure as a mental health therapist, first met Peter Overman, a business operations and strategy manager at Rightside, through friends at a bar in January 2010 while they were both living in Los Angeles. Their first date was spent watching a basketball game between the University of Washington and UCLA. Despite the Dawgs’ loss that night, the duo considers it a win as they’ve been together ever since.
THE COCKTAILS: The couple, both self-proclaimed dog lovers, named their signature cocktails after their two scruffy black-and-tan terriers, Pebbles and Buddy. Guests sipped on a “Mr. Man,” a new fashioned, or “Pebble Ann,” a blackberry Moscow mule. For the cocktail menu, the couple worked closely with Sally Balt of La Happy Design & Calligraphy to create a design that included illustrations of the two pups. The menu is now framed and hanging in their kitchen, a wonderful reminder of the day.
THE FOOD: After the couple said “I do” under a beautifully bedecked arbor designed by McKenzie Powell Floral & Event Design, guests dined on a main course of grilled flank steak with port balsamic sauce, sweet potato mash and carrots with pattypan squash and kale. For dessert, guests indulged in glazed doughnuts with fresh berries. The 8-inch single-tier white chocolate and strawberry bagatelle cake, complete with custom cake toppers created in their likeness, dogs included, by Austin-based artist The Stitch Ninja, was reserved exclusively for the bride and groom.
