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Taking Vows to New Heights: Lauryn Bohac and Chelsea Marvos’ Edgy Wedding

By Henry V. Thiel

Lauryn Bohac knew Chelsea Marvos was “the one” when she found Chelsea in bed with Brooke. “As a pup parent, I have always been concerned about being with someone who may feel differently about dogs than I do,” confesses Bohac. “What if she doesn’t like dogs? What if she isn’t comfortable around them? What if she says she likes them, but is one of those people who taps a dog on their head instead of petting and playing with them?

“Nope, Chelsea was the complete opposite,” says Bohac with a sigh of relief in her voice. On one of Chelsea’s first trips to Houston, she had the opportunity to spend quality time with my Boston Terrier, Brooke. I left my place to run a quick errand before our date night, and when I arrived back, I found Chelsea and Brooke all curled up in bed together, both snoozing away. It completely melted my heart.

“Of course, I loved her before that,” Bohac says, “but that just confirmed that she was the one. I knew immediately that I wanted her to be Brooke‘s mom.”

Chelsea Marvos, 33, and Lauryn Bohac, 26, currently reside with their daughter, Averi, and two Boston Terriers (Brooke and Bailey) in a small town outside of San Luis Obispo, California. Marvos is the assistant director of the Medical-Surgical and Medical Guarding departments at Twin Cities Community Hospital, and Bohac is a paralegal with the Adamski, Moroski, Madden, Cumberland & Green law firm.

Originally from Southern California, Marvos attended nursing school in Oahu before returning to California. Bohac, a native Houstonian, grew up in the tiny town of Sweeny and moved into the city following graduation from high school.

“I like to tell people that I met Lauryn in my dreams,” states Marvos. “Really, though, we met entirely by happenstance. In June 2014, I was in San Marcos, Texas, for a nursing conference, and Lauryn just happened to make a last-minute trip there to visit her very best friend. We met in passing through mutual acquaintances, and throughout the night we talked and laughed. We immediately became friends. Before the evening ended, we exchanged numbers. Over the next several months we got to know each other better, and in January 2015 we both revealed that we had feelings for each other.

“The moment I first saw Lauryn, I told myself, ‘I have to get to know her,’” says Marvos excitedly. “She made me nervous in the best way possible!

“While we were just getting to know each other, there was this one time that we stayed up literally all night long talking on the phone,” confesses Marvos. “The ease of conversation made it feel like I’d known her forever. Plus, she made me laugh until my stomach ached. That was the night that I knew she was the one.”

“For me,” adds Bohac, “the second confirmation that she was the one was when we were on a hike up Bishop’s Peak while I was visiting San Luis Obispo. Once we reached the top, I popped open a bottle of champagne and cheered, because I knew that she was the one. I knew I was going to spend my life with her. She  makes me laugh and keeps me happy. Still, I was that girl who swore I’d never leave Texas.”

Higher Love: Chlesea Marvos (l) and Lauryn Bohac  say their vows in the sunset light of a peak  in Yosemite National Forest.
Higher Love: Chlesea Marvos (l) and Lauryn Bohac
say their vows in the sunset light of a peak
in Yosemite National Forest.

Marvos and Bohac married on July 16, 2016, at Yosemite National Park’s Taft Point. The officiant was Donny Alexander.

“I had the ring, and I knew exactly what I wanted to ask Lauryn,” says Marvos. “I was just waiting for the perfect moment. For a couple of weeks we seemed to have many of those perfect moments—a romantic campfire on the beach, stargazing under a full moon, spontaneous road trips up the California coast—but none of them felt quite right.

“Then, on November 18, 2015, I was overcome with emotion,” shares Marvos. “It was late at night. We were in bed with our hair up in messy buns and no makeup. Lauryn was having a challenging day due to her, as she would say, wicked PMS. I turned to her and told her that I’d been waiting for this perfect moment to propose to her. Because it was in that moment that I realized how easy it would be to commit myself to her in some exceedingly romantic setting. But in reality, life isn’t always going to be perfect. I wanted her to know that I will be there for it all—the great, the romantic, the perfect moments and the not-so-great moments, including the wicked PMS.

“While planning our wedding, it started to feel like it was less about our commitment to each other and more about those who would be attending,” confesses Marvos. “We wanted to focus on just each other, so we decided to elope! Since we love the outdoors and had always talked about visiting Yosemite, we figured what better way to memorialize our very first trip to Yosemite than to get married at sunset, 7,500 feet above the valley. So we did!

“Now, hiking up the 1.5-mile trek to Taft Point in our wedding dresses and boots was pretty memorable,” laughs Marvos. “We walked hand-in-hand through a gorgeous, glowing meadow and made our way across a small stream before we reached the peak. The ceremony was incredibly intimate. It was just us, our officiant, and our amazing LGBTQ-friendly photographer, Shawn Reeder. We wrote our own vows and committed ourselves to each other, literally on the edge of a cliff!” 

To celebrate their honeymoon, Mrs. Chelsea Bohac and Mrs. Lauryn Bohac are sticking with their love for outdoor adventures by going on an Alaskan cruise in the spring of 2017.

Henry V. Thiel is a principal with The Epicurean Publicist. He loves long walks in the mountains, especially in the spring.

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