Golden Love: Jess and Trish’s Mountaintop Wedding in Washington

When Jess and Trish Golden met on Hinge, neither expected that a last-minute swipe would change the course of their lives. “I was literally inside the app’s settings and about to delete it, and I get this notification. I see her face, and then I was done,” Jess recalls. “I literally told my best friend, ‘I think this woman is going to either destroy my life entirely—and I’m going to let her—or she’s just forever. And I have not even spoken to her once.’”

That instant spark was mutual. “That night, Jess pretty much messaged me and said all these things like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on in my life.’ And I replied, ‘Ditto,’” Trish says with a warm laugh.

Jess, 37 (they/them), grew up in Galveston, while Trish, 36 (she/her), was born in the Philippines and moved to Houston at age 12. Today, they call suburban Humble home. Both brought the weight of previous marriages to men into their new relationship, which made openness feel essential from the start.

“It’s always been something that’s definitely scared a lot of people away,” Jess says of their brutal honesty. “But after some deep therapy, I was like, ‘What’s the point? I just need to be real with everything, everyone, and myself.’”

“Jess was just honest from the get-go,” Trish adds. “So I was like, Oh wow, there’s no hiding in this person. I appreciated that.”

Their first date came together almost by accident. “We planned to have our first date on a Friday,” Trish remembers. “It just happened that we were both free on Thursday. So we decided to meet up at Flower Child in The Woodlands.”

After dinner, Trish visited Jess’s apartment, where she met the dogs and got an early glimpse into the shared life to come. It wasn’t long before they both realized that something deeper was forming.

“The first time I actually felt it in a physical sense was when I had to go to Galveston for an engagement session,” Jess says. “She had a normal job. And as a photographer, when do I work? On weekends. So I said, ‘If you want to hang out, you’re going to have to come work with me sometimes.’ Just the fact that she was willing to come to work with me, be my assistant, and just be all in made me think, ‘Yeah, I’m in love with you.’”

“That’s when I felt it, too,” Trish agrees. “I saw how much you cared about your clients and other people. And then I thought, ‘I can only imagine how much you would care about the person you love.’”

By 2023, it was time for double proposals. “For a year straight, I pretended to propose to her nonstop because I’m really bad at lying,” Jess admits. “It was basically me pretending so I could prep myself to hide the ring and get ready to propose.”

On Marriage Equality Day, after photographing dozens of couples at the Travis County Clerk’s office, Jess finally popped the question. “I started getting down on one knee, and she said, ‘What are you doing? No, stop,’” Jess laughs. “This whole time, I had been pretending. And then she realized it was real because there was a ring that time.”

Once they had arrived home that evening, Trish wasn’t about to let Jess have the last word Theme Options. “Jess went out to CVS, and then I set up the apartment with candles,” she recalls. “I’m more intimate when it comes to those things. So I did it in a more private way in our apartment with candles.”

The couple’s wedding ceremony was on September 22, 2024, at Artist Point in Washington State. “We got married on that mountain,” Jess explains. “I chose it because we’re artists, and we had to hike to our little spot. It was beautiful.”

The day felt serendipitous. “It was supposed to rain that day, so we were like, ‘Oh, we should move it.’ Then it turned out it was a perfect day because by the afternoon, the sun peeped out,” Trish recalls.

“It literally started casting this beautiful golden light on us as soon as we started,” Jess adds. “We had all of our dogs with us. They walked us down the aisle.”

Their photographer and close friend Erica Bonorden, along with her husband, Tom (who officiated), were both an integral part of their special day. Jess’ sister and her children rounded out the intimate group.

Their wedding was filled with unique details. “I’m a Pokémon nerd,” Jess admits. “In the actual ceremony itself, Tom included some Pokémon references. That was super-cute.”

They also sourced flowers from a Seattle market, designed floral collars for their dogs, and drove their self-built van named Ghosty from Texas to Washington. “That was also an adventure in itself,” Trish adds, “just taking off work for two weeks and driving from Texas to Washington.”

After exchanging vows, the newlyweds cooked dinner for their guests. “My favorite part was coming back to the Airbnb and cooking dinner in our wedding dresses for Erica, Tom, my sister, and her two kids,” Jess says. “We made ‘Marry Me Chicken.’”

“I thought that was very unique,” Trish adds, “to make our own food for our own wedding for our own guests.”

As people who work in the wedding industry, the couple offers some advice to others. “Find vendors and people that actually support you, number one,” Jess emphasizes. “Number two: do what you want, because at the end of the day you truly can have a meaningful experience that feels like you—versus trying to please the masses.”

For Trish, the joy is in repetition. “I tell Jess that I would marry her anywhere, any time, no matter how many times she wants to get married. We’ll renew our vows, probably eventually at Dolomite.”

At the heart of their story is a celebration of authenticity. “Once you truly just unmask yourself and realize that you’ve never been too much and you never were too little, you can truly find healing in the people that accept you. And it’s okay to have boundaries for the people who don’t accept you,” Jess reflects.

Theirs is truly a love rooted in honesty, adventure, and joy—and a special passion for climbing mountains.