A couple struggled to find the perfect spot for their Burning Man wedding. Then some playa magic happened.

"Playa magic" is a phrase you'll hear often from Burners, those who trek to Black Rock City every year for Burning Man.

It's a phrase used to describe incredible moments that almost feel like divine intervention. A story that gets told over and over again, often beginning with "You won't believe what happened."

Playa magic followed Mitchell and Emmer everywhere during their Burning Man wedding. This is their beautiful love story.

As the calendar was about to switch from 2015 to 2016, Mitchell and Emmer both found themselves at The Big One, an electronic music party in San Francisco.

Mitchell decided to go to the show at the last minute after an acquaintance offered him an extra ticket.

"I was at the same event with a couple who I was really good friends with, but they were arguing so I ditched them to go meet up with this shared acquaintance who invited Chase," Emmer recalled. "Chase and I met that night and instantly felt a connection."

While DJ Tycho's music filled the auditorium, Emmer and Mitchell recalled looking into each other's eyes and realizing there was something special between them.

"He took me on our first date two days later," Emmer said. "And then we saw each other for 18 days straight."

Mitchell had gone to his first Burning Man in 2015, which was a huge plus for Emmer.

"It was a dream of mine to go to Burning Man," she said. "I was very pleased when I stalked his Instagram on the night we met and saw he was a Burner."

Emmer went to her first Burning Man with Mitchell in 2018 and has gone every year with him since. Together they help lead the 70-person Android Oasis camp.

"Burning Man really lets you be your fullest and most complete self," Mitchell said. "I think people can be their most authentic out there and she glows and shines so brightly. She excels."

"Every year it brings us closer and closer together and makes our relationship stronger," Emmer added. "Our strengths complement each other."

Mitchell popped the question to Emmer in front of 50 of their friends during Tycho's annual sunrise set, bringing their love story full circle.

"The night we first met, it was Tycho playing when we first looked at each other and really saw each other," Mitchell said in his proposal speech. "Our souls recognized each other in that moment. And that moment was the beginning of such a beautiful and loving and truly incredible relationship."

Emmer said the proposal felt like "such divine timing."

"I could feel the energy of everyone around us, but all I could see and hear was Chase," she added.

The couple knew they wanted to get married on the same day at Burning Man that they had gotten engaged — but this time at sunset.

"White Wednesday is always such a big camp community night," Emmer said. "Everyone dresses in white, everyone's there, everyone's in the spirit of Burning Man."

"Burning Man is in full swing and sunset is just so beautiful out there," Mitchell added. "It was always a given."

"We didn't want it to be traditional," Emmer said. "We wanted it to be silly and funny but also heartwarming and focused on bringing people together to celebrate love. We knew it was going to be more heart-centered and spiritual."

Mitchell always knew he was going to wear purple, his favorite color, on his wedding day. Emmer found his coat on Etsy and together they made the hat he wore at the altar.

Emmer said she spent three months trying to figure out what to wear as she searched for the "perfect already-made playa wedding dress."

When she still couldn't find anything a month before the wedding, Emmer decided to create her own bridal look — complete with a flowing skirt and classic Burner braids, of course.

"There could be a whiteout, it could rain, your bike could break," Mitchell said.

"You can plan as much as you want, but so much of it is just going to happen as it wants to on the day of," Emmer added.

Little did they know, there'd be some playa magic to help them out on their wedding day.

People from other camps whooped and hollered as the wedding parade rode past them and the song "Chapel of Love" blasted from a speaker.

"Turning around and seeing all our friends behind us, it was one of the most surreal moments," Emmer said.

"The procession with 100 bikes behind us is burned into my mind forever," Mitchell added. "Just absolutely incredible."

Before Emmer and Mitchell left for Burning Man, they went on the official website to look through art installations for their potential "venue." They found a few art pieces they loved, but their favorite was Oneirotica — a magenta mirror-steel orchid with giant, reflective petals — by Kirsten Berg.

Two days before their wedding, Emmer and Mitchell rode out to the playa to see how their favorite installations looked in real life — but the orchid was nowhere to be found. So they selected a wooden art installation that they both loved, convinced it was the place they'd say "I do." The universe had other plans.

"We headed towards that art piece, but as we were getting closer, we saw there were dozens of people gathered there," Emmer said. "So we started looking around, and realized every art piece within eyesight was having a wedding."

With 100 people trailing behind them, Emmer and Mitchell checked out a few other art pieces. For a moment, it seemed like their only option was in front of some black polka-dotted tentacles.

Some of Emmer and Mitchell's friends had gone scouting around the playa for a different installation and stumbled on one that was nearly finished.

It was the orchid.

The nearly-newlyweds — plus their 100-person procession — rode out to the installation and convinced the artist and his crew to let them be the first couple to get married there.

"We helped them move their tools and pack up their U-Haul as they put the finishing touches on it," Mitchell said. "Apparently someone had come by like 30 minutes earlier asking to have a wedding there, and they said they just weren't ready."

"It's almost like it was being held for us," he added.

"Once we settled on that perfect art, it felt like we were being protected and guided," Emmer said. "I felt very in the moment, in the flow, and it was just so beautiful feeling everyone's energy."

Before they left for Burning Man, Emmer made a list of sweet memories and anecdotes about Mitchell that she called "13 Things I Love About You" — in honor of Mitchell's lucky number — and selected a group of friends to read them during the wedding.

"Part of the fun of a playa wedding is having surprises, and I felt it was a special way to add to my vows and also have our closest friends up there with us, sharing the moment," Emmer said.

"They were funny, they were meaningful, they were adorable," Mitchell said. "I laughed, I almost cried, it was beautiful."

"It just felt magical the whole time," Emmer said. "Just staring into each other's eyes and absorbing everything and seeing how everything went so smoothly and perfectly. Just magical and surreal and love-filled and emotional."

"Every year, we have our big white party and it's always the best night of the year," Emmer said. "And to have that also be our wedding reception with some of our best friends DJing, it just felt like there was a lot of extra love in the air. It was the perfect playa wedding reception."

While many media outlets painted Burning Man as a disaster after a storm turned the grounds muddy and attendees were asked to shelter in place, Mitchell and Emmer said it didn't hamper their wedding week in the slightest. They continued to dance and bond with their camp, popping celebratory bottles of champagne in the mud as Ziploc bags protected their feet.

"My socks were a little soggy, but spirits were high!" Mitchell said. "I'm impressed at the Burner spirit broadly, and also at our own camp for still having a good time, rallying, and making the most of it."

"Our wedding day was the most perfect weather I've ever seen at Burning Man," Emmer added. "I'm not thinking, 'Oh, the mud ruined my wedding week.' I had an amazing wedding, and I got to make lots of 'muddymoon' jokes along the way."

The newlyweds plan to have a legal family wedding later this year but said it was a "no-brainer" to get married at Burning Man first.

"It holds a special place in our hearts," Mitchell said. "I really wouldn't have it any other way."

And for those who don't understand why anyone would get married at Burning Man, Emmer has just one simple question: "Wouldn't you want to get married at your most favorite place in the entire world too?"