A Vail Mountain Wedding
From the bride, Molly:
We wanted to bring in the rustic, woodsy elements of the great outdoors of Colorado yet still have the elegance of a wedding.
We personalized the day by bringing in elements to represent where we are both from. Both Nick and I are from Wisconsin, so we wanted to bring in quiet reminders of our home state. We decided to do a Green Bay Packers Cheesehead grooms cake, our escort card holders were little Wisconsin-shaped wood cuts, and our late night snack consisted of brats and cheese curds (to pay homage to some Wisconsin favorites!). We also brought our foam cheese heads to add to the photo booth prop table.
Our wedding ceremony encompassed a mix of cultures and history. We were inspired to do this because my grandparents suddenly passed away two years ago. They were primarily Scottish and English and had a passion for the Native American culture, so we encompassed these cultures and traditions into our wedding ceremony.
Throughout the entire ceremony, a hawk was flying above us, which is the sign of your ancestors in the Native America culture, so we took this as my grandparents were looking down on us. It was a very special moment!
We had late night dessert cups which were little s’more and strawberry shortcake desserts in tall glass shot glasses.
My advice: Enjoy the engagement period and don’t get too stressed out about wedding planning. Remember that the wedding is about you and your groom and you should do what makes both of you happy. Also, on the day of your wedding, don’t forget to stop and take in moments of the day together. It will help you remember the day and slow it down a bit. It goes by way too fast!
Molly’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Ceremony Site: Vail Mountain Wedding Deck.
Reception Site: Donovan Pavilion. It is a great reception venue because not only is it gorgeous and highlight the beautiful Colorado outdoors with floor to ceiling windows and wood beams, but it is a blank canvas which allows you to bring in whatever you want to personalize the space to your liking.
Photographer: Elevate Photography. I would highly recommend Elevate Photography to anyone looking for a wedding photographer. They were fabulous to work with and provided us with some absolutely amazing photos and memories of our wedding day.
Florist: Plum Sage. I would highly recommend Plum Sage. They are a great florist with amazing ideas and cost saving solutions. They were attentive and helpful on the day. They also made the planning process very easy for us and took the ideas we brought to them and made them come to life.
Caterer: Caterers of Vail. We are extremely happy that we chose Caterers of Vail because the food and service was wonderful. We received many compliments from our guests on how great certain appetizers and dishes were as well as how seamless the service was throughout the night. I would highly recommend Caterers of Vail to anyone looking to hire a caterer for an event.
Cake: Cornerstone Chocolates. Their lemon poppyseed cake is amazing! Felicia is very creative and was willing to work with our many ideas and our budget.
Invitations: Cloud 9. We created custom wedding invitations with Ann. She was very easy to work with and got the vision we were trying to create right away. She made the process very easy and she was very responsive throughout the entire time we worked with her. I would highly recommend her for helping you create standard or custom wedding invitations. She’s full of great ideas and will work with any budget.
Escort Cards: Paper Guppy. We created these using our invitation artwork. Maura was very easy to work with and had a very fast turnaround.
Videographer: 1321 Studios. Jeff was extremely easy to work with and was very much in the background throughout the entire day. His team was very friendly.
Chairs, tables, linens: Colorado Party Rental // Transportation: The Turtle Bus // Celebrant: Leon “Littlebird” Joseph // Gown Designer: Justin Alexander // Bridesmaid Dresses: B2 by Jasmine (Style # B2078) in Platinum // Men’s Wear: Jos. A. Bank
Honeymoon Location: Bora Bora and Moorea in the Tahitian Islands