A Mountain Wedding Adventure in Beaver Creek, Colorado
From the bride, Valerie: We were fortunate to have a beautiful Colorado bluebird day as all of our festivities were outdoors. The day was a roller coaster of emotions, anxiety and excitement.
Our ceremony was comical, right from the beginning there were laughs. My veil got stuck on the stone steps of the wedding deck as I was walking down the aisle. I couldn’t get Sergios’ ring on his finger and just before our “I do’s” my veil took flight and my MoH had to jump up in the air to catch it.
My favorite moment was our “I Do’s” and kissing my husband for the first time. We had been together for 9 years through lots of ups and downs and it just felt so good to become husband and wife. I know it sounds corny, but I felt an instantaneous gravity shift. He’s my partner for life and it’s us vs anything that comes our way.
Apart from the ceremony, my favorite moment was walking into our cocktail hour. The day was so sunny, the sky was that deep, deep blue you only get in the mountains of Colorado, our jazz band was playing beautiful swing music and to see all our guests playing lawn games and socializing was just breathtaking.
Since we live in NJ, our animals were not able to be with us so we created a photo of our 2 cats and our 9 month old puppy to accompany the guest book. The animals were not pleased about being forced to pose for the picture so it came out with very stern expressions on them all. It was cracking me up every time I looked at it during the reception.
We had beautiful, long log centerpieces with moss, succulents and mixed white flowers in mercury glass atop chevron table runners in grey and white.
Our travels and ethnic backgrounds influenced our menu. We wanted to share foods we loved and snippets from our travels with our guests.
Our pets were featured on our “dia de los muertos” wedding cake topper. The wedding topper inspiration came from our trip to Mexico, where we got engaged on top of the Sun pyramid at Teotiuhuacan (which my husband likes to joke, where people were once decapitated) and was a nod to my heritage on my mother’s side.
I loved our first dance. Sergio had an amazing smile on his face and twirling around alternating views of the mountains and the beautiful facade of the Ritz was surreal.
Looking back, the reception was over so quickly. The whole day passed in the blink of the eye.
My advice: Enjoy the engagement and keep focused on the end game, i.e. being a family with your husband. Certainly pay attention to the details and make the day your own. Recognize that things will go wrong, but in hindsight they’ll be minor. Don’t ruin your mood or your fiancé’s in the months leading up to the wedding or the day of by stressing over little things. Talk to someone who got married recently for guidance. If you don’t know someone in your immediate circle, crowd source it. People love talking about their weddings and I’d be happy to talk for an hour if I could save anyone some stress in their wedding planning process.
THE WEDDIG TEAM
Photographer: Casie Zalud Photography & Alison Vagnini Photography | Reception Site & Caterer: Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch | Event Design, Flowers & Favors: Bella Lu Floral| Event Design: Lighting & Design by Scott| Ceremony Site: Beaver Creek Wedding Deck| Tent Rental: Alpine Party Rentals| Invitations: Tasha Rae Designs