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A Mountain Destination Wedding in Breckenridge
This is a super sweet mountain wedding from Susannah Storch Photography. The couple is from Chicago, but on a trip to Breckenridge years earlier, they had discussed how one day they wanted to be in Breck with all of their loved ones. This dream came true last July. The couple put together a lot of details playing on their newly shared last name of “key.”
THE VENDOR TEAM
Photographer: Susannah Storch Photography // Venue: Breckenridge Lodge and Spa // Cake Designer: Blue Moon Bakery // Floral Designer: Petal and Bean // Officiant: Summit Celebrant // DJ: Hampton Entertainment
A Destination Wedding in Bachelor Gulch
From the bride, Lindsay: We choose to get married in Colorado because we wanted to share one our favorite places with our friends and family. We love the mountains and outdoor adventures. Bachelor Gulch created a rustic, elegant, atmosphere that made both spending time outdoors and dressing up for the occasion natural.
Charlie and I exchanged letters prior to first look. It was a great way to reflect on all the excitement and remember the importance of the day. The first look was one of the most unforgettable parts of the day. We ventured to Anderson’s cabin to see each other for the first time in a secluded outdoor setting. It was amazing to see Charlie and take in our wedding day. We played in the Aspen groves and erased our nerves in a place we felt comfortable.
On the day of the wedding we hiked in the morning, and then began getting ready for the festivities. The girls dined in for lunch while doing hair and makeup (Posh Salon) and the men entertained themselves with Colorado whiskey.
The ceremony was held overlooking the valley. We had family and friends participate by singing, and reading. And instead of a unity candle, we opted for our own personal flavor, a unity cairn. Building a cairn together meant to us that, together we could always find our way.
The reception was filled with trees rented from a local nursery to create an intimate atmosphere. Flicking candles hung from Manzanita centerpieces were reminiscent of fireflies. Orange flowers provided a pop of color to liven everything up.
To kick off the night Charlie and I had secretly taken dancing lessons (T&M Ballroom Dance Studio) and surprised everyone with a choreographed dance to “I can’t take my eyes off of you”. It was certainly an enchanted evening and everyone partied to the very end.
It was a lively night for sure. The band Soul X was phenomenal. One person said he had never seen more people dancing before.
THE VENDORS
Photographer: Frances Photography // Event Planner: Gemini Event Planning // Venue: Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch // Floral Designer: Vintage Magnolia // Dress Designer: Vwidon
A Fall Mountain Wedding in Aspen, Colorado
From the bride, Amanda: The mountains are so beautiful and help set the mood for an extremely special and important day. I am quite traditional and wanted a lot of the traditional aspects of a wedding. Since we had it in the mountains, I wanted a bit of the rustic appeal, but nothing overboard. Because it was a fall wedding, we made sure to have the theme fit the season with a palette of fall colors.
We planned a day wedding with the ceremony and reception on top of the mountain. We followed this with an after party at the hotel. We wanted to make sure we got to spend the entire day with our friends and family as well as be able to cut a rug without any worries about obligations.
The ceremony was on the Aspen Wedding Deck on the top of Aspen Mountain. The views are gorgeous but you could not see them. We literally had rain, hail and a thunder and lightning bolt that hit 30 feet away.
We had to stop the ceremony half way through and run inside to avoid getting soaked any further.
After we ran inside to escape the storm, my husband & I spent 5 minutes collecting ourselves before we went back out to start the ceremony again. Yes, that’s hail in my veil. There may have been a shot of whiskey involved to warm us up, but this was my favorite memory of the ceremony.
We had a good friend be our officiant. He did an amazing job, twice, since we had to start over.
When the clouds finally parted, it was pretty magical. I loved everything except the weather. A few tears were shed, but looking back, it made for a very memorable experience.
THE WEDDING TEAM
Photographer: Virginia Stiles Photography // Venue, Caterer & Cake: The Little Nell
Honeymoon Location: The Viceroy, Riviera Maya
Styled Shoot: Fall Romance
Here’s a little secret, we can’t resist sharing anything that involves horses and weddings, which is why we are so in love with everything about this very soft and romantic styled shoot from A&L Photographers. We love the old country swing wrapped with fall colored leaves and flowers and the lace vintage wedding dress. The location could not have been more perfect, a natural backdrop at Heaven’s Ranch in Chino Hills, California. Love the handmade headpiece and breathtaking bouquet of soft flowers in shades of yellow, orange and peach created by Floral Fields and the gorgeous hair and makeup by Rachel from Radiant Artistry. A stunning shoot from a talented team of artists!
Love & Laughter at Flying Dog Ranch
From the bride, Kearstin: The vision for our wedding began with my shoes. That may be unusual for some, but being a fan of fabulous footwear, I knew I found our colors when I locked eyes on a pair of tangerine and fuchsia peep toe heels. Both colors are bright, bold, and scream “Happy!”
Like many, we viewed our wedding as a great cause for celebration. Fun, playful, welcoming, and full of details reflecting our personalities were the feelings we wanted to evoke in our guests. Speaking of guests, aside from our dear friend Anne, who served as our officiant, we consciously chose not to have a wedding party. We felt that all our guests (friends & family) were there to support us and filled that role.
My grandmother’s favorite brooch was placed at the base of my wedding bouquet. 
Having planned and designed many friends’ weddings, ranging from flowers, decorations, coordinating with vendors, and even baking a cake, it was exciting to now be able to create our wedding. I enjoy coming up with creative ways to use or re-purpose things. This began with our handmade invitations, which were playful in their wording and interactive.
Guests were greeted by our hand crafted lemonade stand, complete with a tasseled awning and a few engagement photos strung along brake cable from a bike.
Mason jars with hand etched stripes, ribbon, and a bike charm awaited guests to enjoy drinks pre and post ceremony; not to mention serving as a fun take home gift.
Bike cogs served as our napkin ring holders. They were the perfect size and spoke (pun intended) to our love of bikes. The cogs were a big hit; we were pleasantly surprised to find that most guests took them home.
Being lovers of food, especially dessert, we offered our guests a dessert buffet comprised of our favorite sweet treats: fruit pies from Wisconsin, smiley face cookies from my hometown bakery, a three tiered Rice Krispie treat cake, creamsicles, a variety of candies like orange sherbert Jelly Bellys, Twizzlers, cotton candy, M & M’s in an antique gumball machine in our wedding colors served in and on antique glassware. And last, were the chocolate salted caramel cupcakes served up on a three tier bicycle wheel cupcake stand.
I can’t help but smile when I reflect on our wedding day. It was amazing to see and feel so much love and laughter from those near and dear to our hearts.
My advice: Don’t sweat the small stuff and go with the flow; guests tend not to notice and are unaware of unfinished details. Unexpected events, like an umbrella catapulting into the pond at our ceremony site, only add to the conversation of the day; no one was hurt. At the end of the day it is about the union of two people who love each other, so have fun, and don’t forget to eat!
RECOMMENDED VENDORS
FLYING DOG RANCH . We wanted a venue that not only felt intimate but showcased the beautiful Roaring Fork valley. Flying Dog Ranch allowed us the perfect setting.
Photographer: David Gillette Photography // Catering: Pan and Fork Supper Club
A Fall Wedding in the Colorado Mountains
From the bride, Carole:
We moved to Colorado last year and immediately knew that wanted to have a mountain wedding. We fell in love with the scenery and the facilities at Devil’s Thumb Ranch and thought it would be a good welcome for our friends and family to the Colorado mountains.
We created a wedding reflective of our personalities – maintaining a formal wedding feel while incorporating naturalistic and rustic elements. We chose a color palette of midnight blue with fall colors (burgundy, orange, and yellow).
We hoped to have the ceremony outdoors, but an early fall cold front and snow storm moved us indoors to the Timber House. 
We did a wine box ceremony where we wrote letters to one another and had our parents write letters to us with their most important pieces of marital advice. We sealed the letters in a wine box with a bottle of wine by nailing the wine box shut, to open in celebration of 5yrs of marriage.
With such a beautiful barn and backdrop, we didn’t really feel like we needed a ton of decorations. We hung a chandelier and lanterns from the barn beams. We had a mix of tall and short floral centerpieces — tall vases with eucalyptus leaves to mimic aspens and short vases wrapped in birch bark.
The most memorable moment of the night was our first dance (rumba) to Queen, “You’re my Best Friend.”
My advice: Enjoy the process and remember it is supposed to be fun! No one else will notice if things don’t turn out 100% the way you wanted them to.
Carole & Jeff’s
RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Venue, Caterer & Lodging: DEVIL’S THUMB RANCH {website}
Event Planner: Touch of Bliss // Photographer: Brinton Studios // Floral Designer: Swank Stems // DJ: Elite DJ // Bride’s Gown: Modern Trousseau // Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale
Honeymoon Location: Thailand
A Destination Wedding in Park City, Utah
From the bride, Julie:
I love the mountains and I have loved Park City since my very first visit at 12 years old. Ryan and I have shared so many happy memories in the mountains — hiking, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, listening to music, drinking wine and enjoying the quiet. It is a place we both know we can completely relax and we wanted to share all this with our friends and family.
I love birds of paradise and wanted to incorporate a piece of where I was raised in Florida. My bouquet was made solely of birds of paradise, but it was heavy! Needless to say, there was not a bouquet toss for fear someone might lose an eye.
We took all our formal photos prior to the ceremony because we did not want to miss any time with our friends and family who had all traveled to Park City to celebrate with us. 
The ceremony was on the grand lawn of the Montage overlooking the mountains.
We wrote our own vows. Instead of writing them separately, we wrote one set that we each modified to read to the other.
My favorite memory from the ceremony was looking back to see the smiling faces of all of our friends and family who had traveled to join us in Utah, then looking up to see the hotel balconies full of strangers enjoying our beautiful day. 
Wine bottles were used as table markers and every single name-card holder was made by hand using wine corks we collected.
The groom’s cake, which was shaped like the University of Michigan’s block-M logo–it was a total surprise!
Our advice: Accept help. Be flexible. Enjoy the party and all of your loved ones that came to celebrate with you. 
Julie & Ryan’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Pepper Nix Photography // Venue & Caterer: Montage Deer Valley // Floral Designer: Artisan Bloom // Musicians: Maywood String Quartet // Band: Party Train // Dress Designer: Vera Wang // Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale // Makeup Artist: Paula Dahlberg
A Destination Mountain Wedding in Colorado
From the bride, Amy:
We wanted a wedding destination where everyone could come and stay for a few days and be together. Devil’s Thumb Ranch was the perfect fit. The ranch has something for everyone: outdoor activities, a relaxing spa and great food.
Our inspiration for our celebration was the beautiful Colorado landscape with New York City in our hearts. 
As a surprise, I sewed a heart on Joe’s tie that said I Love You.
My most memorable moment was our first look. We were both a little nervous during the morning, but we both relaxed once we were able to see each other. At that moment, we both said “I feel so much better now” and I just reaffirmed that no matter what with everything going on that day is really was just the two of us.
When they opened the barn doors immediately before the processional , there was an audible gasp in the room. Both the setting and the view were stunning. I walked into the barn and down the aisle to M. Ward’s, “Here Comes the Sun”.
The ceremony was short and sweet, but incredibly memorable. The whole thing last about 8 minutes!
My advice: Try not to argue too much during the process of planning a wedding. And during the wedding, take a few steps back to hit pause and take note of what is happening.
Amy’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Venue, Food, Lodging: DEVIL’S THUMB RANCH { website }
Event Planner: JA Special Events. Jessica was an essential part of our wedding. We could not have done it without her. She made everything so easy. We would highly recommend her.
Photographer: Brinton Studios. CR and Tiffany take amazing photos and blend into the wedding incredibly well. We barely knew they were there, and were thrilled with the results.
Wedding Gown Designer: Anne Barge #617
Honeymoon Location: Dunton Hot Springs and St Lucia (Ladera and Ti Kaye). One week we were snowshoeing, and one week we were on a beach. It was a great mix. Highly recommend both.