Devil’s Thumb Ranch
A Mountain Destination Wedding in Maryland
Ann and Nathan currently live in Hawaii and planned their entire wedding long-distance. They chose to get married in Maryland because this is where the majority of their family resided. Ann chose a marsala and lavender color palette which blended beautifully with the Catoctin Mountain backdrop.
CREDITS: Photographer: Amanda Adams Photography // Floral Designer: Candlelight Floral Designs // Venue: Springfield Manor Winery & Distillery // Bakery: SugarBakers
A Winter Wedding in the Rocky Mountains
On a beautiful Colorado blue sky day, these high school sweet hearts said “I do” at one of our favorite mountain venues, Devil’s Thumb Ranch. A nature-inspired color palette of greens and creams with pops of navy blue perfectly complemented the snow covered landscape. An intimate ceremony overlooking the Continental Divide followed by a cozy reception inside the beautiful Board Axe Barn was perfectly captured by Brinton Studios.
THE VENDOR TEAM
Luxe Mountain Venue, Caterer & Lodging: Devil’s Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa { more info }
Photographer: Brinton Studios // Event Planner: Calluna Events // Floral Designer: Plum Sage Flowers
A Whimsical Winter Wedding in the Colorado Rockies
Kristen & Sean | Colorado Destination Wedding
From the bride: Winter Park has been a family vacation spot for years now, and Sean proposed to me there one year before our wedding. The two of us met in Houston after both having lived all over Texas, and we wanted to share a special place and the beauty of a Rocky Mountain winter with our Texan friends and family.
THE STYLE
Initially, we were mostly attracted to rustic wedding trends (wood carvings, antiques, simple cake style) but we wanted to incorporate some of the strong colors and metallics featured in our home. Our main focus was to highlight the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.
I love paper products and had lots of input in the form of amateur sketches of our wedding invitations that a professional artist brought to life.
THE CEREMONY
Sean and I stood in front of open barn doors allowing the beauty of the mountains beyond the altar serve as the backdrop for the ceremony.
We crafted our ceremony to include both goofy and touching readings from our best friends, and the vows we wrote to one another ended up wringing out tears from many in the crowd but especially from each other. Our music choices were especially important as they were all songs reminiscent of other important moments in our lives and relived in the happy context of our wedding.
HANDMADE SEATING CHART
My dad salvaged two old windows from a cabin near Yellowstone that has been in our family for generations and spent all summer prior to our wedding collecting and pressing Idaho flowers to place in the windowpanes. We then used glass markers to make these into the seating chart. This was my favorite detail.
THE RECEPTION
For the reception, we wanted a soft, intimate ambiance. The roaring fireplace, candles, and twinkling aspen trees were exactly the lighting that created this feel.
The lit aspen trees surrounding the pillars inside the barn were cut from my parents’ yard in Denver.
THE FAVORS
For favors, we gave out chocolate and caramel covered apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. A yummy choice for the end of the night!
THE CENTERPIECES
The flowers were delicate and flawlessly arranged to intermingle with worn, gilded collectibles such as trumpets and miniature animals.
ADVICE
Definitely hire a wedding planner if you live at a distance – their advice from having worked for years in that city can save you a ton in time, energy, and money. They already know which vendors are awesome, what the weather will realistically be like, and how to troubleshoot that venue if they’ve worked it many times before.
THE WEDDING TEAM
Photographer: Brinton Studios | Event Design & Planning, Flowers: Alexan Events | Venue, Caterer & Cake, Lodging: Devil’s Thumb Ranch
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A Simple Mountain Wedding in Colorado
From the bride, Jenna: We fell in love snowboarding in the mountains. We spent many vacations snowboarding in both California and Colorado! To get married in the snow just seemed like the perfect fit. We loved the idea of having as many people in the same place as possible and Devil’s Thumb Ranch could not have been more perfect. Almost all of our guests stayed on the Ranch, enjoyed everything from skiing, ice fishing, sleigh rides, sledding, snowmobiling, snow shoeing, to massages and just lounging around. The venue and location provided something for everyone!
We had our ceremony in the restored Broad Axe Barn at Devil’s Thumb Ranch. It took place in front of the fireplace with very simple cream and wood chairs, cream curtains, chandeliers and tons of candles lining the aisle. The space was crisp and intimate creating a dream-like feeling.
The seating chart was completely DIY. We glued each and every petal on each and every flower (24 petals for each flower), on both the escort card and the place cards. They turned out great, but were so time consuming.
Our décor was absolutely perfect. Simple, yet elegant and dreamlike. The cream curtains, with tons of candles and simple floral designs allowed the setting and our surroundings to shine through.
My advice:Do NOT try to make everyone else happy. You will fail. Be respectful to your family and friends, but when it comes down to difficult decisions, they are your decisions. Also, have fun with the process. Don’t stress out too much and enjoy the journey.
Jemma’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Venue, Caterer, Cake & Lodging: DEVIL’S THUMB RANCH // Photographer: Brinton Studios // Event Planning, Design & Florals: Love This Day Events // Hair & Makeup: Beauty on Location by Liz // Wedding Gown Designer: Galina Signature // Bridesmaid Dresses: Joanna August, sea of love // Groom’s Attire: Calvin Klein // Groomsmen Attire: Vera Wang
Honeymoon Location: Bali! Secretly planned by Matt. I had no clue where they were going until we arrived at the airport in Taiwan and received my boarding pass!
A Snowy Mountain Wedding in Colorado
From the bride, Sara: I’m from Colorado originally, and knew if I got married, that I would want it to be back home. I grew up going to the mountains with my family, so it felt like a perfect fit to us. Peter is from San Diego and his family all lives in the LA area, so we knew for the southern California crowd, that the Colorado mountains would be unlike any experience they had ever had.
The season of winter was our biggest inspiration. We knew there was going to be a ton of snow, so we embraced that early on and incorporated comfy and cozy elements into the wedding weekend.
The bridesmaids were in beautiful berry-colored Amsale dresses, all silk chiffon. Although they were long, each was a different style. They carried baby’s breath bouquets, tied with a pink ribbon. I also custom-ordered Etsy angora wool wraps for each bridesmaid. The color was an ivory with gold thread weaved through it, tied with a silk ivory ribbon.
For my personal look, I wore a La Spose gown, I was trying to channel Grace Kelly, especially with my jeweled jacket and faux fur. I really love that timeless, effortless look.
The guys were all in custom-made suits by Jonathan Mustich at Evolution of Style, made of a grey wool tweed. Peter and his groomsmen had so much fun picking out their swatches and patterns. They really enjoyed the experience.
We held the ceremony in the Timber House on the Devil’s Thumb Ranch property. The room is gorgeous, with giant windows all around, in 360 degrees, including views of the mountains. On each aisle, there was a mason jar filled with baby’s breath and other flowers, tied with a pink ribbon. At the front of the room, we had large pink blooming branches in tall vases. And the guests were given fleece blankets to stay warm.
I loved the moment when I first walked in. Seeing Peter and all our friends and family as I walked down the aisle was such an incredible feeling.
My favorite memory from the ceremony was our personal vows. It was surreal and very emotional. I have no idea how I kept it together!
The reception décor was in shades of pink and gold. On the tables we had a beautiful burlap-type fabric and arrangements of flowers and candles, all in either mercury glass or golden vessels.
For the table assignments, my dad refurbished an old window pane and built an easel for it. A friend wrote guests names/ table numbers on the individual panes of glass.
Our party favors were individual bags of coffee from our favorite Brooklyn coffee vendor, Blue Bottle. We had them do a special stamp for us which read “Peter and Sara, a Perfect Blend, Feb. 22, 2014.”
We took old pictures of Peter and I from when we were kids (around the same age), and photoshopped them and created our table numbers.
The cake table was my favorite detail. It had all the pictures of our parents and grandparents on their wedding days. Instead of a tall tiered cake, we broke up the tiers into three separate cakes, each placed on a tree stump pedestal. On top of the cakes were pink flowers, and the middle cake had a mini “love” banner. It was very special for us, to take our first bite of cake, surrounded by all that history. Also on that table were little heart luminaries made from vintage books.
My advice: Try to get more small stuff done earlier. I saved too many “little to-do” items till the weeks before my wedding and it ended up taking up a ton of time. Also, Peter created Google Drive docs for everything, from payments to vendors to invite lists. It saved me. And finally, everyone told me to “soak it all in” because the wedding day goes so fast. It does go fast but I didn’t really know how to slow it down. So this would be my advice. Rather than trying to soak in every SINGLE moment (because that’s just not possible), I would say, pick a few times during the day to have it be just you two, or even take some time to be completely alone. I spent a few minutes alone in the morning, and it was really nice to have that time to be introspective. 
Sara’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Venue, Lodging, Caterer & Cake: DEVIL’S THUMB RANCH – in my opinion, most beautiful location to get married in Colorado!
Photographer: Brinton Studios – cannot say enough about these guys – they were AWESOME! Everything was seamless because of them. The photos are so pretty. They really captured the day perfectly.
Event Planner: Michelle Gillette. She is truly amazing. Could not have done it without her.
DJ: Dwight Houser with Starkey Entertainment – by far the best DJ of any wedding I’ve ever been to – played so many good songs and everything we wanted to hear. We lost track of how many people at the wedding told us they loved the DJ.
Florist: A Perfect Petal – Cindy is so creative, she really made our vision come to life. Plus, she is super nice and easy to work with.
Table Linens: All Well Rentals // Blankets: Splendor // Videographer: Bella Luce Films // Officiant: Father Martin Hunckler
Honeymoon Location: St. Lucia – Sugar Beach Hotel (most amazing place I’ve ever stayed. Ever.)
A Rustic Glam Wedding in Colorado
From the bride, Lindsey: Growing up, every year my family would take a ski trip to Colorado. I fell in love with Colorado and the mountains at an early age. Adel and I spent several vacations in Estes Park and made lasting memories that forever impacted our relationship. It was only natural that we would chose to get married in the town we loved and shared such strong memories.
I never was a big fan of uniform Bridesmaid dresses. I gave my bridesmaids a color palette (blush/taupe/metallic) and encouraged them to choose dresses that fit their personalities. There is nothing worse than having to buy and wear a dress you do not love. I wanted each bridesmaids to look and feel her best.
Each bridesmaid was given a fur collar to pair with their dress to wear on the big day- It ended up looking amazing!
We couldn’t have gotten married without our dog, Micky being a part of the day! 
I wore a Nicole Miller gown from Nordstrom.
We placed a big focus on neutrals colors and flowers with pine cone and greenery elements. 
We incorporated Native American elements into the ceremony, many of which my husband picked out himself.
Looking back, I never imagined I would be so stress free and relaxed the day of my wedding. I enjoyed taking in every moment of the big day! 
We had a blast creating custom wedding gift bags for our guests!
For the centerpieces, we incorporated pieces of my personal milk glass collection. I have collected hundreds of pieces over the years that I am a little obsessed with.
My advice: Hire a wedding planner! Having a great wedding planner allows you to be able to relax and enjoy your big day. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything except getting married and having an amazing time!
Lindsey & Adel’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Luxe Venue: Devil’s Thumb Ranch. This is by far the most unique, upscale resort and venue in Winter Park. Service, people, and venue are 5 star and absolutely top notch. We were treated like royalty the entire week. I would highly recommend getting married at Devils Thumb Ranch!
Photographer: Brinton Studios. CR and Tiff are a gorgeous, fun, professional husband and wife photography team. I highly, highly recommend them! Their photos speak volumes about their work, but this couple is so much more than just Amazing photography. They made the entire process so easy and comfortable for us.
Event Design & Planning, Flowers: Kara Delay, Love This Day Events. I don’t think I can say it enough- Kara Delay is Amazing!! She did such a fantastic job and was an absolute joy to work with. Not only was she fantastic as a wedding planner, but this girl has such a fun personality and is so much fun to be around that you instantly want to be best friends with her. Her passion for everything wedding is so contagious- it has even caused me to rethink my career and what I want in life. She is an inspiration and a perfect example of “Do what you love, and love what you do.”
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 Winter Ranch Wedding in Colorado
From the bride, Sage:
Ira and I love Colorado and we very much enjoy the mountains! We are both Colorado natives, I grew up outside of Durango and Ira grew up in Colorado Springs. We both love the snow and all the magic that comes along with Colorado winters. We wanted to have a wedding that was not only beautiful, but memorable and magical.
Every detail was arranged with such care and perfection, which is exactly who I am. 
We had the ceremony outside. It had snowed for 4 days prior to our wedding, so the snow was fresh and plentiful.
As our guests arrived, they were greeted with hot cider and hand + toe warmers. 
I am a horse fanatic, and it has always been a dream of mine to ride in on a horse. A black horse, of course, with my beautiful white dress draped over his back. When I met with Devil’s Thumb Ranch and expressed this dream, there was no hesitation! My dream came true, I rode Bo, a gigantic black Percheron. He was amazing!!! I arrived at Devil’s Thumb Ranch days ahead of time, to make sure I had plenty of time to ride and get to know him before the big day. The last thing I wanted was to be a run-a-way bride!
The two older flower girls pulled a sled with our baby flower girl and ring bearer. 
The crowd gasped as I came around the corner on Bo. It was very emotional.
The ceremony was short and sweet and full of love.
A 2 horse sleigh came and picked Ira and I up after the ceremony. We headed out to celebrate the first few minutes of married life. Our guests enjoyed a live blue grass band, hand crafted cocktails, appetizers and sleigh rides!!
We had a surprise first dance that started out with a sweet love song, then broke into a super fun hip hop dance session then back to a sweet love song. People were super impressed because Ira is not fond of dancing, but he was a really good sport.
Our wedding day was a dream come true and executed perfectly! I would say, let’s do it again, but it was perfect!!
Sage & Ira’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Venue, Caterer & Lodging: DEVIL’S THUMB RANCH { website }
Photography: ELC Photography // Day of Coordinator: Love This Day Events // Flowers: Fiori Flowers