A Mountain Destination Wedding in Telluride

From the Magazine: Anne & Derek

Derek and I both live and work a considerable distance from many of our friends and family and extended relatives. We were concerned with “playing favorites” and decided to go with a neutral location that was secluded enough to be considered a real vacation. Telluride was the perfect mix of an exciting adventure and relaxing destination vacation in a place that is truly a piece of heaven on earth…

 

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The Wedding Team

Photographer: Illuminarts | Event Planner: by Sutton | Flowers: 3 Leaf Floral | Ceremony Site: San Sophia Overlook | Reception Site & Caterer: The Peaks Resort and Spa | Cake: The Golden Crumb | Wedding Gown Designer: Pronovias Barcelona | Groom’s Attire: Calvin Klein | Hair & Makeup: Leilani Drum Makeup Artistry

 

View more: Telluride Weddings | Colorado Weddings

 


 

A Mountain Wedding in Silverthorne, Colorado

Sam & Kyle  |  June 11th

 

From the bride: Kyle and I met in the funnel cake line at Colorado State University (CSU) where we both attended. We dated for about seven years before he FINALLY proposed! On the morning of my birthday, we walked around at the CSU oval throwing the ball for our puppy, Bailey. I reached down to get the ball and saw the ring!

 

An outdoor wedding in the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado An outdoor wedding in the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado

 

WHY COLORADO

We absolutely love the Colorado mountains. We both love to ski, snowboard, hike, etc. We’re also Colorado natives.

 

An outdoor ceremony under the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado

THE CEREMONY

We got married at a private house north of Silverthorne. It was BEAUTIFUL! Looking to the west, you could saw Buffalo Mountain and a field of purple flowers. We didn’t plan it, but the flowers perfectly matched our wedding colors.

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My most memorable moment was seeing my husband cry as I held his hands. This was the first time that I have ever seen him cry. I held it together but just lost it after that.

 

An outdoor ceremony under the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado An outdoor ceremony under the mountains in Silverthorne, Colorado

An outdoor wedding in the mountains in Silverthorne, ColoradoA Mountain Wedding in Silverthorne, Colorado

 

 

THE RECEPTION

We held our reception at the Silverthorne Pavilion, a beautiful building in town right across the river.

 

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ADVICE

Plan everything together! Break in your shoes several weeks before the wedding – I didn’t do this and my feet hurt so bad. I ended up taking off my shoes after the ceremony. If you have a destination wedding, rent a house so everyone can be together and have FUN!

 

A Mountain Wedding at the Silverthorne Pavilion

 


THE WEDDING TEAM

Reception: Silverthorne Pavilion
Photographer: Sarah Roshan
Event Planner: Entwined Planning | Flowers: Southern Charm and Events | Officiant: Rocky Mountain Dream Weddings

A Mountain Destination Wedding in Colorado

From the bride, Sani: Having grown up in California, all our family and most of our friends were traveling out of state to celebrate. That was something really special for us. We have been in Colorado for about 5 years and when we were invited to a wedding at Devil’s Thumb Ranch three years ago we instantly fell in love with the venue and knew it was where we would say our I do’s. Over the last several years, we’ve stayed at the Ranch on and off, taken our family and friends, and got to know the area very well. On the actual day of the event, because we had been there for several days, we were both pretty relaxed. Our bridesmaids and groomsmen were carefully chosen and represented different snippets of our lives. Our families were also integral to how happy we both were. Everyone’s love and encouragement not only that weekend, but through our entire relationship, has been so overwhelming, so we were very fortunate to have all of our close friends and family celebrating with us. We really want to take this opportunity to thank everyone again for traveling such long distances to be with us and help us start our journey as a married, happy couple. Every single person there, including all the incredible vendors, made this the best party we’ve ever been to. This REALLY was the best day of our lives.

 

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THE VENDOR TEAM

Photographer:  Frances Photography  |  Event Planner:  Stellar Events  |  Venue, Catering & Lodging: Devil’s Thumb Ranch Resort & Spa  |  Floral Designer: The Perfect Petal  |  DJ: DJ RipM  | Hair Stylist: Erin Ferris Designs

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A Destination Wedding in Montana

Traveling from Canada, Brittney & Forrest planned a destination wedding at the beautiful Lodge at Whitefish Lake. They have known each other for 13 years, but not until 3 years ago did their friendship turn into more. Their wedding date was the last date open at the lodge when they called to book it early on in the year, and it was the same day of Forrest’s proposal to Brittney the year before. They decided October 25th must just be meant to be. A few years earlier, they had tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Calgary, on October 25th, and during his song “I Thought I Loved you then” Forrest got down on his knee and popped the question.
A Boho Destination Wedding in Whitefish, Montana

From the bride: I am a hippie at heart and tried to incorporate outdoorsy boho elements. I chose a mint and navy blue color palette.

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We got married in a tent looking out onto the lake.

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My advice: Don’t stress too much about wedding planning! Because once it’s over you realize how fun it actually was and kind of miss it.

A Boho Destination Wedding in Whitefish, Montana

Brittney’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Jennifer Mooney Photography  //  Venue & Caterer: Lodge at Whitefish Lake  //  Event Design, DJ & Officaint: B & T Sound Productions  //  Hair Stylist: Christina Stevens  //   Flowers: Mum’s Florist

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Romance by the River in California

We adore the many details from this intimate destination wedding in the heart of the California Gold Country.  We especially love the soft gray and pale yellow color palette, the groom’s fly fishing boutonniere and the adorable pup with his bright white bowtie collar and paw cuffs.

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VENDORS
Photographer: Brianna Noelle Photography   //  Bakery: Ikedas   //  Floral Designer: Placerville Flowers on Main  //   Rentals: America’s Party Rental  //  Venue: Coloma Resort

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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It was a lively night for sure. The band Soul X was phenomenal. One person said he had never seen more people dancing before.

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THE VENDORS
Photographer: Frances Photography  //  Event Planner: Gemini Event Planning   //  Venue: Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch  //  Floral Designer: Vintage Magnolia  //  Dress Designer: Vwidon

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A Beaver Creek Wedding at the Ritz

From the bride, Leah: For our wedding, we wanted to spend time with the people we love in a beautiful location. We wanted a focus on good local wine and food, and the Ritz made that possible.

The days preceeding the wedding were filled with fun and relaxing activities for us and our guests, including hiking, mountain biking, swimming, and great food.

About a week after our wedding, Ryan and I left for a two-year assignment in Jerusalem (we’re both in the foreign service).  Our wedding was also our goodbye party, and as such, we really wanted it to reflect us as a couple.  Bachelors Gulch was truly the perfect location for us, as it allowed us to spend time with our guests doing activities important to us as a couple.

Our wedding ceremony was held outside surrounded by mountains.  Ryan’s uncle performed the ceremony with us writing our own vows.

After the ceremony, we had a cocktail hour followed by a sit-down dinner.

Our wedding was small, only 60 people, so we really enjoyed having dinner separate from dancing so we could spend time talking to each and every guest (and eating our meals).

From dinner, we went inside to the ballroom for an awesome dance party.

Leah & Ryan
RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Luxe Mountain Event Designer: Pink Monkey Solutions {more info | website}
Venue: The Ritz Carlton, Bachelor Gulch. They made everything perfect.  //  Photographer:  Frances Photography  //  Flowers: Vintage Magnolia  //  DJ: Ryan Griz  // Dress Designer: Austin Scarlett

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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.
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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.

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 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.

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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!

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We had late night dessert cups which were little s’more and strawberry shortcake desserts in tall glass shot glasses.

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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!

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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

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