A Western Style Wedding Weekend in the Colorado Mountains

[section title=”The Planning”]
[field title=”Wedding Colors”]Pastels across all hues of blue, pink, green, yellow, peach, lilac, coral, gold, silver
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[field title=”Design / Vibe / Vision”]We had a three-day, 110 person affair — kicked off with Western Style welcome drinks on Thursday, rehearsal dinner and mountain fireside hang on Friday, followed by wedding ceremony and rehearsal on Saturday. We (my husband, Thomas and I) got married in a tiny Colorado town, right outside Durango, called Pagosa Springs, where my parents retired from TX a few years ago and has become a really special mountain escape for us. Funny enough, we found a venue, Keyah Grande, tucked high up in the mountains but, surprisingly, built and styled like an old Italian villa, furnished with centuries old paintings, textiles, stone and even hand-painted wall paper imported from Europe. Definitely love at first sight for a girl like me who has been antiquing and thrifting with her mom since she was about 4 years old. That sealed the deal and aligned my vintage wedding vision— intimate, romantic and eclectic. Italian baroque meets English countryside. Because of my deep love for vintage and the quality I could get from items made in a different era, I knew I wanted to primarily use vintage fabrics, glassware and decor in every place I could. I spent the 8 months leading up to our wedding, thrifting all of the primary elements used in the decor — all of our cocktail glasses & barware, table linens, flower vases and vessels, candleholders and more. I’m lucky to have a core group of best friends who, between them, hand-drew and painted our wedding invitations, dinner menus and all event signage. Our food was modern Coloradan fare utilizing locally sourced meats, produce and bread, served family-style on mismatched vintage floral pattern serving platters. We had no wedding planner and the wedding was truly a labor of love between us, our families and our incredible best friends who made everything come together.[/field]
[field title=”Proposal Story”]Thomas and I met in NYC in early 2017 as roommates after I just moved to the city from LA — we became bffs pretty quickly; I thought he was the most genuine, trustworthy, best guy friend I’d ever had (and, didn’t hurt that he was cute!). About 2 months into roommate life, we both realized we might be crushing on each other a little more than we realized and we started a little romantic fling, secretly dating for a few months and hiding it from our friends because we weren’t anticipating falling for each other for real, for real. Flash forward 5 years, 4 different homes and a cross-country move to Colorado at the beginning of 2021, Thomas proposed to me on a solo weekend getaway to Breckenridge at the top of a beautiful overlook in February 2022 — the best part was we had no reception up there so we had about 30 minutes of being the only two people in the world to know what just happened, like a little secret between us two. Which was fitting for our origin story, secret lover roommates who are now forever roomies and partners in life.[/field]
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[board_carousel title=”Getting Ready”]

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[board_carousel title=”Bridal Portraits”]

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[board_carousel title=”Flat Lays”]

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[section title=”The Fashion”]
[field title=”Wedding Gown”]My wedding dress was actually the first dress I tried on, Anne Barge — I loved it right away. But, it was my first time trying on dresses and I thought, “This isn’t supposed to happen right away, right?” So, I continued to try on like 25 other dresses, including going to another bridal dress shop to find “the one.” At the end of the dress excursion day, however, I knew that first dress was it, and headed back about 15 mins before shop closing time to lock it in. I knew I wanted a romantic, feminine, classically elegant look but also wanted to feel . I loved that I could make slight alterations (including removing the straps, adding boning, modifying the length of the slit) to the dress to make it feel as such and also very true to me. I also added the Anne Barge Florentine veil and bought additional lace used in the veil to customize lace gloves to complete my look. Donna Beth Creations created my custom gloves. Everything else I kept simple — vintage pearl earrings and my mom’s blue topaz and diamond engagement ring she gifted to me as my something blue. The dress was so special and comfortable, I didn’t want to take it off the entire night –and ended up not even putting on my second, shorter, post-rehearsal dress as a result![/field]
[field title=”Bridesmaid Dresses”]Bridesmaids picked their own dresses based on their own personalities and personal style –guidance from me was romantic fabrics, florals, playful patterns and colors.
I surprised them on the wedding day by gifting vintage handbags and handkerchiefs for them to pair along with their chosen dresses.[/field]
[field title=”Groomsman Attire”]Classic tux for the guys with the groom in white jacket. Groom paired a black velvet butterfly bow tie with his white tux jacket for a little drama.
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[board_carousel title=”Wedding Party”]

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[board_carousel title=”Ceremony”]

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[board_carousel title=”Cocktail Hour”]

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[section title=”The Details”]
[field title=”Food & Drink”]Finding top notch caterers in a very small town for a prime summer wedding was no easy feat and luckily through word of mouth recommendations from the MOB, we found excellent, talented chefs who made the weekend truly memorable. The bride and groom wanted to provide top notch cuisine for their guests reminiscent of the local flavors and styles of the region in Colorado and Southwest. Rehearsal dinner featured pulled pork, smoked brisket & chicken and a baked potato bar made by famed local BBQ master from “Big Doug”; dessert at the post-rehearsal fireside hang included a s’mores bar and several bundt cake and pie varietals like lemon blueberry, coconut cream and fresh strawberry made by the bride’s mom. Wedding day cocktail hour featured light bites such as elk sausage “pigs in a blanket” and three signature cocktails: “His” – a Negroni, “Hers” a Double Dirty Martini and “Ours” a classic Manhattan, an ode to the city in which they met. Reception dinner menu was produced by local chef, Lindsey Czech, and featured family- style courses, like grilled hanger steak with onion finadene and herbed aioli, seared salmon with creamy tomatillo-poblano sauce and summer vegetable galettes, to wedding guests on vintage china platters and bowls curated by the bride. A special kid’s menu included mini hamburger sliders, mac & cheese, and buttered cheesy broccoli for the littlest guests. A special feature of the wedding both the bride and the groom’s brother-law-work in the wine industry — the bride works for DTC wine brand Naked Wines and curated the wines selected for the weekend’s festivities, while BIL, Dave Pauker, who owns Rye, NY wine shop, Wine at Five, provided the bubbly of which guests toasted to.
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[field title=”Florals & Decor”]The most emotional feature for me (bride) was seeing the wedding decor come together after months of hard work and countless (adored) hours spent finding all the things to use in the decor. All of those things came together with the right humans. I was so lucky to find the most incredible floral team, Adela Floral, who worked magic, incorporating all of the eclectic vintage vases into works of art that graced every corner of the day. They created beautiful floating floral installations and an unbelievable floral ceremony arch that they then moved to the reception area and transformed into a gorgeous entryway installation. All of our wedding event signage — from invitation to menus, place cards, seating chart, bar signage and wedding favors were hand-made from a few very close, talented friends and all of which came together in the most perfectly un-perfect way. It felt so personal and meaningful for us to see everything brought to life, the compilation of so many people who we love and who love us, and I could not have dreamed of anything more.
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[field title=”Wedding Cake”]In keeping with romantic, vintage-inspired decor, the bride and groom decided on an elegant three-tier wedding cake of white chiffon with chambord syrup, white chocolate mousse and raspberries that was adorned at each tier with fresh flowers from a local chef, Kellie Stevens. As a sweet focal point, the wedding cake was on display to guests via open double French windows in a special “dessert” parlor room inside the venue which was adorned in hand-painted floral silk wallpaper brought over from France in the early 1900s. This cake cutting ceremony was viewable to guests through the double French windows which made sweet vignettes for the moment. After cutting the cake, the cake was cut and served out on an eclectic mix of vintage floral patterned cake plates collected by the bride.

The bride’s southern roots influenced the need for a groom’s cake, which was a simple one-tier carrot cake (his favorite flavor) in which she surprised him with the cake cutting.[/field]
[field title=”Readings, Ceremony Music, Reception Songs”]The groom’s very close family friend and next door neighbor throughout life, became ordained and officiated the couple’s ceremony, which included having the couple submit surprise vows to each other they would hear for the first time in front of all their friends and family. In a nod to the vintage theme, the groom curated the wedding weekend playlists with their DJ based on regular weeknight songs in rotation at the couple’s home –classic rock, folk, soul + blues, and R&B including Van Morrison, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Sade and more. Couple’s entrance song was ” Right Down the Line” by Gerry Rafferty and their first dance was “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison.
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[field title=”Special Detail #1″]Both the bride and groom come from large families and incorporating the wedding weekend to be inclusive of children was incredibly important to them both so as kids and moms and dads could all have a great time. The bride and groom’s nieces and nephews all played a role in the bridal party and the MOH’s daughter was a baby bridesmaid. Making sure kids had something to keep them busy was super important too throughout the weekend. Outside of adult and kid yard games which were perfect for all ages, small details at dinner like kids activity books and crayons on tables, high chairs/booster seats and small stacking toys at infant seats and, most importantly, a kid-friendly menu, were top on the list in helping our littlest guests have a happy time too.[/field]
[field title=”Special Detail #2″]Colorado temperatures, even in summer months, dip in the evening between 10 – 20 degrees. Though we let guests know to bring a jacket or layers, we made sure we had additional warmth on hand with Turkish blankets as party favors placed at each guests’ seat.
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[field title=”Special Detail #3″]Vintage bells collected by the bride were featured on all guest tables and made for a fun game throughout the evening of having the bride and groom kiss whenever they were rang.
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[board_carousel title=”Reception”]

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