Nikhil is a vascular surgeon and I am a general surgery resident. We met while operating together my first year of training. Over the next few years we got to know each other at work and eventually much better while skiing in Colorado.  On our birthday (we both have the same birthday), Nik planned a romantic dinner in La Jolla. At the end of dinner he had our waiter give me a card stating they were doing a port tasting down by the pool. We headed down that way and he pulled me onto a beautiful terrace instead.  He had the terrace decorated with a line of rose petals leading to a table with champagne and candles. We walked out there and he knelt down and proposed! Once I said yes, a cheer erupted from the balcony above us and I was surprised to see many of our closest friends there to celebrate with us.  It was amazing.

We decided to get married in Beaver Creek, Colorado as the mountains of Colorado hold so many special memories for us.  Our families and their faiths, Hindu and Methodist, were the most important part in planning our wedding so we decided to do a multi-cultural wedding. We were fortunate to have friends and family join us from around the world, most notably, India. We were blessed with a perfect Colorado summer weekend as we had multiple days of celebration planned.  In planning the wedding we used parts of both of our families rich traditions to make the weekend special for all. Our invitations were designed with the Colorado state flower, the blue columbine, and a henna design, the guest gift bags included goodies from the mountains but also Indian treats, the flowers were Colorado wildflowers, and the tables were named after places we visited on our honeymoon to Provence, France.

We kicked off the weekend with a cocktail hour with one of our favorite cover bands flown in from Long Island, NY. Our rehearsal dinner was in the Indian tradition called a Sangeet.  Traditionally the woman’s family has this party to wish the bride well as she leaves to join her husband’s family. In our case, we had a night full of dances, mendhi (henna tattooing on the women’s hands), drinks and an amazing Indian dinner.

Our wedding day started early, when we had the Barrat (Nik riding in on a white horse) to start the Hindu ceremony.  Our guests from all faiths joined in the ceremony and the cultures blended.  We later proceeded to the Beaver Creek Chapel for a beautiful Christian ceremony, where we ended as a married couple, after two ceremonies, walking out to “Signed, Sealed Delivered” by Stevie Wonder.

The celebrations than began as we had a cocktail hour, followed by dinner, and a reception at The Pines Lodge.  By the end of the weekend our guests had had the opportunity to get to know one another and many trips have been planned to India and back to the United States.

Photography: Autumn Burke Photography / Event Planning: Kelly Karli, Frosted Pink Weddings / Hindu Ceremony Location: The Pines Lodge / Ceremony Location: Beaver Creek Chapel / Reception Location: The Pines Lodge & Grouse Mountain Grill / Flowers: Kelly Carlson Designs / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Officiant: Pastor Tim Welbanks / Catering: Grouse Mountain Grill / Cake: Grouse Mountain Grill / Band: Soul X / Cake: The Pines Lodge / Henna artist: Hummingbird Henna / Hair & Makeup: Inga Cox and Laura Anzalone

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Post tags: Autumn Burke Photography, Beaver Creek, Beaver Creek Chapel, Colorado, Frosted Pink Weddings, Fusion Wedding, Grouse Mountain Grill, Henna, Hindu, Hindu Wedding, Hummingbird Henna, Inga Cox, Jimmy Choo, Kelly Carlson Designs, Laura Anzalone, Mountain wedding, Pastor Tim Welbanks, Soul X, The Pines Lodge
Post categories: Cultural Beauty, Little Black Book Blog

Click here to see more inspiration in the full wedding gallery!

Ellie and Nick live in Manhattan but their spirits long for Colorado.  The couple chose to have an intimate ceremony in an aspen grove with only their parents and grandparents.  They often said that they wanted their wedding to be all about family- family focused, and it was.  Ellie wore a wreath in her hair that has been worn for four generations of weddings.    Nick tied the bouts with fly fishing materials and beautiful pheasant feathers.

After the ceremony, all 100 guests were invited to a cocktail party in the lower level of Saddle Ridge in Beaver Creek.  The bar is actually a Western Art gallery and hosts some of the region’s most prized art pieces, such as an original George Washington portrait print.  Guests walked up the grand staircase into the grand room which was host to the dinner and dancing.  The couple chose a bluegrass band to entertain the guests during and after dinner and I can only say that it was a throw down.  The father-daughter dance started off slow and tentative but it wasn’t long before Ellie’s father was twirling her about and all of the family joined in beaming with joy.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  Pure celebration.

Another interesting facet of the wedding was in lieu of the traditional cake cutting knife, the bride’s grandmother flew the family sword which has also been used for generations to cut the ceremonial wedding cake.  The design of the event was based on copper, brass, and burlap.  We wanted to compliment the space of timber and western art.  Ellie scoured Ebay so every floral and candle container was original.  My favorite element was the brass spittoons as vases.  I am very proud to be a part of this wedding not only for the design but also because this wedding produced an extremely loving vibe.  Ellie lost her mother last year and every single person involved seemed to take Ellie and Nick under the wing.  As a wedding planner, I walk away still feeling all kinds of love and happiness from this most special couple.

Event Design and Planning: Bella Design & Planning / Reception Venue: Saddle Ridge / Photography: IN Photography /  Florist: Bloom Flower Shop / Wedding Cake: Sugar / Hair and Makeup: Inga Cox / Bluegrass band: Whitewater Ramble / Wedding Dress: Amsale

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Amsale, Beaver Creek, Bella Design & Planning, Bloom, Colorado, IN Photography, Mountain, Rustic, Saddle Ridge, Sugar, Vintage
Post categories: Destination, The Blog, Vintage Chic

Before we get to the heart of the wedding though, you’ve got to see Paige’s gown … a Lela Rose design from the lovely ladies at Anna Bé in Denver …

photos courtesy of Jennifer Davidson of LUCE’

And now … a bit of their story from Paige …

John works Burton Snowboards so when we got engaged in Sept 2008, it was pretty clear that we would probably have a winter wedding. Zach’s Cabin is one of our utmost favorite spots…located half way up the mountain you take a snowcat from the Ritz Carlton in Beaver Creek to get to it.

After figuring out that our guest list had close to a 50:50 ratio with local and out of town guests, we decided we wanted our wedding to really be an experience.

The Thursday before, we invited our parents and our wedding party to Churchill Winery to personally bottle (and drink) delicious wine which we then gave out as our wedding favors.  Yes, our wedding party was quite lopsided … John had 6 close friends he wanted up there as his support system (5 as groomsmen and 1 as our officiant), and I was happy to keep it clean and simple with only my maid-of-honor.

On Friday, we invited all of our out of town guests to a wine and cocktail celebration at a wine bar -Vin48, in Avon. And of course, all days – yep, including the big one – we spent the days up on the mountain snowboarding! We skipped a Sunday brunch and had one last ‘shred session’ with anyone who had a later in the day flight. Overall it was a lot of fun and really great to be able to have time outside of the actual wedding to spend with all our close friends and family.

I wanted the day to feel really intimate so I made as many small touches and details as I could and sourced out friends to help as well. A close friend and her mother created all our florals, including the great topiary trees we used in the ceremony. She also had the awesome idea to create a cotton bouquet which worked perfectly for the winter setting and with my dress.

John has a metal fabricator that he does business with for displays, so he designed and had a large metal frame created which held 10 of our engagement photos. I laid out craft tags for people to sign as our “guest book”.

For our centerpieces, I bought apothecary jars in a variety of sizes (from saveoncrafts.com) and filled them with unscented filler (from Target) and typed out 2-3 sentences telling about our “firsts”. First Date, First Road Trip, First “Meet the Parents” – each table had a different story and ‘first’. I also bought food storage containers and mason jars to hold candles which I simply tied pieces of yarn around to keep a cohesive look.

I absolutely LOVED our placecards which also were another take-home for guests. I bought preserved aspen logs from a local florist (The Perfect Petal) and cut them into 1″ thick slices, then hand-stamped with a metal stamp kit the guests names on one side and “eat, drink, get married” on the other.

For our wedding favors, I created wine labels that looked like an aspen and drew out a P + J in a heart to attempt to look like it had been carved in the bark. Putting in the time to do things myself definitely took a lot longer than I expected but I am so glad that I did it.

* * *

Paige sent us a link to their wedding video by Danielle Yuthas of Unleaded Productions. SOOOOO sweet! You can see LOTS more details of her dress (Lela Rose from Anna Bé) … and her cotton bouquet  … and the flower girl shaking her wand with cotton in it!  Really good stuff!!

* * *

Congratulations to Paige and John! And to their wonderful photographer, Jennifer Davidson at LUCÉ, a HUGE thank you!!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anna Be, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Cotton Bouquet, J. Crew, Lela Rose, Luce, Ritz Carlton, Snow, Unleaded Productions, Vin48, Winter Wedding, Zach's Cabin
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Little Black Book Blog

Katie and Davis’ December ’08 wedding was sent to us by Little Black Book member Gemini Event Planning. Meg helped them in arranging the most amazing day of their lives. And ~ the images provided to us by THE PHOTOGRAPHERS are honestly beyond beautiful!

Katie chose the first gown she tried on … a Yolanda Couture creation!

all photos courtesy of THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Here’s a little of their story from Meg at Gemini Event Planning …

Katie and Davis, two aspiring actors from Houston, met at a gathering which they have since described as “the worst poetry reading ever.” Davis skirted his boredom that night by watching an amazing redhead. Soon thereafter, he discovered that Katie is not only gorgeous but quite an accomplished vocalist. She won Best Female Vocalist and Best Folk/Acoustic by the Houston Press in both 2006 and 2007. This is where their story began and it wasn’t long before the two were inseparable.

They hosted an intimate winter wedding in the mountains of Colorado, since Texans that stay in Texas for their vows tend to have weddings as big as their state. Winter weddings in Beaver Creek are wonderful because one actually hopes for precipitation. This time we were lucky! The abundance of fresh powder was amazing for early December. Katie and Davis hosted their rehearsal dinner at the 4 Eagle Ranch just outside Beaver Creek with a western theme, mountain sunset, timeless toasts and stories. They were married on December 6th, 2008 at SaddleRidge in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

This night continued the theme of the west, but introduced an elegant and warm feel to the wedding day with rich florals and candlelight. Friends and family surrounded Katie and Davis for the wedding ceremony, wrapped around the grand staircase.

The highlight of the evening was a ballad sung by the bride to the groom. Lots of love….the room never felt warmer.

And from the lovely bride …

We live in Houston, Texas. We chose to be married in Colorado for a few reasons, the main one being we knew we wanted to have a relatively small destination wedding so that we would truly enjoy and remember every minute of the experience. We knew ourselves well enough to know that a smaller event was more our speed. Our priorities were our band, our photographer, and finding a fun and easygoing wedding planner ~ so that is where we started!

Meg Stepanek was our God-sent wedding planner and she made everything from beginning to end not only easy…but FUN! We loved being with Meg and all I can remember each time we talked or worked on something was laughing the whole time!

Our photographers ~ THE PHOTOGRAPHERS’ work is just truly amazing and we were SO excited to have them be a part of our wedding.  Jos really takes time to get to know each couple and just made our wedding even more fun and memorable.

I am a musician and my friend and band-mate Paul Beebe fronts a Beatles tribute band called ‘Beetle’.  We knew the dance floor would be crowded all night with Beetle providing their awesome tunes.  Who doesn’t love the Beatles?

My advice if you plan to wed in Colorado: find Meg, get Jos lined up, and choose music that all of your guests will enjoy and want to dance to all night long! We recommend Beetle!

We want to thank Meg at Gemini Event Planning and Jos at The Photographers for sharing these extraordinary images with us!

And … we wish Katie great success for the future, not only as the new Mrs. Rushing … but in her musical career as well!

ps … I kind of LOVE the last photo of Katie & Davis. Classic.

* * *

Katie Rushing (formerly … Katie Stuckey) and her band were selected by the Houston Press and fans as Best Country (2008), Best Folk Acoustic (2007) and Best Female Vocalist (2007 and 2008). Nominated again in 2009 for Best Country/Roots. They are currently working on their new album, Two Bears, One Statue due for release in late 2009!

* * *

Credits: Wedding Consultant/Planner: Meg Stepanek, Gemini Event Planning; The Photographers; Site Coordinator: Molly Massey, Vail Resorts; Florist: Rose Petals of Vail; Caterer: Saddle Ridge at Beaver Creek;  Officiant: Dr. Gary Johnson; Invitations: Spice Paper Designs; Music: Beetle

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 19 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 4 Eagle Ranch, Beaver Creek, Beetle, Colorado, Destination Wedding, Gemini Event Planning, Katie Rushing, Katie Stuckey, Rose Petals, SaddleRidge, Snow, Swagger, THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, Western
Post categories: Destination, Little Black Book Blog, Traditional Elegance, Wedding Planners & Designers

And thus, her new career began! Nessa now designs custom invitations out of Lake Oswego, Oregon and has a consultation studio in San Francisco, servicing clients across the country. Whatever type or style of invitation suite you can imagine, she can help you create!

Take a look at Kelly & Nicholas’ wedding pieces that Nessa designed for their Beaver Creek wedding …

The amazing Laura Hooper, Little Black Book calligrapher designed the fantastic map (above) and did the calligraphy for this beautiful suite of wedding invitations and reception pieces! Take a look at her website … the map section, the monogram & logo section, the totes, towels & more section … well, just take a look around at all Laura’s fantastic work!

Nessa and Laura created just the perfect look for Kelly and Nick’s wedding style!

Nessa’s website is full of great examples of her designs … and … her blog … oh-my-gosh … it is chock-full of fantastic invitation advice and DIY know-how. You DEFINITELY need to check it out!

Before we go … we just wanted to give you a quick glimpse of Kelly and Nicholas’ FUN rehearsal dinner …

Thanks SO much, Nessa for showing us just how much the invitation sets the whole style for a wedding!

Check out her website and blog for tons more of her great designs and DIY advice!

Wedding Vendor Credits: Photography by Michelle Walker; Wedding Coordination by A Savvy Event; Linens from La Tavola Linens

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beaver Creek, Cardgirl, Cardgirl DIY, Laura Hooper Calligraphy, Oregon, San Francisco, Wedding Maps
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Invitations & Stationery

Anna told us, “I was able to think of a lot of words that described the weddings that I liked, but actually explaining what I meant by that would have been impossible without all the beautiful images I found on your site to show what that meant to me. Between those images, our great vendors, and talented friends and family, it all came together and we had a wonderful wedding full of happy people and beautiful things.”

Now that’s what makes our day!

As soon as we saw this wedding from Little Black Book member, Jamee Photography, we knew that Anna had achieved her dream day. Not only is the wedding just so darned picturesque, there is also an intangible free-and-easy spirit about the images that resonates true and absolute joy. Not to mention … all of the detail elements were spot on!

LOVE the natural beauty expressed every step of the way … tables (and some of the flowers) were done by family friends, master gardeners. Anna’s uncle built the huppah. Wedding flowers were by Little Black Book member, Bella Fiori.

Anna’s gown was by R0mona Keveza, the maids wore Vera.

Sam & Anna’s beautiful wedding took place at Beano’s Cabin on Beaver Creek Mountain, Colorado. Funny name for a resort! Their website says, “Not exactly roughing it.” A few more credits … Wedding Day Coordination by Little Black Book member Calluna Events; Cake by Mountain Flour; Photo booth from  A Custom Look; Reception paper pieces from The White Aisle.

Anna wrote to us after her wedding …

“I wanted to write and thank you for all the help I got planning my wedding from Style Me Pretty. From the very beginning, I downloaded a whole bunch of inspiration boards that I loved (like an embarrassing number), and took them with me to meet the florist, the cake person, our day of coordinator, everyone. I also purchased a lot of what we ended up using from your recommendations and vendors. You have featured such great vendors with creative and beautiful products. Our menus, place cards, and table numbers, our cake toppers (from Cotton Bird Designs), we registered at Bodanna, our guest books were from Yellow Owl Workshop. When we had a last minute printing need, Rebecca from The White Aisle came to the rescue and turned around some of our stationery in hours. Much of the event was inspired by things I found on your website, so I just wanted to thank you for helping to make planning so fun.”

Jamee, their photographer, is one of our Little Black Book, best of the best Colorado wedding photographers. A huge thanks for sending us Sam & Anna’s heart-warming wedding!

And to Anna, a huge thank-you for your kind words. At the end of some pretty long days, it’s just what we need to hear.

{to see the entire gallery, click here!}

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Beano Cabin, Beano's Cabin, Beaver Creek, Bella Fiori, Bodanna, Calluna Events, Colorado, Cotton Bird Designs, Denver, Jamee Photography, Mountain flour, Romona Keveza, The White Aisle, Vera Wang, Yellow Owl Workshop
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog, Real Weddings, Wedding Photography

Katherine and Grant were married in November at the Beaver Creek Chapel in Avon, Colorado. Their reception was held at the Timber Hearth Grille in Cordillera, above Beaver Creek. I suppose when you plan a November wedding in Colorado you might expect snow, but this is just breathtaking. Looking at these photographs, it’s hard to believe Katherine was even chilly! {She found the vintage stole at a thrift shop.}

And what winter party would be truly complete without s’mores …

{to see the full gallery, click here!}

James has more really-really great weddings posted on his blog, and we’re not kidding when we tell you that you have to take a look for some great DIY ideas! Then … while your there, take a look at the stunning Italian countryside photos he took. Oh my, makes me wish I could do a Mary Poppins thing and jump right into the picture! HERE is the link for his gallery prints!

Thanks again, James for being a part of our Little Black Book!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2008. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Avon, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Cordillera, Italian Countryside, Italian Landscape, James Christianson, Winter Wedding
Post categories: Budget Beautiful, Little Black Book Blog, Wedding Photography