You gotta love a bride who bucks tradition and completely rocks a mint hued wedding dress in lieu of the standard fare. But that isn’t even what I love most about this next number. It’s that the bride and groom didn’t take themselves too seriously. Instead, they designed a wedding that reflected their own laid back elegance and was filled with details that gave guests a window into their lives. Photographed by Tory Williams, you can click here to see the full gallery.
Click here to see the full wedding gallery!
The biggest thing for us was that we wanted the weekend to be comfortable for us and our guests. I didn’t want to plan or do anything that felt to formal or too casual for us because I wanted to actually be able to have fun instead of feeling like a wreck about the details or feeling nervous or uncomfortable about being too formal. However, we didn’t want to do something too casual like a potluck or anything like that because we knew almost everyone would be flying in and we didn’t want our guests to have to work either!
In terms of location, the most important things for us was that everyone could stay in site so that it felt like a weekend and a mini-vacation for our guests. We wanted things to be as easy as possible for them while ensuring that we felt comfortable with the venue (i.e. it matched the laid back feeling we were going for). As soon as we got to SMR we knew it was perfect for us. We loved the isolated and laid back “ranch” feeling, all of the activities for the guests, the flexibility (we could bring in all of our own vendors, alcohol etc., and of course the incredible views.
I love simple classy things so everything else flowed out of that. I knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable in a formal white wedding dress so I went with the mint dress. It still felt formal enough to me but I felt comfortable in it. Same thing with the food/decorations/ceremony etc. we were going for classy comfort so that the weekend really felt like us instead of what we thought it was supposed to feel like. We skipped the formal wedding parties but found other ways to include our family/friends (i.e. having guests speak at ceremony, speeches, getting ready etc.). Because we had so much flexibility to plan the weekend the way we wanted we were able to pick and chose from the traditions. We included the ones that resonated with us, left the others behind and made up some new ones along the way!
My brother helped me design save the dates based on a template we found online. http://www.merrimentdesign.com/giving-tree-save-the-date-wedding-announcement-for-fall.php. He sent us the PDFs and we printed, cut and sent everything out from home. They were so cheap to do and they felt really personable and us compared to a lot of the other invites we felt online.
We also did all of our centerpieces ourselves. My mom and sister helped design them and then we ordered the Manzanita and orchids and made them the week before the wedding. We used potted plants to fill in and bring some more color into the room where we didn’t have the centerpieces
Photography: Tory Williams / Ceremony + Reception Location: Snow Mt. Ranch, Winter Park, CO / Invitations: DIY based on this template Merriment Design / Food: What a Treat Catering / DJ- Rock Candy DJ / Hair & Make-Up: Bride’s Sister /