Destination weddings are so, so romantic. You and your betrothed, your closest family and friends, jetting away to a beautiful, exotic locale to say your I Do’s. And when the destination is Aspen, Colorado, it is promised to be beyond gorgeous. The Rocky Mountain peaks alone can add a total sense of style to a wedding. Add to that a fantastic color palette filled with romantic, soft details, and a bride & groom with style coming out of their ears? Well you got one fabulous wedding as the platform for starting the rest of your lives together. So when Ashley Garmon Photographers sent over an affair just like this one, captured brilliantly – I might add – I knew it was something special. And I think you’ll agree with me, especially after a trip to the full image gallery!
We have always loved Colorado. Scott was born there and our favorite trips have always been to the mountains. It was an easy decision to have our wedding in Aspen.
The inspiration for the wedding was the surroundings. Aspen is exquisitely beautiful in the fall. The aspen leaves turn yellow and are accented by evergreens and gray mountains. Instead of competing with the landscape, we decided to incorporate the colors surrounding us into our wedding and opted for a palette of gray, green, and yellow.
There were so many special moments during the wedding. We had a vase of freshly picked wildflowers that were handed to the guests with their program as they entered the wedding. The officiant explained to our guests towards the end of the ceremony that the flowers represented all of the meaningful people that are part of our lives and asked them to bless the flowers with well wishes for our marriage. She then collected the flowers and placed them in a vase at the altar. Lastly, she asked Scott and I to bless two yellow roses as a symbol for our love for one another and our love for our family and friends and placed them in the same vase. It was a poignant and beautiful moment seeing all the varied wildflowers together in the same vase and knowing that it represented our lives together.
The other special moment was the presentation of our wedding quilt. I am a Southern girl and all the women in my family have always sewn and quilted. My grandmother, Bartletta, in fact sewed every outfit by hand that I wore until I was eight years old. As a surprise, she and all the women in my family had saved the dresses and used the fabric to sew a quilt for my wedding day. My grandmother was the only person still living that had originally sewed the quilt and presented it at the wedding. It was very emotional seeing all the dresses that I wore as I child for the first time in 17 years. I had never seen the quilt, and it is a symbol of where I come from and the love of all the women in my family and their blessings for our marriage. I will always treasure it.
I have two favorite moments. The first is seeing my Dad for the first time in my wedding gown. My dad is in no way a crier. But when he saw his first child in a wedding gown and he took my hand, we both knew that I had grown up, that his knobby kneed 12 year old girl was now 25 and a bride and it impossible to hold back tears. My other favorite moment was seeing Scott, my husband to be, while walking down the aisle. I have never seen him look more handsome, most wistful and more loving in my entire life and I will never forget that moment. He looked how I felt, that this was the most important moment in our lives and that we were the luckiest two people in the entire world.
My favorite photograph is a moment that Ashley caught when I was walking down the aisle. Scott has tears in his eyes and you can see a hand at his back supporting him. It was his best man, his big brother with a hand on Scott’s back letting him know that he was still there.
Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Stationery: Hayden Avery / Flowers: Aspen Branch / Cake: Delissious Cakes Aspen / Photographer: Ashley Garmon Photographers / Wedding Planner: Jason Burns / Bridesmaids Dresses: BHLDN / Wedding Jewelry: Kendra Scott for Bridesmaids / Favors (mini pecan pies): Homemade by Bride and Groom / Custom Wedding Hanger: Heirloom