Rustic Vail Square Wedding
I'm just going to come right out and say it... I'm a tad bit jealous of this stunning bride. Not only was her sweet sister her maid of honor, but she's also a wedding planner at the stunning venue Arrabelle At Vail Square, who helped plan and coordinate the entire day! She might take the cake for best ever MOH. And with Chris Humphreys Photography there to capture it all, the result is complete gorgeousness.
From the beautiful Bride… Colin and I met and fell in love in New York City, where we have lived for the past 8 years. After the engagement we started thinking about potential wedding locations. My sister, who is my best friend and maid of honor, suggested we consider at The Arrabelle in Vail, Colorado where she works as a wedding and events coordinator. Vail has become a very special place for Colin and I as we make a trip out every winter to visit my sister, ski, and enjoy Colorado. Vail ended up being the perfect location for our summer wedding. We chose to get married on the terrace at The Arrabelle overlooking the beautiful mountain scenery. Our reception was outside and tented under the lights of Vail Square.
My sister Nicole contributed more than we could have ever dreamed, helping plan and creating the perfect wedding weekend for us in Vail. As my maid of honor and wedding coordinator, Nicole had a lot on her plate. However, she went well above and beyond in every possible way, we could not have done it without her!
After finalizing the location, Colin and I set to work planning out the wedding weekend activities for our family and friends. We planned hiking trips, a bike ride through Vail Pass, a tube float for eighty of our guests down the Colorado river, and a Rehearsal Dinner BBQ at a local park where we catered in Moe’s BBQ (our favorite!) and hired a blue grass band to play.
The next order of business were the invitations, which were very important to us since this was a destination wedding and we wanted our invitations to highlight the style and feel of our Colorado wedding, showing our guests what to expect. I found Megan from Ruby the Fox and she was absolutely amazing to work with! Megan was able to see my vision and create a custom wedding invitation suite complete with a timeline of all of our activities, maps, and information that fit exactly what we were looking for in the invitations. Megan also designed an amazing custom logo, which we used on everything throughout the wedding weekend (welcome tote bags, koozies for the Colorado River float, cups for the rehearsal dinner, and all of our day of wedding paper).
After the invitations were sent, we were ready to start working through wedding details. My dad’s hobby is woodworking and he helped create a lot of our wedding decor. He made our beautiful cake stand, wood crates for the altar, and wood coasters which were our wedding favors for all of our guests.
I did not have a clear vision for flowers, so I called my friend Christa throughout the planning process to consult. Christa was so knowledgeable, provided great advice, and she even ended up offering to do the flowers for our wedding! We hired a florist to do the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, but Christa designed all of our reception flowers, arrangements for the altar, as well as the flowers on the seats at the ceremony. This was truly a labor of love and Christa worked tirelessly throughout the wedding weekend along with my parents and family friends to make sure everything looked perfect.
The birch branches used for the escort cards were from Harbor Springs, Michigan, where my family had a lake house in Harbor Springs for many years and it still holds a special place in my heart. A friend of my sister, Stephanie Klocke, put our beautiful, delicious dessert table together. She did a fantastic job baking all the desserts and designing our table.
Our photographer, Chris Humphreys and his fabulous second shooter Erin captured the day beautifully. They both were a source of calm in all the craziness and I will always remember Chris’ advice to take a couple minutes for just Colin and I after the ceremony to celebrate. We will forever cherish our 10-minute gondola ride up to the top of the mountain as husband and wife.
Our wedding was a labor of love and beyond anything we had ever dreamed. Although we had a few minor glitches such as a downpour 30 minutes before the ceremony, luckily it passed by quickly and the sun came out, stronger than ever. It was incredibly special to have my father as well as a close family friend marry us – the ceremony was filled with lots of laughter and he used oranges to illustrate the importance of kindness, patience, and forgiveness in marriage.
Colin and I felt so loved by all of our family and friends who traveled to Vail to witness our vows and celebrate with us. After the ceremony we had just enough time to head up to the top of the mountain and take pictures with the gorgeous view before the rain started again. Down at the bottom of the mountain, we had a fantastic night celebrating under the tent in Vail Square. The rain started again (and at times down poured!), but we were dry under the tent, and it didn’t stop anyone from dancing and having a great time!
Thanks to our amazing vendors, staff at the Arrabelle, and family and friends for making our wedding weekend so special!
My sister Nicole contributed more than we could have ever dreamed, helping plan and creating the perfect wedding weekend for us in Vail. As my maid of honor and wedding coordinator, Nicole had a lot on her plate. However, she went well above and beyond in every possible way, we could not have done it without her!
After finalizing the location, Colin and I set to work planning out the wedding weekend activities for our family and friends. We planned hiking trips, a bike ride through Vail Pass, a tube float for eighty of our guests down the Colorado river, and a Rehearsal Dinner BBQ at a local park where we catered in Moe’s BBQ (our favorite!) and hired a blue grass band to play.
The next order of business were the invitations, which were very important to us since this was a destination wedding and we wanted our invitations to highlight the style and feel of our Colorado wedding, showing our guests what to expect. I found Megan from Ruby the Fox and she was absolutely amazing to work with! Megan was able to see my vision and create a custom wedding invitation suite complete with a timeline of all of our activities, maps, and information that fit exactly what we were looking for in the invitations. Megan also designed an amazing custom logo, which we used on everything throughout the wedding weekend (welcome tote bags, koozies for the Colorado River float, cups for the rehearsal dinner, and all of our day of wedding paper).
After the invitations were sent, we were ready to start working through wedding details. My dad’s hobby is woodworking and he helped create a lot of our wedding decor. He made our beautiful cake stand, wood crates for the altar, and wood coasters which were our wedding favors for all of our guests.
I did not have a clear vision for flowers, so I called my friend Christa throughout the planning process to consult. Christa was so knowledgeable, provided great advice, and she even ended up offering to do the flowers for our wedding! We hired a florist to do the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, but Christa designed all of our reception flowers, arrangements for the altar, as well as the flowers on the seats at the ceremony. This was truly a labor of love and Christa worked tirelessly throughout the wedding weekend along with my parents and family friends to make sure everything looked perfect.
The birch branches used for the escort cards were from Harbor Springs, Michigan, where my family had a lake house in Harbor Springs for many years and it still holds a special place in my heart. A friend of my sister, Stephanie Klocke, put our beautiful, delicious dessert table together. She did a fantastic job baking all the desserts and designing our table.
Our photographer, Chris Humphreys and his fabulous second shooter Erin captured the day beautifully. They both were a source of calm in all the craziness and I will always remember Chris’ advice to take a couple minutes for just Colin and I after the ceremony to celebrate. We will forever cherish our 10-minute gondola ride up to the top of the mountain as husband and wife.
Our wedding was a labor of love and beyond anything we had ever dreamed. Although we had a few minor glitches such as a downpour 30 minutes before the ceremony, luckily it passed by quickly and the sun came out, stronger than ever. It was incredibly special to have my father as well as a close family friend marry us – the ceremony was filled with lots of laughter and he used oranges to illustrate the importance of kindness, patience, and forgiveness in marriage.
Colin and I felt so loved by all of our family and friends who traveled to Vail to witness our vows and celebrate with us. After the ceremony we had just enough time to head up to the top of the mountain and take pictures with the gorgeous view before the rain started again. Down at the bottom of the mountain, we had a fantastic night celebrating under the tent in Vail Square. The rain started again (and at times down poured!), but we were dry under the tent, and it didn’t stop anyone from dancing and having a great time!
Thanks to our amazing vendors, staff at the Arrabelle, and family and friends for making our wedding weekend so special!