I know. It’s Spring. The birds are chirping, the dogwoods are in bloom. People seem to have a little skip in their step. And for this Texas native, that is a HUGE relief. But, despite the warmer weather, I have still managed to fall head over heels for this little Winter wedding that the talented Mark and Michele at IN Photography sent our way. It’s magical really. With a stunning bride, a cozy cabin and a style that is as romantic as it is completely sweet. And photographs to die for. To see the full wedding, click here.
{click here to see the full wedding}
Bevan is from New Zealand and I’m from Colorado, but we live in London so we rarely get to spend time with our families and really wanted to involve them in the day. Thankfully they whole-heartedly embraced our wishes and nearly every detail from the flowers to the cake was lovingly made by our friends and family.
The summer we got engaged, we spent 6 months traveling in a campervan around Europe. Bevan proposed while we were hiking in Switzerland so I really wanted to bring our love of travel and the mountain setting of that moment into the wedding. We started off by making our ‘Save the Dates’ out of post cards with a photo that we took of ourselves minutes after we got engaged in the Swiss Alps. (I still had tears in my eyes in the photo!)
Our guests were literally from all over the globe so to show our appreciation for traveling so far, we left a welcome bag in each of their hotel rooms with a note from ourselves. Inside was the itinerary for the weekend, hot cocoa, and yummy chocolate chip cookies homemade by my sister that they could enjoy after they checked-in.
The ceremony and reception took place at the gorgeous Devil’s Thumb Ranch in a room of windows with the snowy Colorado Rockies as our backdrop. To keep the bridesmaids warm, my mother sewed each girl a beautiful fur jacket and my sister made feathered headbands to compliment the deep brown of the faux fur. I loved the effect in the photos! For the boys, Bevan had a friend bring cufflinks from New Zealand in the shape of a silver fern, one of the country’s most recognisable symbols.
The reception was held in a gorgeous civil-war era barn with the head table set in front of panoramic windows that framed the view of the mountains. As the sun set behind us, the twinkling lights that our families had hung from the ceiling that morning were reflected above our heads making it look like we were under the stars. A huge aspen tree from my Uncle Joe’s cabin was covered in white fairy lights to illuminate the dance floor and we had a roaring fire in the stone fireplace to make the room feel cozy.
To show guests to their tables, we chose 10 of Bevan’s favorite photos he’d taken during our campervan trip across Europe and had them printed onto postcards. During the 6-month trip, I had written daily about every place we visited and shared it with folks back home on a blog so on the back of the post cards we printed a snippet about each place.
For the tables, we played up the rustic setting with canvas linens lined with green and brown ribbons that were made by my mother. Orchids, roses and peonies were clustered in groups of mason jars with some of the jars wrapped in burlap and secured with two wooden buttons as if they were wearing sweaters.
It was a lot of work, but we just love looking at the photos from the day. I don’t know how we’ll ever thank everyone for all of their help but I hope our families know that they made our day perfect.
Location: Devil’s Thumb Ranch located outside Winter Park, CO / Photographer: IN Photography / DJ: A Music Plus / Everything else created or provided by family and friends