Breckenridge Winter Wedding from IN Photography
When a group of our fabulous LBB vendors are put to the task of creating a phenomenal wedding, it's a knock out every single time. Every time. Which is why I couldn't get my peepers on the photos from this Breckenridge destination wedding quick enough. IN Photography teamed up with Bella Design & Planning and Bloom Flower Shop to fashion an intimate affair that absolutely warms the heart. And as luck would have it, the heartwarming continues in the gallery!
Click here to see the entire soiree in the gallery!
Todd and I grew up about 15 miles apart from each other and had never previously met. We both played high school basketball and were very active in other sports. I left Iowa after high school graduation thinking I would never live in Iowa again. I moved to Arizona and lived there for 15 years then took a job in Boulder, Colorado for 5 years. Todd swam in college and attended the University of Iowa for dental school.
My older sister was a nurse at a hospital where Todd was on staff as an Oral Surgeon. In 2010, my sister fractured a tooth and went in to see Todd. My sister learned that Todd was single and she readily informed him “you have to meet my sister….she’s 40, single, lives in Colorado, she’s in great shape, runs marathons, and she’s HOT”. She later insisted that I go to her follow up appointment which she conveniently scheduled over the 4th of July weekend when I was back home for a visit. As I sat in the consultation room with her waiting for the “doc” to come in, I was extremely skeptical and the whole thing felt really awkward. I had been “set up” by her before with dismal results. But when he walked in, I realized how right she was this time! He was in great shape, handsome and charismatic and NICE. We chatted briefly about some of the things we had in common…including dogs and our love of Colorado. I then departed. Todd did not call me for three weeks!
Then, near the end of July, while I was in San Diego for a weekend with some friends, Todd called to say he was coming to Colorado for his “cycling camp” for 3 days the next week. On his 12 hour drive to Colorado, he and I texted playful banter back and forth the whole way. He then decided to come to Boulder, rather than Golden, CO for his “cycling camp.” We went out to dinner when he arrived and stayed up chatting until 3am. The next day I called my girlfriend to tell her to come over and meet my future husband. The remainder of the time he was in Boulder was magical. We stayed up most of the night talking about anything and everything, hiking together, walking dogs and drinking good coffee, listening to music… it was all so easy with him. When he was leaving we both were standing on the sidewalk just smiling and not really knowing what to do. We both agreed that we’d just see where things go from here and that time would figure things out.
He called shortly after leaving for home and we talked and texted his entire drive back to Iowa. Two weeks later was my 40th birthday and he flew back out to Colorado and we spent my birthday weekend in Breckenridge. We watched the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. The three days we spent in Breckenridge were INCREDIBLE. We fell in love. We both knew. By the end of the trip, on the drive down the mountain, we were already discussing the possibility of having children!
I moved in with Todd, in Iowa, in early October, 2010. We went back out to Colorado at the end of July 2011 to road bike, mountain bike and look for wedding venues. The trip was incredible! We road biked in Golden, mountain biked in Breckenridge, drove through Estes Park and Todd proposed to me in Boulder where we had met one year previously. We knew we would get married in Colorado and chose Breckenridge since it was where we fell in love.
Orange is our favorite color, so our color was a no brainer for us. We picked chocolate brown to go with the orange. I wore orange high heels during the ceremony and changed to orange cowboy boots for the reception. Todd wore orange Chuck Taylors and an orange tie with a chocolate brown tux and his BM wore chocolate brown Chuck Taylors with a chocolate brown tux. My mother gave me her sapphire and diamond ring to wear for my borrowed, blue and old items.
We wanted a small, elegant, intimate wedding with our family and close friends. We hired Emily at Bella Designs as our wedding coordinator. She was fantastic. She helped us find our venue, florist, photographers and caterers. We chose to get married at the Rubywood House in Breckenridge which had breathtaking views. It was the perfect venue for our crowd of 30 guests.
My dearest girlfriends are all runners and I have met them in various running groups. The morning of the wedding (Saturday, December 10, 2011), the girls and I got together at Starbucks coffee in Breckenridge. On a beautiful, clear, sunny, peaceful Saturday morning, we went for an 8 mile run together! It was something I had always wanted to do on my wedding day and it was absolutely perfect!
Our dear friend Bill Demlong, agreed to perform the ceremony. Todd, Bill and I wrote the ceremony, selected the music, poems and readings. We wanted a non-traditional, but spiritual, fun and causal ceremony. Bill knows us both so well that he told stories and made the ceremony personal and entertaining yet loving and meaningful. A good friend and musician, Jamie Maynard, from Boulder performed music before and during the ceremony.
We selected Moe Dixon to play at the reception. On a snowboard trip to Breckenridge in February 2011, Todd and I had heard him play at one of the lodges after a day of boarding. We loved his music and one song in particular he played brought us both to tears (Dance as if nobody’s watching you). We looked at each other and said the same thing… we have to have him at our wedding and that will be the first song we dance to! What an incredible musician and entertainer! We loved him!
Photography: IN Photography / Coordinator: Bella Design & Planning / Florist: Bloom Flower Shop / Property: Rubywood through Paragon Lodging / Cake: Sugar / Catering: Harvest Catering