Allison + Wesley
January 28, 2012
Keystone, Colorado
Allison and Wesley had a beautiful candlelit January wedding on top of Keystone mountain, where guests nibbled champagne gelato in between courses and hot chocolate. The bride arrived to the lodge by gondola. The bride and groom had a polaroid camera on hand to take photos of each of their guests, with each guest leaving little notes in the white space of the photos.
This is a wedding about priorities. It’s about a gorgeous mountain setting; it’s about the bride and groom’s closest friends and family surrounding them; and it’s about a handful of key details: a gorgeous wedding gown, a divine bouquet, amazing photos, and the best mountain wedding cake ever! The take away: Know your priorities and stick to them. Read Allison’s Hindsight Advice below…
Why a Mountain Wedding?
My husband and I are both big skiers and love the outdoors. I had always dreamed of getting married in the mountains at a ski resort. Mountains, snow, fireplaces, lodges, I find things like that more beautiful than any beach! Luckily I found a guy who agreed! I loved that our guests all had to take a gondola ride to the venue as well, it provided some adventure for everyone!
Where did you find your inspiration?
I’ve skied my whole life, so being in the mountains is natural to me. I wanted everything to be classic and beautiful. I tried to chose things that wouldn’t look trendy and make decisions I could look back at years from now and still be happy about. Mostly I was inspired the mountain environment. I chose colors that that seem wintery and pretty, like silver and a blush pink. I also tried to incorporate lots of sparkle because of how sparkly snow is!
What Was Your favorite moment of the day?
Saying I do! The moment I actually became married, when we were pronounced husband and wife will always be one of my strongest and favorite memories.
Three things you’re glad you did.
- I didn’t sweat the small stuff. I didn’t want to get lost in the details of planning my wedding and lose the significance and joy of the event. I realized what details were important to me like music, cake, flowers, colors, food and made making those decisions part of the fun! I knew it would be things I noticed during the night, so it was important I made decisions I liked. But other smaller details I delegated! Things like seating charts, place cards, table numbers, and all the other little details that need attending to in a wedding, I chose someone I trusted and let them handle things like that. I could then focus on things like cake tasting! And everything ran smoothly without it being something I had to stress about.
- I loved working with Keystone. They made the event so smooth and easy. Everything from the menu, to the pastry chef, to the service was so perfect and spot on. I would recommend working with them to anyone looking at getting married in the mountains.
- I worked with my husband to chose things! I understand some grooms could care less about the details, but it was fun to be involved in the wedding planning together. He was definitely a good sport about girly things like picking out flowers, but we actually enjoyed making decisions together for everything! We made lasting memories picking out music and a song to dance together too and designing how our wedding cake would looks like together. It brought us closer together, we learned our different tastes and preferences. It became something we could enjoy doing together, rather than something that consumed all my time and thoughts.
Anything you wish you had done?
- I wish I had scheduled a little more time for photos in between the ceremony and reception. I understand that can get so long for guests and not be fun, so we tried to keep it quick. But in the long I know the guests were there for me and having a little more time to focus of pictures would have been nice! I honestly can’t think of other things I wish I had done!
Anything you wish you hadn’t done?
- There really isn’t anything I wish I hadn’t done with my wedding. When I think about about it I only have good memories. It was a blessing it went so well, I don’t have any regrets!
Anything you wish you hadn’t worried about?
I really didn’t worry too much about things I didn’t need to. It was something I was very on top of.
How did you choose your vendors?
- I only had a few vendors to choose because Keystone handles so much of the details. It was also something I delegated!
- My mom looked at florists and brought one she thought looked good, I made sure I agreed then worked with the florist to achieve the flowers I wanted.
- My dad picked a DJ he thought looked good and got lots of referrals for, then I focused on working with him to achieve the music we wanted.
- I did however pick my photographer! I spent hours online looking at different photographers portfolios and asking for quotes and what would be provided. Since I was having a night wedding, I looked at photographers that seemed to have experience shooting pictures in less than ideals atmospheres, not just on beautiful sunny days. Lindsay Lack had gorgeous lighting and thats what sold me on her!
- The only DIY project I did was make my own table numbers. We bought sparkled scrap book paper and cut numbers out of them. It was pretty simple!
What is your very best hindsight advice?
Do everything in your power to enjoy the day and experience. Determine what is important to you and what is fun for you to decide and focus on that! If you’re not going to be thinking about it the night of, don’t worry about it before hand. Find joy in creating a day that is custom to your tastes and don’t forget the importance of the event! It’s going to be something you always remember, so focus on the good parts of it and the pieces you want to remember.
Team Wedding
- Photographer: Lindsey Lack
- DJ: Rich Sounds
- Reception/Venue/Catering: The Alpenglow Stube Lodge at Keystone Resort
I definitely recommend Lindsay Lack as a photographer and I used Richsounds as a DJ. He was great too.