From Kate, the bride:
“I had always wanted to have a destination wedding. The opportunity to spend time with loved ones away from our day-to-day lives felt so meaningful, and when else does one have the ability to get all their humans together in an amazing location for a few days?
We live in Los Angeles, but Jeff, my now husband, and I are both from Maryland and both went to college in New York. This meant our guest list was an even split of east and west coast, so we felt this lent itself to a destination wedding. We began looking for locations online, and at some point found an image of a couple getting married on top of a mountain overlook. That overlook was the San Sophia in Telluride, CO— a place neither of us had been— but after seeing the breathtaking views and learning we would be taking a gondola to the top of the mountain, we were sold. We essentially decided on Telluride before we ever set foot there, but after our first visit we knew we had chosen the perfect location for our wedding.
This tiny, magical, box canyon town is a designated National Historic Landmark, and because of this has maintained its history and charm. Every street has mountains views and every resident tells the same story: “I came for a visit and I never left.” We decided to get married in early October to take advantage of the fall colors, and the days leading up the wedding did not disappoint. However on our actual wedding day, of course, we were surprised with a freak snowstorm that blotted out the blue skies and dimmed the typical bright yellow aspen leaves.
We were forced to make a last minute decision: do we ditch our dream wedding and move the ceremony indoors, or do we brave the freezing temperatures and snow outside?
Having our ceremony at the Overlook was one of the primary reasons we picked Telluride, and ultimately we couldn’t stomach the idea of scratching plans over a year in the making, so we went for it! I’m so grateful to our vendors and guests and especially our officiant and wedding party for being the best sports about it.
We shortened the ceremony, I swapped my heels for snow boots and ditched my veil for a vintage 1950’s fur coat that belongs to my Mom. My bridesmaids passed around a flask of whiskey to keep us warm while we waited and the wedding party braved arctic blasts atop the platform.
It was wet, messy, muddy and cold. The views were blocked by the storm and I couldn’t feel my hands as we said our vows, but it was also an adventure that we were all in together, and our guests still tell us how memorable it was.
For the look of the wedding I very much wanted a classic, elegant and timeless feel, but one that was also modern and clean. My Mom and I picked out the most incredible La Tavola reception linens together, and that design pattern was so bold that we went with a more restrained approach for the floral arrangements. Meehan Fee, my planner, and Rachel, my florist from Dahlia Floral Design, did an incredible job with executing that look and capturing that balance for the aesthetic. They kept all the flowers white with a single varietal in each arrangement. We also continued that look to the cake design where Fig and Bloom made grey marble cakes with white drips. Not only were they exquisite to look at, they were beyond delicious. We still have guests who rave about the cakes as well. We couldn’t be happier with how they turned out.
Looking back on it, the most meaningful part of our wedding was the realization that all these amazing humans, people that we love so much, had come to celebrate our wedding and explore Telluride with us. Most of them had never met each other before, but after spending the better part of a week in the tiny community they had all become friends. That truly resonated for us at our rehearsal gathering the night before the wedding, and then it just continued throughout the whole weekend.
On the day itself, the most special moment was after the ceremony when Jeff and I did our couple photos. It was a chance for us to focus on each other and really absorb the fact that we just got married, and did so in a snowstorm! Realizing that you’ve just committed yourself to your best friend is an indescribable feeling of happiness and one that I will be eternally grateful to have experienced.”
