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The bride and groom were married on a beautiful summer day at a lake home they rented in Colorado. Like so many couples this year, their plans changed, but they were able to make the most of it! Their immediate families joined them in their celebration.

First look!

After the first look, we went to the nearby Roxborough State Park for portraits. Roxborough State Park is full of incredible rock formations giving it the nickname, “Denver’s Garden of the Gods.”

After walking through the Fountain Valley Overlook area, we headed back to the house for the ceremony.

The family all worked together to decorate the yard with white flowers and eucalyptus, lanterns and special touches.

The bride’s brother performed the ceremony.

A new kind of family portrait.

The bride shares, “Our original wedding plan was a more traditional weekend at a hotel with many more friends and family, but we ended up having a small backyard ceremony at an Airbnb with just our immediate families and grandparents, which allowed us to have a lot of family time during the week. It was nice to be together after not seeing everyone for so long (#2020).

We chose to DIY all of the flower arrangements and ceremony/reception set-up. Our families helped us with the prep work the day before to turn the Airbnb into a beautiful wedding venue. We are so grateful for all of their help!

The day was filled with lots of love (and good food). One of our favorite moments was when our siblings surprised us with a family game show that they had organized with our extended family. It was a special way to include our whole family on our wedding day, and it was a lot of fun.”

The couple shared their first dance to Van Morrison’s Moondance.

The couple has ties to Pittsburgh and one of the family favorite’s is Prantl’s Bakery’s burnt almond torte, which they had delivered for the occasion.

I can attest it is delicious!

The bakery boasts, “The torte has been named the Best Cake in America by the Huffington Post, the Best of Weddings Cakes by the Knot in 2018, and the Best Cake In Pennsylvania by the Food Network in 2018 and continues to be a Pittsburgh tradition today.”

Congratulations to the happy couple!

Special thanks to the team:
Rentals: Butler Rents
Flowers: Moxie and DIY arrangements
Dress: Klienfeld’s
Bride’s Ring: Mineralogy
Groom’s Ring: LaserboyzDesigns
Dinner: 240 Union
Cake: Prantl’s Bakery
Photography: Jessica Schmitt Photography

Breckenridge, Colorado, is a beautiful mountain town in the Rocky Mountains. It’s best known for its skiing, Gold Rush history, and beautiful landscapes. It is such a perfect place to get married! Here, we met the bride and groom at a private estate.

High Country Bride pulled together an amazing team to create a lovely summer wedding style featuring citrus touches. Chirps and Cricket created this hand-painted lemon invitation suite.

First look!

The ceremony was held in front of a beautiful floral ring.

Time to say, “I do!”

After the cake cutting, we took a short drive down to the lake for some sunset portraits.

Want to know something crazy? This is a styled shoot, which means the wedding was created by the vendors for inspiration and promotion. This bride and groom are models and had never met before! Don’t they look so happy and in love? I’m so glad they could be a part of our photo shoot.

Special thanks to the team!
Planning: High Country Brides 
Photographers: Katie Fletcher Photography, Alex Jensen of Serendipity Studios, Jessica Schmitt Photography, Alexa Johnson of Broken Antler Photography
HMUA- Tori Apodaca, Bronze and Beautiful
Dress – Marie Margot Couture
Bride – Kiera McIntosh
Groom – Kasper
Bartending/Arch Rental – Alegre Weddings and Events
Florals/Signs – Wild and Yarrow
Cake – Afternoon Delight Bakery
Invitation Suite – Chirps and Cricket

Blackstone Rivers Ranch is nestled up in the mountains of Idaho Springs, Colorado. It is a private sanctuary away from crowds with outdoor spaces for a ceremony, reception and even a first dance. Their large tent also helps with weather concerns and open air flow that allows for a safer option for the guests. 

The invitation suite by Tasha Rae Designs is bright and happy with a yellow color palette and delicate watercolor floral and greenery design.

Florals by Amore Fiori made quite the bursting statement with bright yellow, orange, and pink blooms reminiscent of a fiery, sunshiney sky. A  horseshoe altar piece brought in the elements of sunshine rays, while keeping the color palette slightly more neutral and subdued, so the bride and groom could really stand out. Their tabletop display brought the sunshine theme even further – with lush greens and hanging amaranthus cascading the edges, and bright blooms bursting all throughout the centerpiece, it made quite the statement on the table. 

The hair and makeup styling by Wise Artistry gave the bride and bridesmaid a perfect Colorado summer look–effortless, natural and beautiful.

Britany and Michael just celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary! We were so lucky to have them be a part of our day, along with Britany’s good friend, Caillie.

This special wedding event had two invitations: one to attend and one to join on the livestream.

How do you invite someone to livestream a wedding? With an invitation experience! Tasha Rae created a box that includes champagne glasses, champagne gummy bears, confetti, a cookie with a depiction of the real wedding cake hand-painted on it from The Little Peach, along with information to attend virtually.

An installation was also made to celebrate all of the family and friends who are “together, apart.” Rather than a traditional escort design, these hanging suncatchers list the names and locations of loved ones who are viewing through a livestream online. 

Harvest to Home catering created a welcome basket for guests to enjoy as they arrive at the ceremony. This concept allows guests to minimize their contact with others while still enjoying a personalized treat: Harvest to Home Trail Mix (almonds, dried cherries, coconut flakes, dark chocolate chunks, granola clusters), gourmet pretzel sticks, sparkling water, monzu cheese crackers, and a Palisade peach and mini local fruit preserve. 

The wedding rings from Sarah O. Jewelry are rose gold and the bride’s ring features a galaxy diamond as part of their cosmos collection.

I love shooting at Blackstone River Ranch because the property includes so many amazing spots for wonderful photos–the river, of course!, towering evergreens, a field of Aspen trees, romantic string lights, a wooden bridge, a large sail cloth tent for a reception and so much charm.

Brittany, your smile is like sunshine!

Harvest to Home catering created summer-inspired cocktails including a grilled pineapple mojito and summer crush mimosas along with an incredible meal.

Zahra Ammar created monogram quill paper chair backs for the dinner table. These beautifully detailed pieces are unique additions to a wedding day and special keepsakes!

The dinnerware, provided by AllWell Rents, features an organic leaf pattern perfect for an outdoor setting. The gold touches add elegance to the table. 

Appetizers included a Palisade peach balsamic bruschetta on a haystack mountain goat cheese crostini and mango and rocky ford melon gazpacho shooters.

The wedding cake, by The Little Peach, is bright, bold and joyful. The cake design centers around handmade, iced flowers, including a hot pink poppy, yellow rose, orange hydrangea and orange berries and dried orange slices. The cake is mirrored in custom, hand painted cookies, included in the invitation box. Mini individual cakes are also placed at each table setting to give each guest a special treat. The mini cake concept allows for less touch points on the wedding day and makes for a safer option for guests. 

Hillhound Productions captured all the joy and worked with the couple to offer the livestream option to their guests from afar. 

Look for me at the one minute mark!

Special thanks to the team! 

Julie and Justin planed a special elopement in the Colorado foothills after their travel plans changed due to COVID. They found a wonderful way to celebrate their marriage by reading their vows to each other, popping champagne and watching the sunset over the mountains.

Julie shares, “We went back and forth for awhile over whether to have a wedding or elope in Italy. Our families supported both options, but encouraged us to make sure we were doing this for us. So we settled on both – we had a trip booked to Italy leaving May 7th. We were planning to elope at a castle winery in Tuscany, where we would stay for two days and have the ceremony, photos, wine tasting, cooking class, fancy dinner, etc. We were also planning to hit Rome, Florence, and Venice as part of our honeymoon.

We were so bummed to cancel, but plan to still do our honeymoon in Italy at some point later this year (hopefully!). We were equally looking forward to the 50-person park party we had planned for family and close friends in June to celebrate our marriage.

When we realized that COVID was likely going to create issues for our plans, we went to the courthouse on March 10th and got legally married. This was right before the world basically shut down and days before quarantine started.

We are so happy we made things official before everything closed down. After our events subsequently got cancelled, we wanted to do something to celebrate our marriage and read our vows. One of our friends suggested we get a photographer to document the occasion, and the rest is history! We ended up having such a special day and even though it was low key, it ended up being much more special and meaningful than we could’ve imagined.”

Julie continues, “Our highlights from the day included reading our vows to each other, making funny faces and whispering funny things to make each other laugh during the photos (can’t wait to see these!), and then having a picnic and watching the sunset in such a beautiful location.

Some touches that made it feel more like an actual wedding were having a bouquet, flower crown, and boutonniere from Amore Fiori and getting a mini cake and champagne glasses to toast with.

To celebrate with some of our friends, we ended up decorating our bikes with “just married” decorations and streamers, and doing a bike crawl visiting all of our friends in Denver and sharing a beverage with them outside at a social distance.”

Julie shares the story of their proposal, “It was December 8th, one of the last nice, sunny days of the year. We had just had our holiday party the night before so we were a bit groggy in the morning. Justin suggested we go for a walk to get some fresh air (luckily my hair and nails were done because of the party, as I definitely was not expecting a proposal that day).

We ended up at the botanic gardens and did an impromptu visit since we hadn’t been all year. While I was in the restroom, Justin told a stranger what he was about to do and asked if she could film it. We started walking into the gardens and before I knew it, he was down on one knee, reading the most beautiful letter he wrote and we got the whole thing on video! Afterwards we FaceTimed all of our family and friends and then went to dinner at Acorn.”

Congratulations Julie and Justin!

Special thanks to the team:
Location: Mt Falcon
Florist: Amore Fiori
Photographer: Jessica Schmitt

Natalie and William were married on a beautiful November day at Lionscrest Manor in Colorado.

Natalie and William shared a first look before the ceremony.

Their adorable son, Theo, looked so sweet and handsome in his bowtie.

The outdoor ceremony overlooked the mountains and was visited by a mule deer just before the ceremony began.

Natalie shares, “Will and I had always envisioned a very casual wedding day, so the details weren’t important to us, but our day ended up being perfectly wonderful in every way!

We both agree our favorite moment of the day was the ceremony. The weather was unseasonably beautiful–75 and sunny in November–and the details of the ceremony fit our personalities perfectly. We had all of our lovely family and friends there, including our pups, and the sentiment was exactly what we hoped it would be–fun, casual and full of love and joy.”

Congratulations Natalie and William!

Check out their Evergreen engagement with aspens here.

Special thanks to the team:
Venue: Lionscrest Manor
Caterer: Greens Point Catering
Florist: Crab Apple Creek
Cake: The Huckleberry, Nothing Bundt Cakes
Dress: David’s Bridal
Suit: Express
DJ: A Music Plus
Stationery: Jennie Vandegrift
Photography: Jessica Schmitt Photography with Eric Swartz