Our intimate wedding day in the San Juan Mountains

We decided to get married in one of our favorite places in the world, Lake City, Colorado. My family has been traveling there for over 50 years, starting with my great-grandparents. We knew we wanted a smaller wedding with just our immediate family & very best friends, so we invited them for a long-weekend of wedding festivities, fishing, and trail riding.

Our wedding details

With being a photographer myself, I'm so grateful that the photographer we hired, Bridget Nicole Photography & my florist (AKA my mama), BKC Weddings, let my OCD run wild with my wedding details. I was able to choose my flowers, assemble my bouquet, & lay out my flatlay, along with editing my own galleries. With wedding details being my favorite area to capture on my client's weddings, I was so grateful for their graciousness in letting me play with a lot of my own.

Our invitation suite was designed by the amazing Summit & Sage, which we felt fit so perfectly with our mountain setting. One of my favorite details were our matching Rockin' S Cuff & Necklace Pendant. These were hand-made by Rockin' T Bars jewelry. A few other favorites of mine were my boots that I purchased from the lovely No Roots Boots. She has the most amazing selections of boots & is such a genuine shop owner! My necklace & earrings were vintage spiny oyster finds, The gold pendant with a dove on it was originally a wedding gift to my 3x great grandmother, Ulysses Gardner, in 1887. This piece sat on a cushion of green velvet from my baby gown that my mom had made & Austyn's flower girl dress was my own from my aunt & uncles wedding when I was little.

GETting Ready

My two childhood best friends did my hair for me, arriving at our cabin with a huge gift basket & a chai tea latte in hand. While they were fixing me up, Preston arrived at the cabin & opened his pendant gift. We each wore our favorite band tees, his was Turnpike Troubadours & mine was Zach Bryan. We had been lucky enough to see both the bands at different times this year. Austyn wore a Warren Zeiders tee because she has a big love for his song, Dark Knight. My mom helped me into my gown, & Preston's mom helped get him spiffied up.

First Looks & Private Letters

Preston & I did our first look a little differently. We originally didn't want to do one because Preston loved the idea of first seeing me while walking down the aisle. We decided it would be too tough logistically to hide while getting up the mountain, so Preston & I came up with an idea to still get that moment during our first look. Our photographer began playing one of Preston's favorite songs, Caroline by Colter Wall, & he turned around to see me walking towards him. We then read our private letters, gave out our gifts, & began our trek up Cinnamon Pass.

On the Mountain

We led all our friends & family up to the American Basin in the 1988 Toyota Tacoma that Preston had restored. Funny side story, before & during the journey up, I lost both of our phones, so we just site saw & chatted the whole hour & a half up. We all hung out & took some family portraits before the ceremony started. The flower girls all loving the mountain air & picking all the wildflowers they could find.

Our Ceremony

During a trip to Colorado in 2023, we got the idea of getting married here & chose July 12, 2024 as a potential date based on Preston's work schedule. A few hours after discussing this, we realized that we had done our first devotional in a new family bible Preston had bought on July 12, 2023. So, of course, we had to set July 12th as the wedding date.

Fast back forward, my brother, Jake, officiated our ceremony along with one of Preston's sisters, Hayley, sharing a sweet story from their childhood. We each placed our hands on that family bible and read the 5 vows we had each written aloud. Then, we exchanged rings, where I got to surprise Preston with his own, & we sealed the deal with a kiss. Austyn was originally supposed to sit during the ceremony, but she wanted to stand right in the middle of us. She was also a part of our little family, so after the fact, we felt like this was perfectly fitting!

Portraits

After our ceremony, our family & friends headed back down the mountain while we stayed to take our bride & groom portraits. Austyn, of course, stuck around for a few but was ready to go play with her pals before too long.

Happily ever after party

We were so fortunate to be able to celebrate our marriage with all our friends & family when we got back home. My mom, BKC Weddings, set up the gorgeous florals & table scapes. Park Porch Bakery made loafs of our two favorite sourdough, Jalapeno Cheddar & Dill Everything Bagel, for each table, alongside a dish of pickles & olives (my favorite & a long standing joke). Our local restaurant, Kozy Diner served pasta & my friend/second photographer, Mandy, snapped some photos.

We also surprised everyone with our custom koozies, forcing them all to be #houseunited, with their choice of crimson & cream OSU or an orange & black OU koozies. This was one of our favorite things to show our guests, as everyone had a tough time choosing.

The kiddos played & everyone sang along to Toby Goode performing red dirt all night long. We got to catch up with some of our favorite people that we hadn't seen in years, & we all danced & laughed until midnight. It was a night beyond joyful, & we are so blessed to have been celebrated in such a big way.