Today is our anniversary, marking nine years of wedded bliss. Andrew and I dated for over six years before we got married, lived together for five, and were friends before that, so I never thought getting married would be a huge change in our life, but it has been. It does feel different — in a good way. Now that we’re building a family together though, it really does feel different and maybe more official, but our winter wedding (yes, we had a ski wedding) will always be one of the most special weekends of our lives.
We got married at Sundance Resort in Utah. Andrew has been going out to Park City every year since he was little, we spent a year living there, and we got engaged on Christmas Eve on the mountains of Deer Valley, so we always knew we would get married out there. Andrew had dreams of having a ski wedding, and after going to so many of our friends weddings every weekend, I was excited to do something different, so a winter ski wedding felt like a fun way to celebrate our nuptials. While I had initially envisioned my wedding taking place outdoors in warmer weather, I really came around to the idea of mixing it up and doing a winter wedding. There aren’t many winter weddings, so it felt special and unique — plus, we didn’t have to compete for dates. And honestly, the mountains are at their most gorgeous when they’re covered in snow.
We chose Sundance Resort because it could accommodate all our our of town guests, was incredibly scenic and the perfect setting that allowed for indoor and outdoor festivities. We also really loved that the weekend felt like camp. Everyone stayed at the resort, there were tons of fun activities like skiing, show shoeing, even fly fishing. We got married at the end of March, which is usually our favorite time to ski, but it’s also a gamble with the weather. I liked the idea of getting married when there is still snow on the ground and tends to snow a lot, but it’s also warm and sunny during the day so guests could enjoy being outdoors and all our festivities and pictures wouldn’t be forced inside.
When we arrived in Utah for our wedding, rather than the spring powder dumps of 10-12 inches of fresh powder we hoped for, the snow was starting to melt and there was lots of mud and slush. I tried to keep my cool, but inside I was freaking out a bit. But the snow gods blessed us and on the Thursday before our wedding, just in time for our welcome party, we were blessed with huge dumps of snow. We had two incredible powder days spent skiing on the mountains with our friends and family before the skies cleared into a beautiful bluebird day for our actual wedding. It was perfect.
We held all our wedding activities at the resort (wedding, rehearsal dinner, welcome party), but did three days of fun so people could make a vacation out of it if they wanted. Thursday night’s welcome party kicked off with cocktails followed by a movie screening of Aspen Extreme (Andrew’s pick) in the Sundance Theater (where Sundance Film Festival screens movies). We set up a fun popcorn bar and it was really an awesome time. Saturday I had my bridesmaid luncheon and that night we had a low-key apres ski chic themed rehearsal dinner that included live music, a fun buffet of western comfort food, s’mores at an outdoor fire pit, and lots of speeches. We finished the night at the nearby bar with live music. (Told you it really felt like summer camp or college, or the perfect melding of both.) On Saturday, our wedding day, Andrew skied with his groomsmen and dad while I took the morning off and hung out with bridesmaids before getting ready and walking down the aisle. It was truly magical and such a fun, memorable weekend.
For the actual wedding, I wanted to play into the rustic vibe of the resort and mountain while adding femininity and elegance throughout. Rustic elegance was the theme and my favorite part was probably the flowers and greenery — they were just so pretty. We also went ham on the candles to set a super romantic vibe and I loved that as well. So if you’re looking for winter wedding inspiration, here are some of my favorite images from our special day.
Photos by the amazing and talented Britt Chudleigh. www.chudleighweddings.com
Venue: Sundance Resort
Wedding Planner: Meredith Parsons, Bluebird Events
Flowers and Design: Sarah Winward
Wedding Dress: Marchesa
Reception Dress: Jenny Packham
Bridesmaid Dresses: Amsale
Cake: Deer Valley
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