Weddingbee Blog

After the ceremony, a few photos, and signing our marriage license, it was time to head into Vail Village to take some photos. We hopped out of the limo near a local hotel and walked into the Village.

You may already know this, but Vail is considered a “walking town”. There are no cars allowed on the streets, and it’s primarily shops and restaurants for visitors to see.

It was a Saturday night in a ski town, so we knew there was a good chance for some chaos. The bridesmaids were freezing, and I realized that we would have to take the photos quickly!

We headed first to Vail’s infamous Covered Bridge. It’s at the base of the main street in Vail, so I was expecting a lot of foot traffic. We managed to snap just a few unorganized photos before the dude in the background monkey-barred the beams on the bridge. He traveled right through our group photos, and was clearly deep into his happy hour drinks. He stopped to deliver a few classy pick up lines to me and the bridesmaids, and we all realized the bridge wasn’t going to provide the best backdrop for photos. It was a good thought, but not practical with the skier and tourist foot traffic.

If you’ve ever visited Vail, you’ll appreciate this photo. If not, it’s really just a covered bridge with some Christmas lights.

Every winter, Vail’s trees are covered with lights. Some years it’s all white, some years the lights are a single color, and other years it’s a mix. It’s so beautiful, and one of the reasons I love to call it home. The statue of the man on the right carrying skis is actually a tribute to the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division ski troops that trained at Camp Hale. After WWII, some of the 10th Mountain soldiers came back to Colorado and really established Colorado ski towns like Vail and Aspen.

When I think back to our wedding day, this is the picture I imagine. Love, snow, and kisses!

And here’s another photo I’ll show you (reluctantly) for its educational value. Brides always research the kind of “must have” photos we want, and after seeing a few of my must-haves I realize that I should have clarified. I chose to give each of my bridesmaids UGGS, and I had the cutest picture in my head of all of them lifting their dresses so you could see them. You know the kind of pictures I’m talking about…

Well, apparently before attempting these photos, you should think about (or ideally ask your photographer to arrange) a few things. For starters, if one of your bridesmaids isn’t wearing the matching shoes, (despite multiple reminders that she should wear them, even if just for the photos, and no names mentioned but you know who you are)—kindly ask them to step out of the photo.

The second thing you should probably think about is where you all will hold your dresses, if you’re wearing a long dress. I felt like a scolding mom telling the girls how to stand, but I completely spaced the dress height—and the flower height, which is equally as important. And oh yeah, you might also want to ask your photographer not to cast a shadow in the photo.

Bottom line- in order for this photo to work, which clearly mine did not, you should have a photographer who has done this before and who is comfortable telling your bridal party to pose a certain way.

And with that photo, my tangent is done.

After we took our group photos, Champ and I decided to stick around for a few quick poses. Our photographer jumped into the big tree we had used for our group shot, and he called us in for a few photos. I realize there are a lot of similar pictures in this next series, but I just wanted to show you the importance of post processing (or at least my lousy attempt at it).

When I saw where he had us stand I knew immediately what he was thinking- the opening of the branches created a heart… it was perfect.

But when the pictures came back, they were so dark and even a bit out of focus.

So I tried (and by tried, I mean used my non-existent photo editing skills) to lighten them up a little bit and here’s what I got:

I’m 100% positive that if I hired a professional to post-process our photos, you would see a different wedding. And I know I’ve mentioned the issues with our photographer a bazillion times, but honestly on this one—am I missing or ignoring some sort of professional photographer’s artistic “eye”? Am I crazy to think that the photos in this group are dark and appear out of focus?

The originals from this group are even darker when compared to the original above, but I tried to lighten them up a little, and then I changed them to black and white with hopes that it would improve the lighting.

As we carefully made our way out of the big tree, an elderly woman gasped, “oh my gosh, a bride!” I was in heels on ice, but I looked up, and saw a huge huge smile and a camera. She asked if we could take a photo together, and I posed and laughed with her. It’s funny to think a woman I don’t know has a photo of us on my wedding day.

We moved on to our reception site, and I was so excited to see how things had come together. We had our reception at Donovan Pavilion, a building that’s actually owned by the town but is reserved for private events. We pulled up, and my heartbeat raced.

I knew everything was planned, but I also knew that the last time I saw the space, it wasn’t exactly ready for guests. At that point, our guests had been there for at least an hour for cocktails. I hoped that all the details were in place.

I honestly believe that brides (specifically Weddingbee readers) have high expectations for our vendors, because we’ve seen the cream of the crop. *Typically (not always), our grooms notice the time we devote to the details. I looked at Champ before we walked into our venue, and I could tell he knew how much this meant to me. In fact, I believe that a few of our mutual decisions (lights, menu, etc) motivated him to actually care about the “details”, which allowed us to appreciate the reception that much more.

The wedding party was announced as we walked into the pavilion.

My good friend Sandy and Champ’s college buddy Todd:

My wise, wise older brother and my childhood friend Kristen:

My cousin (who the next day took our portraits) and our college friend Ben.

And lastly, my fun, lovely maid of honor KC and Champ’s equally crazy best-man Clenet.

So, our wedding party had entered and we were next! The doors opened, we were announced, everyone was clapping, and suddenly I looked at our cake before we passed it. I smiled, but thought, OH-EM-GEE they messed up our cake! There was supposed to be a monogram on it, and I really thought that naturally, because of the space, the cake would be the first impression when our guests entered the building. Instead, the first thing we all saw was literally the back of cake- seams of the ribbon and the linens on the table. Even our photographer took photos of the cake as if this were the front. D’oh!

(I’ll show you the front of the cake soon, but I’ll assure you that it would have been much better if the front of the cake were a showcase.)

Cake monogram or no cake monogram, we passed the entryway to greet our guests. I couldn’t believe that all my dreams and plans had really become a reality. I think it’s a huge realization a bride can feel after we’ve planned so much and we’re finally able to see the results. It’s an insanely wonderful feeling, right?!

With a whirlwind of excitement, we quickly made it to the front of the building where we lined up near the dance floor.

Before we sat down to eat I wanted to mingle just a bit with our guests, so as we made our way to the table, I had a chance to say hello to my sister in law.

This might be one of my favorite pictures of the night. We’re actually just sitting down at our table, and I’m making sure we’re in the right spot, but it looks like I’m all out of whack about a silly detail. Bridezilla moment!

Next up, we eat, toast, cut the cake, and celebrate!

Previously:

Champ Wedding: A Few Portraits, and we’re Official!
Champ Wedding: The Ceremony
Champ Wedding: It’s Time!
Champ Wedding: Get Me to the Church!
Champ Wedding: Becoming the Bride
Champ Wedding: Pants Party
Champ Wedding: Girls Get Ready
Champ Wedding: Gift Exchange
Champ Wedding: Perfect day to Get Hitched!
Champ Wedding: Antlers and a Sing-Along
Champ Wedding: Practice Run
Champ Wedding: Quick Visit to the County Jail
Champ Wedding: Finally in Colorado