Real Wedding: Alexandra + Josh :: Eco-Friendly Mountain Wedding in Cicada

From the bride:

My experience with a&be was unbelievable and frankly hard to put in words. I was in love with my dress, the accessories, and how incredible the staff was in taking care of me and making the entire journey special.

Josh and I wanted to try to reduce our footprint as much as possible with our wedding. We researched how to have a green wedding (in the ways that we could), and the biggest challenge we took on was to not use a single paper product, and if we did it would have to be recycled. I got incredibly crafty and made all items that are normally paper products into chalkboard signs. We decided we had to think sustainable with our flowers. We researched how often flowers get thrown out the next day or at times use lots of chemicals. We chose to go with a dried florist. All centerpieces and bouquets were dried flowers. It was so special to send our wedding party and close friends home with a centerpiece or bouquet as a keepsake from the wedding. I also made roses out of old sheet music for the boutonnieres and to be sprinkled around the centerpieces. Along with many other green decisions, I also had my bridesmaids choose their own dress in a shade of grey, to prevent it from being something they would never wear again.

Beyond having an eco friendly wedding, we wanted to bring as many personal details into our wedding as possible. We incorporated several of our passions into the day: music, craft beer, aspen trees, our beloved boxer Gus, and the message of accepting all people of all beliefs and backgrounds. We wanted aspen trees in fall to be a backdrop for our wedding, especially since Josh proposed in an aspen grove.  We didn't want to go too literal with the fall theme, so just incorporated colors into the flowers and ceremony. We wanted the fall mountain surroundings to speak for itself. Aspen trees to us, represent not just our love, but our community that supports our love. At our rehearsal dinner, we asked our wedding party to write a message on a set of prayer flags that I made, which is what hung on the aspen arch we got married under. We also planted an aspen tree to represent our love during the ceremony.

Dress: Cicada Bridal, from a&be of course :)
Hairpiece and sash: Sara Gabriel
Flowers: Pavan Floral (found on Etsy for their custom dried bouquets
Venue: Marys Lake Lodge in Estes Park
Photographer: Marianne Brown
Videographer: Olena Films  https://vimeo.com/192679545