Feature | Family Focused Colorado Wedding

November 8, 2021

intimate carbondale colorado private ranch wedding

We’re excited to finally share one of our favorite intimate wedding days. Jayne and Thomas’s wedding day was one built on spending an intentional day with their families. Before viewing all the beauty of this celebration here are a few words from our bride Jayne about the intentionality behind all aspects of her wedding day.

Destination

Hawk Ridge Ranch holds a special place in Thomas’s heart so it was the perfect place for Thomas and I to say “I Do”! Thomas’s family has owned the ranch since the 90s, so Thomas grew up almost living there in the summers. It was a place for his family who lives all around the U.S. to spend time together as a whole. Unfortunately, after his paternal grandfather passed, the family decided to sell the ranch. So, hosting our ceremony at the ranch was the perfect way to say goodbye to the property.

Style

My dress is from a bridal shop in Denver, Emma and Grace Bridal. It is custom from the bridal shop itself. It was the dress I have been dreaming of for years. I thought the boots were perfect to tie together the ranch theme from Free People. Thomas’s suit is from Brooks Brothers along with his Tecova cowboy boots and belt. His cuff links were a gift from his mother.

Wedding stylist Taylor Dawn, planner Knotted Events, and floral stylist Alli J Creative did the most incredible job of helping us plan and style our family-focused celebration.

Family

Family is the most important thing with us. Thomas is originally from Florence, Alabama and I am from Atlanta, Georgia. We started dating towards the end of college and then moved away from both of our hometowns, so our families actually have never met prior to our wedding. When we were planning our wedding, we decided it would be most special to Thomas and me to have a weekend devoted to the joining of our families. We have had and will have multiple weddings this year that most likely will have the same layout in terms of how the day goes and we wanted to step away from that. We wanted to step away from the production aspects of weddings and truly just celebrate our union with each other and our closest friends and family in an intentional and beautiful way.

Important Elements

Too many to count! I wore my late paternal grandmother’s engagement ring on my right ring finger during the ceremony. Thomas’s wedding band was his late maternal grandfather’s. His mother has been wearing it since his passing. That same grandfather spent time in Japan for military service and Thomas’s mother gifted us a book and a matchbox that he brought back after his time there. It’s so special to us because my late paternal grandmother is originally from Japan, so having that as a part of our details meant a lot to me. It felt like a piece of her was there with us that day. My maternal grandmother gave me a beautiful heart-shaped locket that my late grandfather gave her on their wedding day.

Building an Intentional Wedding Day

The best advice we can give is to remember that a wedding isn’t a production, but a celebration of your relationship. In terms of COVID, run with the freedoms that it secretly placed on this industry. Take liberty and do exactly what you want to do. We now don’t have the pressure to choose what has always been. COVID opened up unique opportunities for us and didn’t necessarily hinder us (within the wedding world, of course). And most of all soak in every minute!

Scroll below to see our favorite moments from Jayne and Thomas’s wedding day. And a huge thank you to the Anti-Bride for featuring this intimate day.