Black Tie Ranch Wedding in Aspen | SMP Feature + Wedding Recap

We are thrilled to announce our very own lead planner Lindsay + Ken’s wedding is on the front page of Style Me Pretty today! We thought it would be fun for you all to hear about her pretty day directly from her! Without further ado, here’s Lindsay with all the details about her gorgeous wedding in Aspen, Colorado!

I am so thrilled to share my behind the scenes into the most magical weekend! Our relationship started under the 6th train subway tracks in The Bronx, New York with a fireball shot, a bag of lollipops and New York Yankees victory. In May of 2018, my best friend and I went to a Yankees game, her last before she moved back to Colorado to go to law school. After the game, she convinced me to go to Stan’s, the local pre and post-game bar for “just one drink…” and there was Ken, with his brother, his friend and a giant bag of Dum-Dum suckers.” After asking to share a table, we struck up a conversation, exchanged numbers, a couple Dum-Dum’s and a kiss.

Two years later, we moved from New York City to my home state of Colorado, where I started as a lead planner here at Calluna Events! When the pandemic hit, we didn’t get to do as much exploring as we wanted to in the first 6 months of living there but the first “mountain-town” we visited together was Aspen, Colorado and we both fell in love with its charm, culinary scene and views. When we surprised my mom with a trip to Napa for her birthday, Ken decided to take advantage of our time together in Napa and propose. I planned a family photoshoot, which is a family tradition when we travel, we treat it as our sort of souvenir. Ken took advantage of the pre-planned “family photoshoot”and to my complete shock, got down on one knee in the most beautiful vineyard and asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. It was the most perfect morning.

When planning our wedding, we knew there was only one place in Colorado we wanted to say “I do” and that was to head back to Aspen for a black-tie, ranch wedding surrounded by picturesque Aspen trees and views of the Maroon Bells. Since I plan weddings professionally, I immediately knew I wanted a celebration at a venue where I had never planned a wedding at before. While on a site visit (for another couple) before I was engaged, I fell in love with T-Lazy-7 Ranch. Its stunning views and the ability to create the entire environment from the ground up made it the perfect venue to create our dream wedding.

Planning your own wedding in the midst of one of the busiest wedding seasons of my career was definitely not a task for the faint of heart. But to get to share my passion for design and give our friends and family from all over the country a glimpse into what I get to create for other families, was really special. I was so thrilled how everything turned out. It truly was our dream wedding.

Our weekend kicked off with a welcome party at Silver City Aspen in downtown Aspen complete with BBQ, signature old fashioned cocktails, wild west inspired florals and line dancing to Shania Twain on the jukebox before the Black-Tie celebration in the meadows of the Ranch. We really wanted a fun, casual, welcome party with great food, great drinks and great music. To see all our friends and family in our favorite place was really the best way to kick off the weekend.

For the wedding day, I designed the color palette to be completely neutral tones so that the venue and nature surrounding us could really shine! Because of my job, I had a pretty good idea of all the vendors that I wanted to help bring our vision to life. I started by getting my dream Carolina Herrera gown at Little White Dress. Being a planner, I had never been the one to try on wedding dresses. I had no idea what I wanted or what I would look good in but the second I put on my gown, I knew it was the one!

The ceremony decor was simple but dramatic as I wanted to keep the focus on the stunning backdrop so we opted for an aisle full of flowers, designed by the talented ladies at Wandering Poppy Co. and two simple acrylic pedestals at the altar that complimented the ghost chairs. We wanted to focus on the two of us, and the view so we opted to have our bridal party sit in the first row with our family.

For the ceremony, which was officiated by my brother, we incorporated lots of references to our love of food and travel and of course baseball. I surprised Ken with a custom calligraphy designed “home plate” for us to stand over at the altar. One of my favorite quotes is, “In baseball, as in life, all important things happen at home” and as a nod to where we met, our shared love of baseball and the importance of creating a home and life together, it was one of my favorite details of the day.”

After we walked up the aisle to New York, New York by Frank Sinatra, another nod to Yankees baseball, played live by the brass section of Taylor Pace Orchestra, guests headed to cocktail hour. Another really important feature for the us was the food. We really wanted to have an abundant cocktail hour featuring some of our favorite foods and things that our guests hadn’t seen at a wedding before. One of my favorite elements was the roving burrata bar I conceptualized with Catering by Design, where our guests could create the own burrata dish featuring toppings like tomatoes, pesto, balsamic glaze, chilled asparagus and prosciutto. It was such a fun interactive element and everyone loved it! We also incorporated a late night New York Cheesecake bar and New Haven “Apizza” station, a nod to the our east coast roots.

Another favorite detail was the guest books where guests signed their “autograph” onto a baseball and threw it into a custom designed baseball bucket for the couple to read and display in their house.

Guests also found their way to their seats from custom painted dice, a nod to a family game that’s been in Ken’s family for decades. The only DIY element I wanted at my wedding were these custom dice. When Ken and I first met, he taught me how to play his family game, simply called “dice” and so we sanded, primed and painted dice to for guests to find their seats and paired it with a sign that said “Roll Call”, it was one of my favorite details of the day.

Underneath the sailcloth tent, we wanted to create simple, modern elegance. The floral chandelier above the dance floor was one of my favorite elements. It was so unique and something I hadn’t ever seen before. It was paired with simple dinnerware, textured linens from Nuage Designs Inc. and custom menus by Scarlet Gilia Creative.

Music has always been really important and nothing beats an incredible band. We hired Taylor Pace of the Jordan Kahn Music Company who kept the dance floor packed the entire night. Our friends couldn’t stop talking about the band. They are truly one of the best entertainment bands you could have, and it was so important to keep our dance floor packed all night! I couldn’t have imagined our night without them!

To all the incredible vendors who were a part of our special day, thank you will never be enough. You are all truly the most talented people and it was such an honor to work!

Vendor Credits

As seen on Style Me Pretty

Wedding Planner | Lindsay Hayden of Calluna Events

Venue | T-Lazy-7 Ranch

Photography | Vanessa Tierney

Videography | Reagan Lynn Films

Catering | Catering by Design

Tenting | Sperry Tents Colorado

Ceremony Musicians | Silver City Strings

Floral Designer | Wandering Poppy Co.

Rentals | Colorado Party Rentals

Specialty Rentals | Hazel Grove Rentals