Eclectic Wedding at Willow Creek Cabin

Montana Real Wedding

Cole and I met in the fall of 2010, and through our mutual love of foxes and fire spinning, we quickly became the best of friends. We would travel to and from our prospective towns of Helena and Bozeman to attend concerts and parties, but basically to find any excuse to spend time with our friends and each other. The whole time, Cole had a huge foxy crush on me, but I was too oblivious to even realize! It took him almost a year to confess his feelings to me, and I’m happy to report that almost a year after that, I got to be the first to say ‘I love you!’

Since then it’s felt like we’ve had a lifetime of adventures in just a few short years. From backpacking, hunting and fishing trips, bike rides, Burning Man, throwing music events across the state, and traveling all over the country and beyond, we continue to grow closer every year. Cole proposed in September of 2017 with his mother’s tenth-anniversary ring, at our most treasured backpacking spot in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness, and once again, I somehow did not see it coming!

For our wedding we knew that we wanted a few key things: somewhere we could have all our friends and family to stay and relax for the whole weekend, where we could bring our dogs, and where we could have an all-night dance party for our DJ friends. As many of you know or will find out, it’s hard to find this type of thing with a small budget. We lucked out by finding Willow Creek Cabins in White Sulphur Springs, one of our favorite small towns, and immediately knew the venue was a perfect fit.

As a designer who hadn’t attended many weddings, I found myself over-thinking on what a wedding is supposed to look like, and quickly became excited but overwhelmed. By many counts, we are eclectic as they come – Techno DJ-ing, fire spinning, mountain biking, secretly pop-country loving people – how do you fit this into a wedding mold? What I realize now is that no wedding has to look or feel a certain way, what was important is that it was true to who we are and what we love, which is our friends and family.

And after it was all put together, it was just as eclectic as us! From the “fancy ranch” dress code to the ranch dressing fondue fountain. The open hot dog bar, surprise choreographed first dance country two-step, and the late-night mac and cheese were all a huge hit! If it weren’t for all of our friends and families, we never could have pulled this off. Everyone was a wealth of advice and encouragement, and everyone helped us with the absurd amount of DIY projects I thought we could take on.

My advice for brides to be would be to plan ahead! The sooner you get the major decisions made- such as your venue, food, and photographer – the less stressed you’ll be down the line and will help assure you are able to book who you want! Also, ask your family and friends to help get things done. Everyone wants to contribute to your special day in a meaningful way – delegating jobs and tasks will make things much easier!

– The Bride, Amanda

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