“Mitch and I live in Fort Collins, Colorado – originally from North Carolina, but we love everything about Colorado; the skiing, fly fishing, rafting, all the things. When we got engaged we first looked at venues in the Charlotte area back home, but both felt that we’d really like to get married in the mountains in Colorado, but nothing seemed to be available. We had inquired at The Pavilion at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs in Buena Vista, Colorado with no luck on availability – but they later reached back out saying there was a cancellation on September 14th and we jumped on it! Buena Vista is one of the most special places to us, we worked at a summer camp in Buena Vista for many years, take trips with our friends in Buena Vista, Mitch hunts their in the fall, and so much more to make this one of our favorite spots. We were SO excited and happy to finally have a spot and couldn’t wait to make our wedding day the biggest party. It was super important to us that the weekend felt authentic to us and that our guests, many of whom were traveling in from North Carolina, had a true taste of Buena Vista and it became a place they could love too! We kicked the weekend off by inviting our friends to climb with us which we were able to do through Noah’s Ark Whitewater Rafting. We then had a ‘Colorado chic’ rehearsal dinner and welcome party at the Terrace on Main. We encouraged our guests to wear their cocktail dresses/button downs paired with their cowboy boots and a hat. It was SO fun to enjoy the night with the best drinks and surrounded by the mountains in the heart of Buena Vista. The excitement was unreal and we could not wait for the next day. Our wedding day was the best day of our lives. Everything about it was PERFECT. Each vendor made everything about our day so dreamy. We were beyond nervous for our first look, which is hilarious looking back, but after we saw each other it was like the party began instantly. The ceremony was everything we could have wanted, officiated by one of our best friends, Ben McDaniel, who has known us since before we even started dating. We were SO giddy during our portraits after the ceremony with a marg and mule in hand and a cigar to celebrate for a minute solo. Our band Whitewater Ramble was maybe the best decision we’ve ever made, they kept the party going all night. One of the best parts of the reception was our cigar bar. We love to ‘smoke a stogie’ with our friends and had the best time by the fire pits at the Pavilion with the river flowing in the background and music playing inside.”
– Ashton, the bride
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