A Mountain Wedding, A Grand Wedding Magazine

A Mountain Wedding

Natalie & Dusty

Despite living in Houston, Dusty and I wanted a mountain wedding. I suggested Jackson Hole as the perfect place to gather our families and celebrate our marriage. Once we settled on the destination, we started looking for a venue that felt intimate but could accommodate all of our family members in one place. We found just that place: Moose Creek Ranch in Teton Valley, Idaho, just over Teton Pass from Jackson. We reserved the ranch for the weekend and organized a bunch of activities for our guests, including on-site horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and a golf outing.

Planning our destination wedding proved to be challenging, so I enlisted the help of Lovely Day Events to make sure that everything went smoothly. In preparation, I searched online and reviewed A Grand Wedding to find vendor suggestions. I booked everything sight-unseen and food-untasted, and I loved every decision I made, as the food, music, and flowers were all better than I could have imagined.

When it came to wedding decor, Dusty and I knew we wanted to focus on our love of nature. The rustic, woodsy feel of Moose Creek Ranch and the classic-looking barn helped us bring our vision to life. I used antlers, large wooden slabs, wild moss, green mason jars filled with wildflowers, and burlap table runners to decorate.

The ceremony took place in a sagebrush field with the mountains as our backdrop and sixty of our closest friends and family members as our witnesses. After the ceremony, Judd Grossman played background music while guests snacked on stuffed mushrooms, lemon-dill chicken skewers, and fried pickles, and quenched their thirst with refreshing sweet tea and lemonade. For dinner, we enjoyed seared trout and flank steak along with side dishes that are favorites of ours—French green beans and macaroni and cheese. Our guests indulged in a variety of treats from our dessert bar, including red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, candied pecan pies, cupcakes, and root beer floats.

To cap off an unbelievable night, Judd serenaded us with “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison. Before long, our wedding guests joined in; it was a moment that neither of us will soon forget.