Tell us a little about yourselves!
We live and work in New York City with our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Blue. After an epic first date three years ago, we have been inseparable ever since. We always connected on our love of art, design, nature, live music, travel and adventure. Blair is a creative director and Chelsey is an events and experiential lead at Apple, so we both had uniquely appropriate skill sets that we were able to tap into while planning our wedding together.
We had been kicking around the idea of starting a creative project together for the last few years, and the various design and decor elements we executed at our wedding ended up being first a proof of concept on our collaboration. We are launching an art and interiors project called Casa Dynamique now that the wedding planning is behind us.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
Despite our city life, we both feel most grounded in nature. When we imagined our wedding, we knew we wanted to get married somewhere with a wild, natural backdrop. Originally we were looking to do the wedding in the mountains near Keystone, Colorado because it’s a special place to us and we visit often, but we had a hard time finding an available venue that wasn’t a ski lodge vibe.
We were so excited to find the Red Earth Venue in Moab, Utah, as it’s truly immersed in nature — right outside the entrance to Canyonlands National Park. The reception space, “The Glass House” has almost fully glass walls, so even when you’re inside, you still experience the insane views of the red rocks that surround the building.
Moab actually made a lot of sense to our love story as well, as it’s where we went on our first road trip and where Blair asked Chelsey to be his girlfriend. We remembered the insane scale and beauty when we visited Arches National Park for the first time, and knew it would be a unique and magical place for our family and friends to have an opportunity to visit.
How many guests did you have?
We wanted a small, destination-style wedding, and had 50 guests.
What was your budget?
While we did not end up sticking to our budget exactly, we were very specific about the things we were willing to splurge on versus figure out a way to either DIY or just cut all together.
Tell us about your outfits.
Chelsey - For my ceremony dress, I wanted something timeless with a bit of edge. Since the surrounding area was so grand, I also didn’t want to get lost in a slinky silhouette. I knew I wanted a ballgown-style skirt, and I was loving the drop-waist dresses that have been popular lately. The Floure Studio dress I ended up with totally fit the bill - it was actually the first wedding dress I tried on. I kept jewelry minimal with little tear drop white sapphires from Dorsey.
My second party dress was a fully beaded gown by Khya. I bought it secondhand and planned on updating the dress a lot - my alterations person added a floor length lining to the skirt, and we completely redesigned the sleeves and straps, transforming the dress to something one-of-a-kind. The necklace was a clear beaded Victorian choker by Paula Nadal.
Blair - I was going for a Rock and Roll cowboy vibe…Mick Jagger meets Kris Kristofferson. I bought my Tuxedo at Saint Laurent and then had the pants tailored to match my favorite Wrangler Rancher Dress Jeans. I wore Black Dan Post dress boots with my Tux and some pearl cufflinks that once belonged to my grandfather.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
Most importantly, we wanted our wedding to feel like an honest and heartfelt celebration of our love for one another. We also wanted the choices throughout the event to feel intentional and artful, and to be reflections of the things that we find beautiful about the world.
We created pretty robust mood boards and creative decks for our partners that outlined the vision we had for each part of the ceremony — florals, table scapes, lighting, serveware, and food presentation.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
To make the event really feel like us, we wanted to make thoughtful and interesting nods to some of our favorite artists and designers. We weren’t going that big with the decor budget, so the things that we did do needed to be impactful.
While we designed everything ourselves, the invites, website, menus, our logo, etc., were all inspired by the work Mr. Andre did for one of our favorite hotel groups in France, Hotel Amour. We basically recreated our West Village living room as a seating vignette on the exterior pavilion - an eclectic mix of Scandinavian furniture, red oriental rugs, Gohar World surrealist candles, Noguchi style paper lighting that we wanted to look like the moon suspended high in the sky. The fabric installation surrounding the vignette was inspired by land artists Christo and Jean-Claude’s “The Valley Curtain.”
Chelsey also collects vintage silver, so we knew we wanted to incorporate that in some way. We couldn’t find a rental vendor who had the type of items we were looking for in the area, so in an admittedly very extra move, we ended up bringing the entire collection of silver candlesticks and trays in two suitcases from New York. TSA did in fact search the bags.
Blair was in bands and worked as a Dj when he was younger and we bonded early on over hyper niche playlists we had created and esoteric bands that we loved. We wanted to create a tonal sonic palette that enhanced the experience of each individual part of the night, from the arrivals, ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Communicate, listen, and try your best to find joy in the decisions that you make so the planning process can bring you closer together. Try not to compare yourself or what you’re doing to others — and don’t procrastinate!
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
Our photographer Emily Klarer was amazing to work with. She’s local to Moab, so she knows how to shoot this area so expertly. She brought so much artistry and positive energy to the celebration. Her photos have a timeless quality and we loved that she incorporated film photography into her repertoire. We have so many good photos it’s actually overwhelming!
Our florist, Farmyard Moab went above and beyond to help us achieve some of the hyper-specific design ideas we wanted to bring to life. She also grows a lot of the florals she uses in her own backyard, which was really special - as we wanted lots of local wildflowers and in-season blooms to best complement the surroundings and stand up in the heat. The ground floral “cloud” that framed our ceremony was really beautiful.
We had this idea that having a two-step dance lesson would be a fun way to incorporate Blair’s Texas roots and an interactive way to get everyone up and dancing after dinner. We ended up bringing Vanessa from Double or Nothing Two Step in from Austin - she teaches at the major honky tonks there, and it was a unique way to give our friends and family an Austin-authentic experience in the Utah desert.
We’re both vegan, and we had a really hard time finding a catering company who we felt could really nail our request for a mostly plant based menu. We ended up finding Farm to Fingers Catering out of Durango, Colorado. She was so easy to collaborate with and helped complete our vision for fresh, colorful, summery dishes and cocktails. We were also so lucky to find a great local Moab baker, Dailey Cakes who made us a gorgeous and delicious vegan wedding cake.
Our wedding planner Cait from Kosi Events kept us on track and organized, which was so key as we ended up planning the entire wedding in six months and crammed a lot of to-dos in a short period of time.
Photographer: Emily Klarer Photography @emilyklarerphotography | Planning: Kosi Events
@kosievents | Flora: Farmyard Moab @farmyardmoab | Ceremony & Reception Location: Red Earth Venue @theredearthvenue | Celebrant: Monumental Arizona Weddings @monumentalarizonaweddings | Hire: Kosi Rentals @kosirentals / Red Earth Venue @theredearthvenue | HMUA: Chelsey did her own | Catering & Beverages: Farm to Fingers @farmtofingersgrazing | Cake: Dailey Cakes @dailey.cakes | Entertainment: Double or Nothing Two Step @doubleornothingtwostep |
Dress: Floure Studio @flourestudio and Khya. @khyastudios | Suit: Saint Laurent @ysl | Engagement Ring: Erstwhile @erstwhilejewelry | Wedding Rings: Anna Sheffield @annasheffield | Shoes: (Blair) Dan
Post Cowboy Boots | Earrings: Dorsey @dorseyofficial | Necklace: Paula Nadal@paulanadal _official