Tell us a little about yourselves!
Trevor and I met the day we moved in for college. After meeting at a party, he gave me a piggyback ride back to campus. Caroline played lacrosse and studied fashion, while Trevor played hockey and studied finance. We’ve been together for 9 years, and our love has always been easy and calming. Loving Trevor has felt like home—since I fell in love with him at 19 to when we became husband and wife at 28.
After graduating college, we lived in San Francisco, then did long-distance for three years, with a brief break to grow individually. Now, we live in Boulder, Colorado, with our rescue pup. We’ve always had a love for nature and being active. We got engaged in May 2023 at Berthoud Pass while backcountry skiing. It only made sense for us to get married outdoors, surrounded by beautiful Aspen trees, wildflowers, mountains, and our favorite people.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
Crested Butte has always been our favorite place. Often called “the last great ski town,” it still retains the charm of a small mountain town. When we were deciding where to get married, we considered every option—a big wedding on the East Coast, a small gathering of 30 people in Italy, and an intimate wedding in Crested Butte. We went back and forth for about six months, feeling the pressure to have a more “traditional” wedding. One night, Trevor and I asked each other what our perfect wedding would look like, free from the expectations of a stereotypical wedding. At that point, it was clear—it had to be Crested Butte, with our immediate family, during wildflower season.
How many guests did you have?
We had 8 guests—our parents, Caroline’s brother and his fiancée, and Trevor’s sister and her boyfriend. We wanted an intimate wedding that felt like a week-long vacation, with two families becoming one. We all stayed in one big house for the week, creating lifelong memories.
Our ceremony began with Trevor’s mom giving a beautiful reading and the burning of sage. Caroline’s brother officiated our wedding and did so by walking us through the history of our love story. He asked us both separately to send him our versions of our life story through our own eyes. He then went back and forth, sharing each chapter of our journey: college, San Francisco, long distance, breakup, getting back together, engagement, and our future as husband and wife.
Before we said “I do,” we incorporated an Irish tradition: a ring-warming ceremony. One by one, our guests held and warmed our wedding rings, infusing them with love and blessings. This was such a special moment for Trevor and me, as we took in the ceremony, the people with us, and their support and love.
What was your budget?
$15k.
Tell us about your outfits.
I had a difficult time finding my wedding dress. I've always loved vintage and unique items, and it was important to me to feel that connection in my wedding dress. I tried on many beautiful dresses, but none of them felt like me. When I tried on the Sasha dress by Danielle Frankel, I immediately knew it was the one. It was the perfect combination of vintage-inspired, elegant, simple yet detailed, and sexy—my dream dress. I considered pairing it with funky shoes but ended up going with a simple, comfortable pointed kitten heel from Cole Haan. I wore faux pearl drop earrings because I didn’t want to take away from the focal point of the dress—the neckline.
Trevor custom-designed his suit with SuitSupply, adding mother-of-pearl buttons, my initials embroidered inside the chest, and our wedding date hidden under the collar. He also wore the most beautiful shoes I’ve ever seen, from Velasca.
For our portraits with the horses, I wore a fabulous horse sweater from Nudie Jeans, paired with white jeans from Citizens of Humanity that I intentionally got two sizes too big for an oversized look. I finished the outfit with silver metallic cowgirl boots from Tecovas. Trevor and I wore the custom cowboy hats we made the night before at Bjorkstam Hat Co. We had a private event there, where everyone created custom hats, listened to music, and drank beers—it was such a fun experience. I also wore an amazing dress from Damson Madder that I got from Anthropologie, paired with a vintage pair of red cowgirl boots I thrifted 10 years ago.
Many of Trevor’s outfits were from J.Crew and Banana Republic.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
We have been together for 9 years, so when thinking about our wedding, the most important thing was giving our families the opportunity to create memories together and truly become one. Trevor’s family lives in New Jersey and mine is in California, so it’s hard for us all to get together. We wanted our wedding to feel like a week-long vacation, filled with love and laughter. We spent the week whitewater rafting, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, designing custom cowboy hats in town, and spending time at the home we all stayed at together. It was truly the most special week, spent in our favorite place with our favorite people.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
I have always loved vintage items and sustainability. I've been thrifting for as long as I can remember, so it was important to find ways to incorporate that love into our wedding. We had thrifted glassware at our cocktail hour, thrifted blankets on the haystacks our guests sat on during the ceremony, thrifted china and dinnerware at our reception, and many thrifted accessories. My mom thrifted these beautiful candelabras we had at our reception, as well as the bud vases. We also thrifted our linens and had them embroidered by a local woman. One of our welcome gifts were bandanas I sourced from an estate sale years ago, which we had embroidered with everyone’s names. I also sourced a vintage tea towel from Etsy that already had the letter "T" embroidered on it. We had everyone sign it with washable markers, then got it embroidered. (We plan on framing it in a shadow box above our bed.) My earrings for the ceremony were thrifted, and I thrifted many of the items for our flat lays.
Trevor and I also wanted to incorporate the history of our love. I had seen an image on Pinterest of notes pinned on a tree and immediately knew I had to replicate it. Our ceremony site was in a field surrounded by aspen trees, so it was perfect. I gathered all of our cards and letters over the years, thrifted some ribbon, and we pinned them in the aspen trees at our ceremony site. Next to the trees
were flower arrangements made by my mom, using flowers we picked on the side of the road, florals from Trader Joe’s over 100 miles away, and florals from our florist. We also had a vintage table I got off Facebook Marketplace, with thrifted tablecloths, and a large bottle of champagne my brother and sister-in-law gifted us on the day of our engagement. We used a variety of vintage glassware that my mom and I thrifted to toast with after we walked down the aisle. Oh, and of course, we had a bucket of beers too. This entire set up was one of my favorite details from our wedding.
Overall, we wanted our wedding to feel like Caroline and Trevor, not just Caroline or just Trevor. We were surrounded by nature—by Aspen trees and mountains (that’s Trevor)—and then we had the carefully curated vintage details (that’s Caroline).
Any tips for couples getting married?
When you're making decisions or others are offering their opinions, just remember why you're getting married. Stay true to what is important to the two of you. The day will be special and amazing, no matter what.
Also, make wedding planning fun for you and your partner. Trevor and I would go to our favorite brewery every week, bring our laptops and a list of things to do, and enjoy our favorite beers while checking things off. It became a highlight of our week, and we always looked forward to it.
On your wedding day, make sure to look around and take it all in. Take a moment to appreciate all the people who are there to celebrate you and your partner. I made sure to pause several times throughout the day to watch everyone laugh, hug, cry, and create memories. Those moments are the ones I will remember and cherish forever.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
The day before we got married, Trevor and I had portraits at sunrise with two horses in a field. What you don’t know is the story behind how it all came together. Trevor and I had always visited Crested Butte in the winters, but never in the summers, so we didn’t know much about the local ranches. After reaching out to every ranch we could find on Google, most either said no or were out of our budget. Naturally, the next reasonable step was to join local Facebook groups in hopes that someone might have recommendations. Many people commented, but none of their suggestions worked out—except for one.
We connected with a wonderful rancher who was willing to bring a trailer with two horses to a random hill on the side of a dirt road. This was the same road Trevor and I had driven past two days earlier when we were heading from Boulder to Crested Butte for our wedding, and we had pinned the spot to send to him. The man was so kind, generous, and flexible that, after the portraits, we asked if we could follow him to his ranch and take four bales of hay to use as seats for our ceremony (yes, our wedding was the next day, and no, we didn’t have a backup plan for chairs).
We also surprised everyone with “Sweet Caroline,” played on the harp by a live harpist, as the song I walked down the aisle to.
I have a fun story about how our photographer, Ally Rabon, and I got connected. I post thrift hauls on TikTok, and she came across one of them. She then reached out, asking if Trevor and I would be interested in doing a photoshoot to help build her portfolio. We immediately became friends, and she is/was so talented that it was a no-brainer she would be the one to capture our wedding week.
What makes Ally so special is that she feels like family. When you have such an intimate wedding with so few people, you might worry that it could feel awkward or invasive, but it was the complete opposite. Now, my sister-in-law is going to use her for her wedding!
My biggest advice is to find a photographer and vendors that you truly click with. I was lucky that Ally Rabon felt like family.
Photography & Film: Ally Rabon Photo @allyrabonphoto | Planning & Styling: by Caroline | Flora: We Floral Co. @wefloralco | Ceremony Location: Woods Walk - Crested Butte Colorado | Reception Location: Private Home | Celebrant: Robert Ricci (Caroline’s Brother) | Makeup: by Caroline | Hair:
By Caroline's sisters in law | Catering + Beverages: Alpen Chef @alpenchef | Cake: Cake Me Away
Colorado @cakemeawaycolorado | Stationery: by Caroline | Entertainment: Elope Music @elope_music | Wedding Dress: Danielle Frankel @daniellefrankelstudio | Reception Dress: Reformation @reformation |
Suit: Suit Supply @suitsupply | Horseback Riding Outfits: Damson Madder @damsonmadder (Mini Dress), Nudie Jeans @nudiejeans (Sweater), Boots (Thrifted), Tecovas @tecovas (Silver Boots) | Engagement Ring & Trevor's Wedding Ring: Jenna Katz @jenna_katz | Wedding Rings: 100 Ways Jewelry @100waysjewelry | Shoes: Cole Haan @colehaan (Caroline) & Velasca @velascamilano (Trevor) | Signet Ring (Trevor): Starling Custom @starling | Cowboy Hats: Bjorkstam Hat Co. @bjorkstamhatco | Vintage Cufflinks: Ruby Lane @rubylanecom