Sidny and Charlie's Mountain Lake Wedding

Sidny and Charlie were another COVID couple who made the decision to postpone their wedding from 2020 to 2021. Though they legally got married last fall in New York State it was important to them to hold a larger wedding celebration so they could incorporate Jewish traditions into their day, and share that celebration with their family and friends.

Their wedding took place at Grand Lake Lodge which was thankfully spared when they east troublesome fire roared through the mountains around grand lake in October 2020.

This piece of history is one of my favorite spots in Colorado. And I’m so grateful that we were all able to come together on a beautiful July day to celebrate Sidny and Charlie.

Sidny and Charlie started their day in separate cabins where they surround themselves with a large group of their closest friends and spent the morning laughing, eating, and helping each other get ready. While they didn’t officially call their friends their wedding party, they honored them as important people in their lives with special gifts.

Sidny asked all of her special girls to wear floral dresses of their own choosing, and she gave them bracelets and personalized mugs. And Charlie chose gifts recognizing his friends as part of the Green Monster wedding crew.

We chose a spot in the pine trees for Sidny and Charlie‘s first look. It was technically their second first look, since Sidny wore the same dress for their wedding last year. But this time she embellished it with a belt to make it special for this day. With laughs and their best friends looking on, they saw each other for the first time on their Colorado wedding day.

We took a few minutes for some portraits at the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park, but soon met up with their wedding party and family to sign the Ketubah and kick off their wedding ceremony.

Their ceremony at Nuptial Knoll featured a beautiful Chuppah decorated with flowers and chiffon, and was held up by two of Charlie‘s friends. Their ceremony featured the seven circles, we’re Sidny and Charlie walked around each other. They also did the seven blessings, and chose to have important people in their lives share their own blessings at the altar with them. After the traditional Jewish ring exchange, their personal vows, and the stomping of the glass, it was time to yell “mazel tov!” as Sidny and Charlie walked back down the aisle in a shower of flower petals.

The reception kicked off in the beautiful open air pavilion surrounded by Aspen trees and featuring views of the lakes. Sweetly Paired knocked the decor out of the park and the table linens, place settings, and florals brought a heightened mountain elegance to the space.

The toasts from family members were heartfelt and then Sidny and Charlie said a few words. Their speech concluded with “we had a longer speech prepared but we wanna dance!”. The rest of the evening with spent on the dance floor where the DJ got the party started and it didn’t stop all night long.

When it was time for the hora, everyone joined in, and the energy was electric.

This wedding day was magical and I’m so happy to have spent the day celebrating these wonderful humans!