Ali Riddel and Brett Hartley
July 23rd, 2011
Private Estate North of Ketchum
July 23rd, 2011
Private Estate North of Ketchum
After meeting on a Yosemite backpacking trip with mutual friends and spending time together as friends, this outdoor-loving couple eventually realized that they had met the love of their lives. And their engagement near a mountain lake in New Zealand, followed by an epically beautiful Sun Valley wedding, is only more proof of their love! Their celebration, at a private estate north of Ketchum, and planned by talented event planner Taylor Sturges of Taylor’d Events, was one for the Sun Valley history books. Here are all the fantastic and personal details that made Ali and Brett’s day so special.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
The bride is from the San Francisco Bay Area and the groom is from Orange County in Southern California.
OCCUPATIONS?
The bride is an attorney and the groom is an executive at a medical device company.
HOW DID YOU MEET?
We met on a backpacking trip in Yosemite. A mutual friend of ours organized the trip, and we instantly became great friends as we spent the weekend hiking and talking about our mutual love of the outdoors, various adventures we’d taken and how important our families and friends are to us. After that, there were many “pseudo” dates over a period of three to four months, when we hung out as friends. But we eventually realized that we were fooling ourselves by thinking that we had simply discovered another “great friend.” Once we started dating, it didn’t take us long to realize that we had in fact discovered the love of our lives.
HOW DID YOU GET ENGAGED?
We took a month-long vacation in New Zealand, and Brett proposed after a day of gorgeous hiking on a deserted beach by a beautiful mountain lake on the Kepler Track (one of the famous hiking trails in the South Island).
NUMBER OF GUESTS?
95.
WEDDING THEME?
Rustic casual. We wanted to incorporate the outdoors in the décor, but we also wanted the beauty of Sun Valley to speak for itself. We wanted the wedding to feel like everyone was getting together for a big dinner party at someone’s house.
CULTURAL TRADITIONS?
We didn’t really have any “cultural” traditions to follow, but we both wanted to follow tradition of not seeing each other on the day of the wedding until Ali walked down the isle. It was the most magical moment, seeing each other for the first time.
SONG THAT YOU WALKED DOWN THE AISLE TO?
“Marry Me” by Train.
FIRST DANCE?
“Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen.
GUEST FAVORS?
We had a candy bar at the dessert table and guests could take home little baggies of our favorite candies.
HOW DID THE NIGHT END?
Lots of dancing and then everyone hopped on the bus with a cake pop (from the Sweet Crumb) in hand and headed to the Roosevelt. The band even met us there for late night drinks!
WHERE WAS YOUR HONEYMOON?
Bali!
WHAT MADE YOUR WEDDING SO SPECIAL?
The Sun Valley beauty and a perfectly warm summer day… the cottonwood that fell from the trees with a gentle breeze as Ali walked down the isle… the toasts were out-of-this-world amazing (some of the toasters were the bride’s father, the groom’s sister, the bride’s brother)… having all of our favorite people in one place… the details… the readings at the ceremony… The food, the dancing, the copious amounts of booze and the rehearsal dinner at Grumpy’s were all very “us” and captured our laid back, fun-loving, adventurous personalities. Also, both of our families stayed in the house we rented for the week leading up to the wedding. It was such a special time with our families.
COLOR PALETTE
Dark purple with bright orange, yellow and green accents.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE YOUR MENU?
Brett is a real foodie, so he ran with the menu. In keeping with our idea to make the reception feel like we were all at a friend’s house for dinner, we served dinner family style. So we chose food items that were conducive to that. We also really wanted salmon to honor the fly-fisherman in Brett.
D.I.Y PROJECTS?
We made our Save-the-Dates, using a design from a vintage Sun Valley postcard we found, and we created our website. We also made Welcome Bags for our guests, which included Idaho brewed beer, homemade chocolate chip cookies made by the bride’s mom, maps and activity/restaurant recommendations.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE?
How quickly it all went by.
TIPS FOR SOMEONE PLANNING A SUN VALLEY WEDDING?
Choose vendors as early as possible (especially since Sun Valley is a popular wedding destination) that you trust and work well with (and who have worked together before). They will make your life so much easier and stress-free. We spent the week leading up to our wedding enjoying Sun Valley, our families and friends . . . not stressing about last minute details. Even on the day of the wedding, I was totally relaxed hanging out with my girls knowing that the fabulous team I had was there to make sure that everything was perfect. And they did – everything was PERFECT!
VENDOR LIST:
WEDDING PLANNER: Taylor Sturges of Taylor’d Events.
FLOWERS: Taylor’d Events.
HAIR/MAKEUP: Leah McLaughlin from Pure Salon.
DRESS/SHOES: Amy Kuschel Dress.
GROOMS ATTIRE: Nordstrom Linen Suit and Thomas Pink Tie.
BRIDESMAIDS DRESSES/GROOMSMEN: Bridesmaids: Priscilla of Boston Dresses; Groomsmen: Nordstrom Linen Suits and Thomas Pink Ties.
MUSIC: Marmalade Hill from Salt Lake City.
FOOD: Judith McQueen.
DESSERT: The Sweet Crumb.
INVITES: Printed Affair.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Hillary Maybery.
VIDEOGRAPHER: Max Monahan.
OFFICIANT: Groom’s Cousins
