Red Cliff Ranch Utah Destination Wedding

The simple elegance of today’s Red Cliff Ranch Utah destination wedding is utterly fantastic. Though they live in San Francisco, the couple loves the outdoors and since the bride is from Reno and the groom is from Salt Lake City, a mountain wedding was meant to be. They knew they wanted to have an informal outdoor wedding, and the red rock, meadows, and lakes at their venue were perfect and gorgeous. So they pulled inspiration from the rustic and natural beauty of the venue. Plus, because it’s a working ranch, they and their guests had the opportunity to walk around during the wedding among the horses and baby chicks.

In addition to opting for no attendants, Christine and Nick chose to share some extra special time with one another by getting ready together before their ceremony. Christine was feeling incredibly overwhelmed and stressed in the days leading up to the ceremony. So she decided she wanted her most loved person by her side the entire day. Isn’t that so sweet?

Their decor was relatively minimal. They hung three wagon wheels with strings of lights from the center of the outdoor pavilion where they danced the night away. And for seating, they had couches constructed from hay bales with western-style pillows and blankets. As for wedding flowers, they incorporated coral, peach, light pink, light green, and white, all designed by Every Blooming Thing. As a fun DIY, they randomly found three used pots for sale that had the numbers of the date of their wedding on them, so they filled them with flowers and used them on the buffet table. Captured beautifully by Pepper Nix Photography, Christine and Nick’s mountain wedding was sunny and beautiful and everything they hoped it would be!

From the bride:

Favorite memories from the day? We have great memories of our ceremony. It felt true to us and our relationship. It was at times silly and at times very emotional. I started crying immediately when I started walking down the aisle. My friend did a fantastic reading of a children’s story called A Lovely Love Story about dinosaurs falling in love, which made us all laugh. Nick’s grandmother read several poems she selected and one she wrote herself, which made us laugh and cry.

What you would have done differently, if anything? Everyone gave me this advice – take a step back on your wedding day and try to appreciate and enjoy all the special moments. It will be over before you know it. Also, from personal experience – some things are going to go wrong. Just get over it. It’s not worth spoiling any time in your special day dwelling on it. (I wish I could go back and take that second piece of advice.)

Our goal was just to throw a really fun party and spend as much time as possible with our friends and family. We did not do a lot of the traditional things like a bouquet toss, wedding favors, wedding cake, or have a wedding party, and we (and hopefully our guests) did not miss any of those things. We greeted our guests at the barn when they arrived at the ranch and mingled a little before all of us walked up together to the meadow for the ceremony.

We are fortunate that Nick’s father works in the wedding industry in Utah and was able to provide us fantastic recommendations. Our photographer, florist, caterer, and the owner of the ranch are all friends of Nick’s family. And Nick’s father’s band had played at the wedding of our day-of wedding coordinator.

Thanks for stopping by!

* * *

Photographer: Pepper Nix Photography | Caterer: Culinary Crafts | Flowers: Every Blooming Thing Tuxedo and Mens Attire: Groom’s tuxedo – Hugo Boss | Invitation Designer: Minted | Dress Designer: Nicole Miller | Invitation Designer: Paperless Posts | Reception Venue: Red Cliff Ranch | Shoes: Stuart Weitzman | Dress Store: The Wedding Party | Event Planner: Elevated Event Planning | Band: Joe Muscolino Band | Jewelry: Manika Jewelry | Submitted via Two Bright Lights