Planning a destination wedding can be a magical, exhilarating and exhausting experience all in one. Now, imagine living in a different city than your partner while simultaneously planning a wedding in an entirely separate state. This was the unique challenge Carmelle and Bradley faced for their Colorado winter destination wedding in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Littleton.

“Colorado is where we fell in love and where we have spent a lot of our time together as a couple. We also had family coming from both sides of the country, which made it a good middle ground,” the couple says.

With a place on the map pinned down, Carmelle and Bradley knew they’d need a planner to do the heavy lifting of the planning process – especially since they’d be conducting all of their vendor meetings virtually from different places and time zones.

“Meggie [our planner] made this a seamless and easy process for us. Her experience and connections were invaluable in helping us assess the quality of vendors and find the ones that would make the most sense for our style and vision,” the bride says.

Having handed the reins mostly over to their team of vendors under Meggie’s direction, the couple could focus on the part of the day that meant the most to them: their faith.

“It was very special to us that we wrote our vows together. Instead of surprising each other, we chose to spend quality time together praying and discussing what our marriage covenant meant to us and what we wanted to promise to one another for life,” Carmelle says.

When their wedding weekend came around, an element of whimsy and magic hung in the air as the Rocky Mountain snow provided an unforgettable winter wonderland.

“There was a legitimate snowstorm during our rehearsal and it made it a challenge to get up to the venue. However, our venue did everything they could to help clear everything out as soon as possible, and ultimately, we have some great stories and videos of the groomsmen trying to push people’s cars up a snowy hill,” the bride says.

The experience of a winter destination wedding gave the couple and their guests the perfect opportunity to take a retreat from their usual busy lives and enjoy time together all in one place.

Carmelle and Bradley’s advice to anyone looking to follow in their footsteps: hire a stellar planner. “It was the single best decision of our planning process,” the couple says. “Now that the wedding day is over, I seriously cannot imagine how we would have managed everything any other way.”