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Planning a Sun Valley Wedding

Craig & Brooke May 2010

 

Craig Thomas Hartman & Brooke Anne Mueller
Saturday, May 29, 2010, 5:00pm
Trail Creek Grounds & Pavilion at
the Trail Creek Cabin

Craig and Brooke seemed to get it right when they planned a destination wedding in Sun Valley. Most of their guests came to the Valley a week early, making the wedding a seven day extravaganza instead of just a two-day event. In my own planning I'm struggling to find a way to have my wedding convey Idaho as the amazing place it is, but Craig and Brooke helped me to realize that the experience our guests will have from visiting here for a few days, riding the trails, frequenting the local watering holes, and exploring our Valley will make the experience as Sun Valley as it gets. Taking part in our wedding will just be the icing on the cake (no pun intended).

As for the details of Craig and Brooke's wedding, I'm completely crazy about their centerpieces. They are fantastic—rustic and elegant at the same time. Sue Bridgman was the florist—she added natural sticks and twigs and other unique elements to her arrangements, and she always does really great job. I hope you enjoy this whole wedding and gather some ideas of your own from it. I know I did.

All photos of this wedding are courtesy of Craig Wolfrom.

 
 

Where are you from?
Chugiak, Alaska

 

Why Sun Valley?
Although he has lived in Alaska most of his life, Craig grew up skiing in Sun Valley over the holidays with his family. So when we were looking for a unique destination for our wedding—one that would not only have charm but also a multitude of activities for our guests—naturally Sun Valley seemed the ideal location.

 

What made your wedding so special?
Although this was supposed to be a quaint destination wedding, due to the closeness of our family and friends and the uniqueness of the location, we had over 160 guests attend our wedding, only two of which actually reside in the Sun Valley area. The local Ketchum vendors didn’t know what hit them; we kept the Pioneer bar open over an hour past its closing time (there were still 40 of us there at 1am), and because many of our guests arrived almost a week before the wedding date, we frequently had to call restaurants ahead of time to warn them that there will a lot of people showing up for dinner.
 

Another interesting feature about our wedding was that, because Craig is both a private and commercial pilot, as are most of our friends and family, our wedding had a subtle aviation theme to it: the cake topper was a scale replica of Craig’s Piper Supercub Bush Plane (see photo), our guest book was a vintage wooden WWII airplane propeller, and the song that we danced to for our Bride and Groom Dance was Michael Buble’s rendition of Frank Sinatra’s "Come Fly With Me."
 

Our rehearsal reception was held in downtown Ketchum at the Roosevelt. They did a fabulous job with both food and beverage, and as all 160 of our guests attended, we were able to reserve both the main dining area and the upstairs outdoor deck, as well. An interesting thing about the Roosevelt is that its namesake is the Roosevelt Elk, which, to avoid their extinction, were introduced to Afognak Island, Alaska in the 1920’s, and have flourished there ever since, extending their numbers to the surrounding islands.

 

Favorite Detail?
Craig’s 7-year-old nephew, Thomas, was our ring bearer, and also the hit of the party. Typically he has a more reserved character, but something got into him during our reception, and he ended up having the best dance moves of anyone by far. By the end of the night, his dad was calling him John… as in John Travolta.

 

Biggest Challenge?
Unfortunately, this was definitely the weather. Our guests left a record 75-degree spring in Alaska to come experience an unusually cold spring in Sun Valley. Our wedding ceremony was originally supposed to be held on the grounds across the bridge from the Trail Creek Cabin, but it started to rain just before the ceremony was supposed to start, and it was moved inside at the last moment. But by the awe-inspiring way the pavilion had been decorated, no one ever noticed anything was amiss. By the time the ceremony was over, the rain had stopped, and our guests got to venture outside onto the grounds to enjoy a lovely—albeit slightly chilly—Sun Valley evening.

 

 

Tips for others planning a Sun Valley Wedding?
If your guests are coming from out of town, put together an all-inclusive invitation packet and website for additional details, as many people are unfortunately not familiar with the area.

Having our wedding during the off season ensured a discounted rate from all of our vendors, as well as discounted hotel and condo rental rates for our guests, though it did not necessarily ensure the best weather (though when can you ever really ensure that?)

Letting out-of-town guests know about all accommodations options, including Ketchum hotels, condo and home rentals through VRBO.com, and of course, the Sun Valley Resort, allowed our guests to stay in the venue that best fit their lifestyle or family, and have a better overall experience during their stay.

 

Brooke's Thoughts
Aside from the location being so lovely and unique, the other wonderful thing about having our wedding in a more secluded town such as Sun Valley was that there was nowhere for our guests to spread out. As a result we all ended up going out to eat together, hiking and biking together, out to the local bars together, and just running into each other all over town for the entire duration of our stay. It was like a 24/7 party!  

 

BUDGET RANGE:

A) SHOESTRING
B) SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN (we still blew it though!)
C) WHAT BUDGET?

 

VENDOR LIST:

FLOWERS: Sue Bridgman, Florist
HAIR/MAKEUP: Jamilynn at Vertu Hair Dressing
DRESS/SHOES: Couture
GROOMS ATTIRE: He got it tailor made for himself on one of his trips to Hong Kong
PARTY RENTALS: Barbara’s Party Rentals
MUSIC & MC: DJ Lenny Joseph
FOOD: Sun Valley Resort
INVITES: Renaissance Writings
PHOTOGRAPHER: Craig Wolfrom Photography
VIDEOGRAPHER: None
OFFICIANT: Pastor James Mueller, great-uncle of the Bride