The dress code Chloe and Max gave their guests was “funky formal”. They wanted to encourage colour, experimentation and an excuse to wear the thing you’ve been saving for an occasion. They wanted a room full of people feeling their best. “We liked seeing our wedding as a chance to show people who we are as a couple, and that was more important than to stick to the status quo”, Chloe said.

The say started with a first look, and then they took the gondola up Vail Mountain for their photos. Forests and mountain ridges stretched out behind them as they kissed and threw their arms into the air. They then headed back down to The Barn Minturn for their ceremony, followed by tacos for dinner.

“We wanted the ceremony and first half of the night to be grounded in our love and the beauty of the mountain valley and event space that we were in, so our décor was relatively minimal”, Chloe explained. “Whimsy, crafting, and nature were the focus here. The meadow was open for our guests to to explore, and we were told later that some baby deer were putting on a show jumping around before the ceremony started.”

The couple did lots of DIY. Max handmade Chloe’s engagement ring and his own wedding band was thrifted, then sized and refinished by a jeweller. For the wedding itself, Chloe made her veil with help from a friend, and another friend added custom adornments to her dress.

The centrepieces which were small moss mounds which became habitats for an animal figurine and the wooden table numbers were all handmade. Friends and family helped with things such as the welcome sign, seating chart, and altar pedestals for the flowers. As the mountain valley was already so beautiful, they kept flowers to a handful of arrangements, a bouquet, boutonnieres and a corsage.

Billie, their dog, couldn’t attend, so friend’s drawing of her appeared in the programme and on the custom temporary tattoos, while a Billie-shaped stamp granted guests entry to the reception. She also received mentions in their vows.

Their mutual friend and Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master, Jamie, officiated the ceremony. Chloe and Max walked down the aisle to Superposition by Young the Giant, before their sisters read poems by Rupi Kaur and Mary Oliver. The readings reflected their desire to remain complete individuals within their marriage, alongside the humour and ordinary moments they valued together. They exchanged vows with no wedding party standing beside them, then left through bubbles to Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.

The day brought together two of their favourite ways to spend time: being outdoors and going out. After dinner, everyone headed to a nightclub for the afterparty. Chasing Rabbits was one of their easiest decisions. On their first visit, both knew they wanted to throw their party there. Its Rabbit Hole space came with retro arcade games, art deco décor, a giant disco ball and a dance floor surrounded by visualiser screens.

Chloe and Max went straight into their choreographed first dance to Something Holy by Alice Phoebe Lou, a song they’d cherished since the early days of their relationship. A dip and lift finished the routine, ABBA started playing, and everyone else joined in. Chloe then changed into decorated Crocs for dancing.

Planning their wedding from another state, without a wedding planner, took its toll. Finding suppliers, comparing quotes and confirming every detail meant a constant stream of decisions. Their advice? Keep contracts organised, make your expectations explicit and finish DIY projects before the final week. “Having to do everything ourselves without a real planner was the hardest part. Confirming all details with every vendor, especially from out of state, was really taxing. Finding all of our vendors ourselves, requesting quotes, making a million decisions, that was really hard.”

“There’s also a lot of expectations about a ‘wedding’ that are hard to shake both as a non-traditional couple, and as a guest; we encourage people to think of it instead as a really fun party, which removes some of the baggage associated with every wedding tradition. We liked seeing our wedding as a chance to show people who we are as a couple. As long as you have food and entertainment (and likely a bar), guests will be taken care of.”

When the day was over, the couple headed off alone for an overnight backpacking trip on the Fancy Pass/Missouri Lakes trail. Chloe had walked it six years earlier, just before meeting Max, and still considered it her favourite hike. After a weekend spent hosting, dancing and catching up with everyone, they gave themselves 36 hours of quiet in the mountains. It was the perfect end to their perfect day.