Turquoise New Mexico Mountain Wedding with Lace
I received this turquoise New Mexico mountain wedding from Matt and Tish, who we featured back in February for their Simple Desert Elopement Styled Shoot. When I saw this wedding, I was head over heels in love with it. It is simple, yet elegant. It has a group of lovely ladies wearing mismatched bridesmaids dresses, peonies, lace, and a beautiful field with a view!
Overal Ceremony & Reception Theme
“The overall theme was a rustic New Mexico mountain wedding. Both Kurt and I adore the mountains and we even got engaged while on a mountain, so it fit our interests and personalities perfectly. We used a lot of natural wood, lace & turquoise to tie in the New Mexico theme.”
What types of flowers did you have?
“I was so excited that we ended up picking May for our wedding date because I was able to have Peonies! I also had garden roses and succulents to play into the desert New Mexico mountain wedding theme.”
Bride/bridesmaids’ attire
“My wedding dress was a Wtoo gown that was champagne with a lace overlay. The bridesmaids wore floor length gowns in any shade of turquoise that they wanted. I also didn’t restrict the style. I wanted my bridesmaids to find a dress they could afford and that suited them. I also loved the look of the mismatched dresses, so I went with it.”
What was your wedding budget?
“Our budget was $20k. We came in about $3k less, which was awesome! This was mostly because of the amount of homemade items I made based on items/ideas I saw on Pinterest.”
Which pieces of music did you use during the ceremony?
“We trusted our band a lot so we only really picked 3 songs. He played appropriate music for the rest of the ceremony/reception. The 3 songs we did pick were:
Bride’s Entrance – Do You Remember by Jack Johnson
Recessional – Everlasting Love by U2
First Dance Song – No Ones Gonna Love You by Band of Horses
How many guests were invited?
“We invited a total of 73 guests and 58 came.”
Was it difficult to narrow down your guest list?
“It was very difficult to narrow down our guest list to 73. Both of us knew that we really wanted a small wedding, so only immediate family and extremely close friends were invited. Both Kurt and I also have small families so that also helped a lot. There were many times we would be hanging out with friends or extended family and I would tell Kurt later, ‘I really want to invite them!’
We knew that if we started expanding from our initial agreement, the wedding would be much larger than we had hoped and we wouldn’t get the personal time we both wanted with our closest loved ones on the day of.”
What were some challenges you faced planning your wedding?
“I would say the biggest challenge was planning a wedding in a city that we were not living in. Kurt and I live in Houston, Texas but we wanted a mountain wedding. My parents live in Santa Fe, so we would visit Taos frequently. My parents were actually the ones who found our venue and they were a huge help throughout the planning because they were so close to Taos. The other challenge was the size of Taos – it is such a small town, which made our options for vendors was quite limited. We ended up reaching out to many vendors in Albuquerque and Santa Fe as a result.”
Best advice while planning your wedding?
“The best advice was ‘don’t leave for your honeymoon the day after your wedding!’ The day after is chaos – your belongings are everywhere and it’s nice to have a day to relax, spend some additional time with loved ones, and put yourself back together.”
Did you have your wedding invitations made or make them yourself?
A mix – my invitations were printed from Minted, but I made all the envelope liners, and wrapped the entire invite in lace & bakers twine.
What wedding favor did you give your guests?
“I made homemade dark chocolate covered salted caramels. I think they were a big hit because none were left over.”
Any tips or tricks to share with brides planning their wedding?
“My biggest tip would be to hire the best photographer you can afford. This is the one thing that will pay off long term. Also, no matter what you do, if you have a wedding planner, realize that you are one of many brides. Your special day is only her special day the week before the wedding and you will likely not get the attention you want until then, but don’t worry, because they do this every weekend so they will always rock it the day of!”
What were the highlight from the ceremony & reception?
“The highlight from the ceremony was our good friend Dan got ordained and performed our ceremony and added many personal touches. On top of that, Kurt and I wrote our own vows which were so extremely special and wonderful. My favorite part of the reception was dancing with friends, my father/daughter dance and my first dance with Kurt. Obviously, I can’t pick one highlight from either thing because the entire day was just perfect!”
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
“We went to California (Napa & Carmel) for a week after the wedding.”
Vendors
Photographer: Matt and Tish
Bride’s Dress: Wtoo
Bride’s Shoes: JCrew
Accessories: Handmade + grandmother’s jewelry
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: Various designers all in various colors of turquoise
Menswear: Marc Ecko navy slim fit suits
Wedding planner/Caterer/Rentals: Peggy Ryan (El Monte Sagrado)
Florist: Amy Nicole Floral Studios
Cake: Chez Dre Bakery
Decorations: Handmade
DJ or Band: Jimmy Stadler Band
Invitations: Minted
Meredith
Despite her dreamy wedding blogger lifestyle, Meredith's day job is running ClassicVeils.com and a full-time mom to an active toddler. If she could, Meredith would spend her days taking cruises, helping animals in need, and watching Big Brother!
