Black-tie Winter Wedding at Blue Sky Ranch

December 31, 2018

Mandy knew she wanted a winter ski wedding.

MANDY & MATT

Amanda (Mandy) and Matthew (Matt) currently live and practice law in Boston, but met years ago in a study group while attending law school. “After spending weeks in the same study room, we went out on our first date,” Mandy says.

“We still have a significant debate over who did the asking.” Four years later and after a grueling work week, Matt insisted the couple go out to dinner despite Mandy’s protest that she wasn’t up for it. “He insisted on taking the long way through the Public Garden.

Matt stopped me along the side of the pond at the spot of our first kiss, told me he loved me and dropped to one knee asking me if I’d marry him. I was so shocked I almost knocked us into the water. When he stood up and turned me to the side, I saw both his family and mine walking toward us. That is when I truly lost it.”

“I grew up ski racing on the East Coast, and winter has always been my favorite season. Although not a skier when we met, Matthew picked it up quickly due to his hockey roots,” Mandy explains. While dating, they enjoyed ski vacations in Park City and quickly fell in love with the ski town.

Mandy and Matt kicked off the weekend with ice skating at Park City’s Resort Center followed by dinner with the wedding party at a rental home. Everyone skied the following day before the couple hosted a welcome dinner at the Wasatch Brew Pub.

A NEW YEAR’S EVE WEDDING

Mandy and Matt wrote their own vows for their Blue Sky Ranch wedding. “Over the years we had been together, we had been through significant life events, ranging from the Boston Marathon bombing, to graduation from law school, from a cancer diagnosis, to cancer-free and finally starting our married lives together.”

In lieu of a guestbook, guests penned New Year’s wishes to the newlyweds onto notecards. “We closed the night with a midnight Champagne toast.”

LOCAL CUISINE & SIGNATURE COCKTAILS

“We wanted a hearty, delicious meal with a nod to locally-sourced ingredients so that our guests could fully experience all that this destination had to offer,” Mandy says of the meal ranging from local bacon-wrapped dates drizzled with honey and microgreens, to the Snuck Farms baby lettuce salad, followed by a choice of hard cider-brined chicken or mesquite-grilled skirt steak.

Guests sipped signature cocktails: a Bubbly Ginger to represent Mandy and Mountain Manhattan (a traditional Manhattan made with local ingredients) for Matt.

“We ended our night with a late-night snack paying homage to each of our hometowns.” Mandy chose Mini Fenway Franks for her hometown of Boston and Matt selected Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches for his hometown of Buffalo, Massachusetts.

RANCH WEDDING PARTY TIME

One of Mandy’s most memorable moments came “when Matthew and our very close friend McCauley Braun surprised me by performing ‘Ho Hey’ by The Lumineers.”

Matt adds, “My most memorable moment was when I took a step back and actually was able to take in everything that was going on around me about halfway through the reception. The band was playing, Mandy’s grandmother was doing the limbo under two neckties tied together, all of our closest friends and family were crazily dancing about and I saw my now wife with the biggest smile on her face. It was then that it started to sink in that I was married, and we were having the night of our lives.”