Corey Nianick and Grant McNamara, who owns a wedding business that styles and creates custom clothes for grooms, started dating in high school. After several years together, he proposed during breakfast with a custom newspaper, called The Cutie Chronicle, which had a word scramble that spelled out “Marry Me Cutie.”
“After I stopped stirring the pancake batter so nervously while she did the puzzle, I went over, got on a knee and read her something I wrote,” Grant says. Once she said, “Yes,” he pulled out another edition of the paper with a headline that aptly read, “She Said Yes!”
Knowing they wanted a smaller destination wedding, the engaged couple chose Aspen’s The Little Nell for their celebration. And they chose their anniversary date, July 29th, even though it fell on a Monday. To help plan everything, the two hired Marcy Kneiper, owner of Creative Weddings, and Corey designed their invitation suite with the help of Magnificent Milestones.
Corey didn’t have a strong sense of what she wanted in a wedding dress, but she knew that she wanted to shop with her mom, who lives in a different state. At Dimitra’s Bridal Couture in Chicago, the bride fell in love with the second dress she tried on—the Harlow by Rita Vinieris. On the day-of, her mother also had blue fabrics, which belonged to Corey’s grandmothers, fastened in the shape of a heart on the bouquet.
“Having a wedding business focused around fashion and style, I knew this was sort of a marketing opportunity,” Grant says of choosing an outfit. “I chose to wear a beautiful, blue Scabal fabric with a contrasting silver-blue-textured waistcoat underneath.” As a sentimental touch, he also had their wedding date etched into the heel of his shoes.
The groom also designed his three brothers’ blue suits, and his father’s and other guests’ ensembles. Corey’s sisters, who were maids of honor, wore blush Jenny Yoo dresses.
The day of the ceremony, guests stepped off the Silver Queen Gondola and were immediately surrounded by breathtaking mountain views at an altitude of 11,212 feet. Then the bride was escorted by her mother and father down the aisle. “I was nervous, not only because I knew everyone was staring at me, but because I broke my toe two days before our wedding, and I was scared of tripping!” she says. During the service, Corey and Grant shared some of their favorite moments, quotes, and promises, and once announced as a married couple, they led everyone to the cocktail hour and then into the Aspen Mountain Club.
Inside, people were surrounded by floral arrangements by La Rue Floral and found handwritten notes on their escort cards from the married couple. “By having a smaller reception, I was able to talk to every single person in the room,” Corey says. “It meant a lot to me to be able to make that personal connection with everyone on such a special day.”
After the delicious meal, the newlyweds toasted everyone thanking them for being there and then took to the dance floor for their first twirl to “Take the World” by JOHNNYSWIM, played by the Jordan Kahn Orchestra. By then, Grant had changed into a blue and black jacquard Scabal dinner jacket and linen loafers with “Party” etched on the heel.
Once the reception winded down, everyone took their gondola rides to descend the mountain, with pizza and candy in tow. Corey and Grant shared a mini-moon in Portland, Maine after their Aspen celebration, and then took a longer honeymoon in Buenos Aires, the Iguazú Falls, and Rio de Janeiro.
