On the first day of his first year at Wake Forest University, Henry Ordway was introduced to Elizabeth “Chase” Gerber through a mutual friend. But, “Let’s just say it was not love at first sight,” Chase smiles. She was on her way to Florence for a semester abroad, and the two didn’t start dating until nearly four years later.
Seven years after that, Chase was back in Italy, this time with Henry. “We were traveling to Ravello for a wedding and decided to tag on a few additional stops while we were there,” she remembers. She planned the Florence leg of the trip, so she was extra surprised when Henry proposed. “Halfway into a 45-minute walk, it dawned on me that he was proposing. As we made our way up the stairs to one of the most beautiful and quiet cathedrals I’d ever seen, I spotted a man with a camera. Once we were at the top, Henry asked the stranger to take our photo with his phone, and before I knew it, he was down on one knee.” They celebrated over a bottle of wine and ravioli.
The next day, they bought a wedding suit from a Florentine tailor. But that suit would be the only piece of Italy for their wedding; the wedding itself would be much more Western. “Whitefish, Montana, was always our dream venue for our backyard wedding. I had so many firsts on Whitefish Lake, and when Henry and I first started dating, I knew he was the one when he instantly felt the same. We have family and a community there, and Henry helped open a restaurant and brewery there, Blackstar Brewery.”
The location inspired the wedding aesthetic. “Everything about Whitefish is effortless, so I was adamant the design be organic and easy,” Chase says. And, as a creative consultant and interior designer—she recently founded Eco Studios—the design was personal. “I wanted all of the details to reflect my aesthetic, which is organic and simple, from the hand-blown cocktail glasses to the hammered silver flatware and sage-green pottery ceramic plates,” she says. “For the florals, I only featured native grasses from Montana and lavender, which was grown locally—anything else felt unnatural. We wanted every event to be reflective of our Montana.”
The wedding festivities lasted three days, beginning with a rehearsal dinner on Thursday evening. On Friday, the to-be-weds spent the day with loved ones on Whitefish Lake, wakesurfing and swimming, then hosted a Western-themed welcome party at a local saloon (Henry wore authentic vintage Western wear sourced from a friend, Jose Limon of Maufrais Austin.) “To elevate the theme, all the picnic tables were dressed with indigo cloths we sourced locally in Austin and sunflowers grown in Montana.”
When Chase started sourcing her looks for each event, she quickly realized she didn’t want to be the all-white bride. “I was drawn to creams and felt that would complement the environment we’d be in more organically,” she says. On Friday, that meant a cream crepe de chine maxi dress by Khaite (she paired it with chocolate-brown Western boots).
She also went off-white for the main event, though it wasn’t what she originally envisioned. “I went to Danielle Frankel, mainly for the experience of her studio, since I am an interior designer, and Augusta Hoffman and her team did a beautiful job on that studio,” Chase says. She didn’t actually expect to fall in love. Then she saw an ethereal two-piece. “The second I put on the skirt and saw how it brushed the ground, I envisioned it in the organic environment of Montana; then the corset-style top, which hugged me perfectly and had the most intricate detail I’d ever seen. It was a work of art and very much my aesthetic: effortless, unique, and timeless.” They made some adjustments—making the back V-shaped and removing tulle from the skirt—and the dress was perfect.
“My bridesmaids wore a variety of sage green, lavender, and pale pink dresses. The sage and lavender paid homage to the native Montana grasses and lavender we featured in my bouquet, while the pink highlighted the blush undertones of my wedding dress.” Cloud Makeup and Covet Beauty got them all ready to walk down the aisle.
On August 3, 2024, Chase and Henry exchanged vows in front of an intimate group of loved ones. Bungalow Flowers lined the aisle with fragrant lavender and wild grasses that looked like they were growing straight from the ground, and guests sat on rustic wood benches overlooking Whitefish Lake.
The couple express how emotional it was to each walk down the aisle. “But during the ceremony, when it was just Henry and me up there with our officiant, the sun came out, and it was the happiest feeling,” Chase expresses. “I was winking and engaging with our guests, making jokes and laughing the entire time. We felt so comfortable and happy.”
Guests meandered through the gardens and down to the pebble beach for cocktail hour, where waiters passed farm-to-table and local hors ‘d’oeuvres like smoked ruby trout and elk short loin. “We had eight-foot bars facing the guests so that the background as they were ordering beverages was views of the lake,” Chase says. “It was so important that our guests got to experience ‘lake life’ by physically being by the water.”
The outdoor ceremony space was flipped for the reception and featured long tables, decorated with lavender, grasses, and herbs. The sun set over the lake as guests sat down to dry-aged ribeyes and musician Mike Murray provided a soundtrack. “The sunset was truly insane—the best I have ever seen in Montana, and many guests were adamant it was the most incredible sunset they’ve ever seen,” Chase says. “Standing on the edge of this bluff with Henry looking at the sunset and the people who traveled all this way just for us was a very special moment.”
The private home’s driveway was transformed into a dance floor, surrounded by pine trees and lit with uplighting. The Nightowls, a band flown in from Austin, performed for three straight hours. “The dancing ended at midnight, at which point we transitioned to yet another location on the property,” Chase says. “A gazebo was flipped into a late-night setup with a 60-inch disco ball, a deejay, huckleberry lollipops, and candlelight.” On the way out in the wee hours of the morning, smash burgers from the Blackstar food truck were the perfect sendoff snack.