During a road trip through the French countryside, architect Natalie Brown was dying to explore the town of Bordeaux and its historic buildings, even though her boyfriend, commercial real estate agent Teddy . Seifert, insisted on taking a stroll by the river. “I wanted to see the city and didn’t understand the logic of looking at a river in the dark,” she explains. Of course, Teddy had no interest in seeing water at night either, what he was actually trying to do was propose to his girlfriend of four years. “He lowered himself to one knee and tried to put the ring on my right hand,” she remembers. “I slid the ring to the correct finger and of course said yes!”
Like most long-term couples, Teddy and Natalie had already discussed some details of a potential wedding down the line before they had made things official. “We both agreed the dream would be to have it at my parents mountain property in Colorado,” she recalls. “The logistics, however, made that seem impossible.” Nestled in the mountains of Colorado, there are no rental houses or hotels anywhere nearby Natalie’s parents home. “The one long-shot option was to have a guest “glamping” trip,” she says. She contacted Shelter Co, a company she found on Instagram that specializes in luxury camping events, to see if they would be up for helping her plan the ultimate rustic wedding. Lucky for her, Shelter Co had just opened up a Colorado branch. The couple set the date for September 2nd, and as for decorative details, they only had one request: let the landscape shine. “I really wanted to strip away anything extra and have the event be about our friends and family,” Natalie explains.
Finding a wedding dress that was suitable for this particular type of outdoor wedding proved to be more challenging than the bride originally thought. Everything she tried on felt either over-the-top, or underwhelming for the price. She decided she would look for a white ready-to-wear dress instead and started ordering dresses online from Net-a-Porter and Farfetch. “I probably bought and returned 20 before finding the one from Needle & Thread,” she adds. “The tulle was not practical for the surroundings, but the dress was so beautiful, I decided to just deal with it.” Teddy and his brothers opted for matching light gray suits from J. Crew and navy knit silk ties from the Tie Bar.
Unlike most weddings that kick off at the altar, Teddy and Natalie’s big day began with a short cocktail hour, followed by the ceremony at the edge of the Aspen forest with a spectacular view towards Wyoming. Once family and friends were seated, the bride walked down the aisle with her father to a live performance of “La Vie en Rose” by musician Wildermiss, and the couple was later married by a mutual friend.
Once the ceremony had ended, guests were treated to champagne and more cocktails, and later a twinkle-light lit dinner nestled in the Aspen forest. Wildermiss continued to play live music, while Basta, a local Boulder restaurant, brought out Napoli style pizzas fresh from a wood fire oven, as the father of the bride and Teddy’s brothers delivered their speeches. After that, it was time to dance. Mr. and Mrs. Seifert took to the dance floor to “Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes” by Taj Mahal, and later kept the party going while the Taylor Scott Band played a mix of original songs and funky covers. “Everyone was on the dance floor and having a blast,” Natalie adds. “As the dancing finally died down around midnight, everyone then migrated to a huge fire pit in the woods and mingled, played music, and drank wine late into the night.” A dreamy end to a dreamy day.
