How We Pulled It Off: A Snowy Aspen Wedding Outdoors

21.03.2024 - 19:57 / cntraveler.com / Aspen Mountain

As business consultants, Tyler Betz and Tim Gao spend more of their days on the road than off, and more nights in hotels than in their home base of Dallas. The two share fairly nomadic upbringings, too: Tyler grew up across six states, while Tim was born in China and raised in Canada and the US.

“A destination wedding was very much up our alley, given how much we love to travel,” says Tyler, who met her husband through work. “We don't really have [one] place that we call home.”

Their families and friends were more than on board; Tim’s actually pushed for it. “My family is from China, and I'm the youngest of a group of cousins,” he explains. “It's been a dream for years that they come and see what an American wedding is like.” Though they briefly considered celebrating in Mexico or Europe, the couple decided to stick with a cool location within the US for Tim’s family to experience.

Because the couple skis in Aspen together every December—occasionally with friends—they came to the idea of an Aspen winter wedding pretty quickly, and thought it would make a lovely way to kick off the holiday season. The navigability of the city was also a draw, says Tyler: “We wanted an intimate wedding, and the idea that we could run into [our guests] going to breakfast or shopping around town was really special to us, too.” The couple wed before 100 guests in the renowned ski town on December 9, 2023. Here, they share how they pulled it off despite a snowstorm, and with the help of some hand warmers and a champagne saber.

Tyler and Tim wed outdoors in December, 2023—a time of year they typically visit Aspen for skiing

The courtyard of the St. Regis Aspen, at the base of Aspen Mountain, hosted the couple's nuptials

At the beginning of the planning process, Tyler and Tim spent a week in Aspen walking through possible spaces.”We went into every other venue visit being very open, trying to imagine what our wedding would be like,” says Tyler. “I think, deep down, we both knew we loved the St. Regis Aspen.” As regular jet setters, they believed the five-star hotel located at the bottom of Aspen Mountain to offer among the highest standard of service they’d ever seen, and it was newly renovated. “It’s really remarkable how much they pay attention to you as an individual,” says Tim. Add in reasonable room blocks that allowed the vast majority of their guests to stay on property, and a stockpile of key items (like outdoor heaters) that they wouldn’t have to rent, and locking in was a no-brainer.

Once the venue was locked in, the couple considered the available spaces and their desired aesthetic, ultimately deciding to go with a simple, elegant black-and-white color palette. “We wanted the backdrop of the mountains to really be