Wedding Bells!
Updated: Aug 4, 2019
The year 2019 has been a year of wedding celebrations here at Bunny's Brush!
I got married to my best friend and love of my life in June, and my girl bestie got married to her dream guy the next month in July!
I haven't posted about any events or classes going on at Bunny's Brush since March, so I thought I'd take the time to post an update on everything that has been demanding my attention.
This is a picture of me and my new Hubby, Jed Adams, right after we got married and ran to the tent to get out of the rain!
We got married on June 15, 2019 at Aspen Ridge Ranch in our town of Red Lodge, Montana. Our wedding was a "Great Gatsby" themed day complete with a champagne tower and cars from the 1900's!
It was a massive group effort from friends and family, and we are so thankful to everyone who helped make our fabulous day come to life.
Photo credit: Kevin Kinzley of Kinzley Photograhpy took all the photos for our wedding.
Our daughter, Zoe, was my Maid of Honor, and Jed's brother, Matt, was his best man, and some - but not all- of our closest friends and family were in our wedding party as groomsmen and bridesmaids.
My hair stylists were Leslie Zier of Haydan Hair & Nail Salon in Red Lodge, MT and Jessica Kinzley of Red Lodge, MT. Daijha Brown, my daughter's friend and Jessica Kinzley were our makeup artists.
My wedding gown and all my bridesmaid dresses are from Belle En Blanc in Billings, MT. Geri from Elite Couture who also works out of Belle en Blanc was my seamstress and she made the gorgeous Ostrich Feather Bolero jacket I'm wearing.
I'd like to say a special thank you to Kyna Christensen for making some of the feather hair accessories worn by myself and some of the bridesmaids. Also, we would like to thank Rachel Putty, my cousin who came out and helped me every step of the way.
My one day Event Coordinator was Pat Clark of Pat Clark Wedding Coordinator and she really pulled everything together on the day of our wedding and kept things running smooth so we could enjoy our day.
My beautiful flowers are all from the Flower Garage in Red Lodge, MT. I worked with Leah Jarrett Brown and I was thrilled with how they turned out!
Guests traveled all the way from Georgia, Indiana, Alabama, California, Kentucky, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, and all over Montana to celebrate with us. It was a day filled with love, friends, family, and good times - not to mention a little bit of rain and lots of ostrich feathers!
We were married at the beautiful Aspen Ridge Ranch located in Red Lodge, Montana nestled beneath the Beartooth Mountains, which we consider to be one of the most beautiful places on earth.
We want to give many thanks to our wonderful friends Bill Barnes and Dick and Ludon DeVille.
I first approached Bill in April to ask him if he would be interested in taking part in our wedding with his Model T truck, and he was immediately on board with all kinds of ideas! After our meeting that day Bill organized more than I could have ever imagined.
Bill and Dick both made it possible for us to have these wonderful "old time" cars and trucks featured at our wedding. They even let us use the Model T Touring Car from the Carbon County Museum in downtown Red Lodge! They took the car out and hauled it away to get it prepped and ready and later hauled it to Aspen Ridge Ranch for our rehearsal day where it stayed over night.
We simply cannot thank them enough for all their hard work and effort. Bill Barnes, Dick DeVille, and Forrest Logan were our drivers and they looked the part, dressed in full 1920's regalia.
We used the cars to drive the wedding party down from the main ranch house to the wedding ceremony site beneath Aspen trees.
It was awe inspiring to see the cars driving around. It looked like we had traveled back in time to the 1920's and were going to some private and beautiful, glitzy party out in the wilds of Montana! I was inspired by the prohibition era style with a glamorous twist since we were getting married on a Montana ranch and still wanted to have a glamorous wedding.
These cars made our Great Gatsby themed wedding day come to life, and, without them, it simply would have been incomplete. Bill drove me, Jed, the Best Man, and Maid of Honor down in a 1912 Model T.
Photo credit: Kevin Kinzley A special thank you to my nephew Hayden Warner for helping me out of the wedding car. Hayden is a junior in high school this year and traveled out from Georgia. I also have three more gorgeous nephews.
To make our wedding even more special, Bill kindly invited some friends who take part in a car club to park their cars and really set the visual tone for the day.
Four drivers who were taking part in the Montana 500 the very next day completed the journey from Columbus to Red Lodge to set the feel for a real Great Gatsby themed wedding.
The Montana 500 is a 500 mile race taking place over three days. We were blessed to have four extra cars make it to our wedding. Eight Model T's were scheduled to come, two broke down and two turned back. We had the President of the Montana 500 in attendance and another driver was a member of the Board of the International Model T Association.
We feel truly blessed and grateful for all the efforts made by the drivers to make our wedding day so special.
After being dropped off by our impressive entourage of cars and trucks it was time to get married! Rev. Randy Pendergraft of Calvary Episocopal Church in Red Lodge was our wedding officiant, and Jed's father, Dr. Mike Adams, who serves as an Interim Minister in Jasper, AL, gave the Homily.
Our ceremony took place beneath an Aspen grove while thunder boomed and rain came down harder every second! It was pretty dramatic saying our vows during a mountain thunderstorm. I was trying to stay focused on our vows but couldn't stop watching the raindrops on Jed's shoulders get bigger and bigger and roll down his lapel! At one point, I spoke too quickly and sort of messed up my vows, but everyone thought it was hilarious and the whole place lit up with laughter.
I have to say our ceremony was thrilling because of the weather! I felt so bad for our guests, though, who faithfully sat in the rain for the entire ceremony. It just goes to show what a wonderful group of people we call friends and family and we cherish them all!
After the ceremony, we made a mad dash to the reception tent and barn where the real fun began! Our guests had been trying to shelter from the rain and needed a place to get dry and warm as soon as possible!
We set up a tent outside the barn for our dancing and partying to take place. We had dinner down the barn hallway which had been pressure washed the day before and all horses moved out to the pretty lush pastures for our wedding.
Our wedding was catered by Sheena Ernst of the The Wild Table located in downtown Red Lodge, Montana. I truly cannot say enough about how delicious all of our food was, and we all know that wedding food can be a major miss sometimes. I've had so many people remark to me that it was the best food they've ever eaten at a wedding. I certainly agree, and so does everyone I talk with that was there. Jed and I are both "foodies," so we believe we have high standards (lol, but seriously). I won't share the entire menu, but we had Roast Beef and a Roasted Chicken served carvery style with several mouth watering sides. The hit of the night was a roasted celery salad if you can believe that! Grilled celery! I'm not kidding. So many people rave about this salad, including Jed and me. One of the groomsmen, Mike Pilati, who owns Venue 406, another gorgeous wedding locale in Red Lodge, was dying to know who catered our wedding so that he can add her to his vendor list for brides to see.
Photo credit: Kevin Kinzley
Photo credit: Kevin Kinzley
The owners of Aspen Ridge Ranch were so generous to open up their beautiful barn and land to us. The staff were so accommodating to work with. Bill Crabtree and his son, Mike, were key in making our wedding day dreams come to life. They worked and led the way in everything from hanging lights to laying the tent flooring. Without their hard work, things would not have looked so beautiful.
After dinner we headed into the beautiful tent that we rented from Party Time Plus in Billings, MT. The music and lighting inside the tent was provided by our friend Scott Nagel. We had theatre production quality light and sound. Scott worked for two days setting up our sound system and we all had a blast thanks to his planning and work.
The night was topped off by a stunning champagne tower! This was one of my most anticipated parts of the wedding. We purchased all our wine, champagne, and prosecco from Steve and Kim Haman, owners of Babcock and Miles, our luxe local wine shop. Steve has a vast knowledge of wines from all over the world, and we spent several afternoons tasting and discussing what we wanted to serve.
Steve also consulted with Sheena Ernst of The Wild Table on the construction of our champagne tower and came up with a design. Steve built the tower, and, with the help of another friend, Kelly Hale, skillfully poured the first bottle of prosecco into the top glass! Of course I had to saber the bottle open first! Kelly and Tracey Hale introduced sabering bottles of champagne to us several years ago at a New Year's Eve party. I was so fascinated by it that my daughter called Tracey to ask if they would bring their saber, so we could attempt this daring feat - which is the only way to "pop a bottle" in my opinion.
Kevin Kinzley of Kinzley Photography captured all these beautiful moments for us with his camera. The next few, I will post large so you can see the process of sabering a champagne or prosecco bottle. It's such a good feeling!
After kickstarting our party time with some bottle poppin' and sabers, it was time for toasts!
Jed's brother, Matt, led us in a sweet toast, and my daughter, Zoe, followed. Then Jed's father, Mike Adams, had a few words of wisdom.
Everyone raised a glass and then the party began!
We danced the night away and, I believe everyone had a wonderful time. I know we did. This was a very special day to remember for us. It was so nice being surrounded by our friends and family celebrating wedding.
There are so many more photos that I wanted to include, but, at this rate, I don't even know if I can upload this to my website! If your're reading it, then it worked. Thank you for taking the time to scroll through and read and look at pictures. I have all the Ostrich Feathers and Trumpet Vases featured as centerpieces available at Bunny's Brush to purchase, along with glass vases and wedding signs. Please call the shop for inquiries. 406-446-1233
All the best,
Dana Adams