Elizabeth L. Harrison, for Brides and Grooms 2011
photos by Ashley McKee & Lisa Kunkel
Montana brides and grooms are getting creative. Choosing a clever theme that echoes throughout the ceremony and reception gives couples the chance to make their wedding day truly one-of-a-kind
“There’s only a few times in life when you can have something be magical and over the top, and a wedding is definitely one of those times,” said Lindsay Irwin, owner and designer at Bitterroot Floral in Missoula.
Irwin is no stranger to theme weddings. She’s seen everything from feathers to camouflage to Halloween, one of the most recent.
For the spooky affair, Irwin used black ostrich feathers and dark red roses.
Another October bride was all about feathers of every kind, so Irwin made sure the quills appeared in everything from table arrangements to a doorway arch and the bouquets.
“It’s good to have something different,” she said. “It makes it extra special for (the couple).”
Irwin believes every wedding has a theme, whether it’s in the specific color scheme or a unique look. However, there are some weddings that just take the cake.
“I sat down with a couple and asked the bride if she had a color scheme,” Irwin said. “She said, ‘Yes, camo with hunter orange.’ ”
A “redneck wedding” was the chosen theme, and the couple spared no small detail. The groom and his groomsmen wore shotgun shells or tobacco cans incorporated into their boutonnières, and the wedding party rode around on four-wheelers.
The bride did keep one thing simple – her bouquet was a mixture of white, cream and brown, and one of Irwin’s favorites thus far.
What started out as a joke for Amanda Gabster Montilla soon helped make up her dream day.
When Montilla’s brother teased that the wedding party should be outfitted in cowboy boots, she took the idea and ran with it.
The ceremony was in a gazebo next to a pond behind the Lumberjack Saloon on Graves Creek Road west of Lolo. Amanda and then-fiancé Franklin Gabster Montilla wanted a low-key, fun wedding surrounded by friends and family.
Amanda wanted to keep it simple, and didn’t think her bridesmaids should have to go out and buy something to wear just for her wedding. However, her friends convinced her they should at least try to match in some way. So the wedding party planned on donning cowboy hats and boots, and a Western theme was born.
Along with the appropriate cowgirl attire, Amanda’s bridesmaids wore different varieties of blue knee-length dresses. On the morning of her wedding, Amanda picked up six mixed bouquets of flowers from the Farmers Market for her friends to carry. Groomsmen wore jeans and button-up shirts with their boots and hats.
Her parents joined in the fun as well – her father wore a black button-up shirt with a cowboy hat, boots and jeans, while her mother wore a simple dress with a white sun hat. Earlier in the day, Amanda’s uncle thought up the idea of lending his riding crop, holster and lasso for the groomsmen to carry down the aisle.
After the ceremony, guests played horseshoes behind the saloon while a band hired by the Jack entertained with western tunes. After the music, there was a bonfire.
To round out the evening, guests were given wildflower seed packets and a homemade CD of Panamanian music, the country where the couple now resides.
“I’ve heard that it was the most fun that anyone has had at a wedding (which was my main goal!). Everyone danced, played with the lasso, played horseshoes and had a great time,” Amanda said in an e-mail sent from Panama, where she runs two NGOs. “I feel like the way everything turned out, from the flowers to the dresses to the food all fell together in a way that was chaotically organized into an accidental great party.”
It might seem that brides are the driving force behind theme weddings, but in Dax Kuehn’s case, he was there every step of the way with then-fiancé Andrea Kuehn.
The two native Montanans are all about winter, and spend many a snowy weekend hitting the slopes – Dax on skiis, Andrea on her snowboard. So when Dax’s little sister wed in the “quintessential” summer ceremony, the older sibling had to have the “perfect winter wedding.”
In just under four months, the couple planned and executed a winter wonderland-themed wedding.
It began with the invitations, which were white and silver with snowflakes the couple made with a paper punch-out. To create a chilly outdoor atmosphere at the ceremony and reception, they cut down trees and painted them white. For the table centerpieces, they painted tumbleweeds the same white and dipped them in crystals to achieve the chilly look of snow and ice.
Along with the dead trees, the couple had snowflakes in lieu of petals in the aisle at the University Congregational Church, where the ceremony took place. Andrea wore a traditional white wedding dress with beading, but added a white fur cloak and muff, which she wore while walking to meet Dax at the altar.
Even Dax’s tux incorporated the winter wonderland theme – his boutonniere held little snowflakes within the flowers. The reception, which took place down the road at St. Anthony Parish, was lit up with 50,000 Christmas lights. The 200 guests dined on comfort food from Johnny Carino’s and cake with … snowflakes.
“It just gave this overall theme of … you just get lost in it,” Dax said. “It was amazing.”