Macy and Jake met during what she calls “the most Denver activity of all time”: a ski-sharpening event at a local brewery.
Macy had recently traded New York City for Denver and was focused on making friends, not finding someone to date. She remembered meeting Jake that night but assumed their paths probably wouldn’t cross again.
Instead, ski trips to the mountains and shared hazy IPAs kept bringing them together. Friendship eventually turned into a proper first date, and about two years later, Jake proposed during a hike near Boulder with their dog and a few close friends there to capture the moment.
The day ended with another surprise. Jake had planned an engagement party at New Terrain Brewery, bringing them right back to where their story began.
Her parents were married in the same backyard
Long before Macy met Jake, she already knew where she hoped to get married.
Her parents built her childhood home on Eagle Mountain Lake and celebrated their own wedding in its backyard. Returning to that same place for her wedding to Jake allowed Macy to continue a family tradition while creating a celebration that reflected their own life together.
“Carrying on that tradition felt deeply meaningful,” she shared.
The lake and family home weren’t simply a backdrop for the wedding photographed by Tracy Autem Photography and produced by Sarabeth & Co. They became the foundation for a day designed around familiarity, memory, and the feeling of welcoming guests into the couple’s world.
Magnolia leaves connected the wedding to home
The magnolia trees at the front of the property inspired a detail that appeared throughout the celebration.
Magnolia leaves were incorporated by Branching Out Events into everything from the invitations to the floral designs, creating a subtle visual connection to Macy’s childhood home and the season of the couple’s relationship.
A large welcome wall greeted guests as they arrived at the valet, echoing the design of the invitation suite. From there, the hospitality began immediately, with each guest handed a glass of bubbles as they stepped out of the car.
Deep red florals framed the lakefront ceremony
For the outdoor ceremony, florals took on a richer, more romantic mood.
Deep reds and earthy tones formed a semicircle across the lawn, framing Macy and Jake with Eagle Mountain Lake glowing beyond them. The saturated palette brought warmth and depth to the natural setting while allowing the surrounding landscape to remain part of the ceremony design.
The result felt organic to the family property rather than like a temporary venue constructed within it.
The reception was designed to feel and smell like their living room
Macy and Jake took the idea of making guests feel at home unusually literally.
Their tented reception was designed as an extension of their own living room, layering texture and warmth to create a space that felt comfortable rather than overly formal. Greenery and woven lanterns hovered overhead, adding dimension while maintaining the grounded, residential quality they wanted.
Then came an invisible detail guests might not have expected: scent.
The couple used the same room spray they use at home throughout the reception, allowing friends and family to quite literally step into a familiar piece of Macy and Jake’s everyday life.
It was an unusually personal sensory detail and one that made the idea of a wedding “feeling like home” more than a metaphor.
Their first dance recreated a scene from Blades of Glory
For all the romance and family tradition surrounding the wedding, Macy and Jake weren’t about to take every moment too seriously.
For their first dance, the couple fully committed to recreating a scene from Blades of Glory, performing to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”
“It was an absolute hit,” they recalled.
The unexpected performance brought the couple’s sense of humor into a day otherwise filled with rich florals and sentimental family connections, proving that a wedding can feel deeply meaningful without becoming overly serious.
You may also like
This neon lakeside wedding proves color is the new luxury
A laidback lakeside celebration under the Arizona sky
The guests all wore black to this chic monochromatic lakeside wedding
Fireworks and champagne closed out the night
As the celebration continued beneath the tent, themed songs and playful moments kept the evening moving.
Macy even sabered a bottle of champagne before fireworks illuminated the night, giving the backyard celebration a suitably dramatic finale.
For a wedding built around home, however, the most memorable details weren’t necessarily the biggest ones. They were the pieces that could only have belonged to Macy and Jake: magnolia leaves inspired by the trees out front, the scent of their own living room, a first dance borrowed from a favorite comedy, and a ceremony held in the same backyard where Macy’s parents had once celebrated their marriage.
The setting carried one generation’s memories into the next, but Macy and Jake filled it with a story unmistakably their own.
Continue to next story
