A wedding in the woods

Well, it's the day after Labor Day. Summer is over (I guess). If I had to remember one thing about this summer, it would have to be: Cammy's wedding!! Not only because she is my best friend since I was eight, but also because it was just a really good time in general.

I flew in to Fort Collins on Tuesday to basically get a chance to hang out with Cammy before all the official wedding stuff started, and to also help out as best as I could (i.e. not much, because I am not good at cooking or driving). But I did taste test a lot!

Cammy and her mom hanging out in the kitchen. We spent about 80% of our time in the kitchen, preparing food and gift bags and eating. 

Quality time with the huskies, Kita (all white) and Kanuk. 

Oh, did I mention Cammy and Erik also bought a house? About a month before their wedding? It is amazing. It has four bedrooms! It has four levels! It has a GIANT KITCHEN (see above photo). Kind of a crazy experience coming from our tiny Brooklyn apartment. 

After two days of prep (Cammy and Erik made all of the food and prepared all the drinks themselves, except for the meal on the night of the wedding, which was catered), we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park with a caravan of three cars stuffed with drinks, homemade ice cream sandwiches, and all manner of wedding supplies. 

This is my warped picture of Cammy driving up to the mountains with all of the STUFF. 

We checked into the Sunshine Mountain Lodge on Thursday afternoon (Cammy and Erik had rented the whole place), and we set up stuff for the majority of the guests arriving on Friday and staying through Sunday. Everyone had their own adorable cabin (ours was dog themed and had a somewhat creepy poster of dogs doing yoga above the bed). As a side note, I realized on this trip that this setup was basically as close to camping as I'm willing to get these days.

On Friday, Ari and I went for a morning hike with Cammy's dad and his wife Kathy in Rocky Mountain National Park. I'd done this hike before with Cammy, and it is pretty awesome. If you do the whole trail, you get to see four lakes in approximately 4 miles. We went about halfway, and saw three of the lakes.

We saw lots of elk! Apparently it's "rutting season"?

Ari strikes a heroic pose. 

By the time we came back from the hike, most of the people had made it into the lodge -- there were 30 people total. For dinner, we had delicious falafel and tahini makings.

Santiago and Sarah (Cammy's roommate from college), her brother Doug, Rob (another college friend) and Ari

Cammy's plate (made of biodegradable palm leaf!)

Cammy in her adorable vintage dress

After eating, everyone just kind of hung out (and many people got very drunk, I'm not going to lie. We were at 8,000 feet, so it was difficult to judge how much alcohol would have an effect.) Let's just say the night ended with Amanda (Cammy's sister) "teaching" some of us the moves to Michael Jackson's Thriller and then Ari playing guitar while people called out requests.

The next day was the day of the wedding! We didn't have to do too much until noon, when it was time to prep all the girly stuff for Cammy. Sarah did Cammy's hair and makeup, and I painted her toenails (and otherwise just hung out in the room with Shea, Cammy's cousin, and the sole teenager at the wedding). 

Sipping champagne in the newly-converted "beauty parlor" (We just brought in a mirror)

Cammy, all done up with her bouquet of herbs, right before she walked to meet Erik for the first look. Le sigh. So pretty. 

 I don't actually have any photos from the ceremony (too busy crying and/or giving a speech), but let me tell you, was it pretty! It was at the top of a hill behind the lodge, surrounded by aspens.

Enjoying a cocktail after the ceremony

After the ceremony, we had a couple hours for cocktails and corn hole, a game I did not play but enjoyed observing. Cammy and Erik were the reigning champions of the game!

Action shot of Cammy playing corn hole in her wedding dress. 

For the catered wedding dinner, we had two kinds of tamales, in addition to really delicious beans and rice and salad. Then for dessert, mini chocolate and strawberry cheesecakes, in lieu of wedding cake. By that point, I couldn't even eat dessert. But by the end of the night, I DID partake in s'mores, which we roasted around a campfire while Cammy's mom played folk songs on guitar. We finally got to bed around midnight, and only because we had to get up at 7am the next morning to catch the flight back to New York.

It was a wonderful, emotional weekend. I'm so lucky I got to be there for it--but more importantly, I'm lucky to have Cammy as a best friend. Here's to many more future celebrations we'll have together!