You’re either the type who puts your earbuds in and hopes everyone leaves you alone, or the type who loves to talk to strangers on planes. Ben is the latter. And, fortunately, so is Kristin. Thirteen years ago, she and Ben were seated next to each other on a flight from New York to San Francisco. They started talking, and by the end of the flight, they knew a lot about each other’s lives. Ben gave her his card.
Imagine our surprise last year when, 13 years later, we received an email from Kristin. She had just gotten engaged, and had held on to Ben’s information all these years.
Kristin had met Keith in a hotel bar on a business trip (sounds like a scene from a movie), and they had fallen madly in love. They’d also had a daughter together, who joined the three children Keith had from a previous marriage. Though they both live in New York, they were planning a wedding in Idaho, where Kristin grew up.
Pre-wedding festivities in Ketchum
The best thing about getting married in Sun Valley, Idaho, besides the sheer beauty of this majestic place, is having the small, former mining town of Ketchum next door. Its picturesque Main Street is very walkable, with dining and shopping options all around. For this Idaho destination wedding, most everyone stayed at hotels and Airbnbs in Ketchum. From Hotel Ketchum, where we stayed, we were able to simply walk to the rehearsal dinner at Warfield Distillery, and also to the couple’s hotel room at Limelight Ketchum the next morning for getting ready photos. Ketchum’s Casino Bar on Main Street is also where the wedding afterparty was (shuttles brought everyone over), making it very easy for guests to simply walk back to their hotels afterward.
Idaho Wedding in Sun Valley: Trail Creek Pavilion
Kristin and Keith had their wedding ceremony outdoors at Sun Valley Resort’s Trail Creek Pavilion, with a tented reception afterward. In between, we had time to do portraits of the two of them around this beautiful, natural property, with the mountains as the backdrop.
Kristin and Keith wanted their kids there for the reception, but only for part of it. So the kids stayed for the first hour, long enough to experience the first dance, parent dances, bouquet toss, and a few dance songs. When they were taken back to the hotel by the grandparents, Kristin and Keith and their friends let loose. Like, all the way. I mean, when the bride decides to jump off a table and crowd-surf, you can safely say you were at one of the most fun wedding parties ever.
This Idaho wedding in Sun Valley was such a full-circle moment for us, and it felt meant to be, that all of us would come together again, 13 years after that fateful meeting on the plane. Kristin and Keith’s Sun Valley wedding gave us everything we adore about a wedding: true love, strong family bonds, deep emotion, and a legendary party. This wedding reminded us why we love what we do, and also the importance of what we do. We left Idaho with full hearts, thousands and thousands of photos to go through, and new friends we will cherish forever.
Before you go, check out more of our mountain weddings from all over the world.
Planning an Idaho wedding? Check out this Coeur d’Alene wedding and this Hayden Lake wedding.
