An Elegant, Mountain-Inspired Wedding at Stowehof Inn in Stowe, Vermont

Christine Van Etten (29, a graphic designer and ski instructor) and Kristofer DeMello (27, an arborist and ski instructor) met on their very first day of ski instructor training at Stowe Mountain Resort. "We were playing a meet and greet name game, and he did the lawnmower," recalls Christine. "Within the first two weeks of dating, Kris asked when he could marry me. I told him he had to wait until I was 26—it seemed like a good number." After four years together in Stowe, they moved to Jackson, Wyoming to be the caretakers for an elderly couple and their ranch. One night, Christine was cleaning up after dinner when Kris asked if he could see the ring she recently made for herself in a silversmith class. She handed it to him, forgot about it, and began to tell him about her new favorite country song, "Crazy" by Hunter Hayes. "Kris has a strong distaste for country music, so I should have known something was fishy when he said he wanted to hear it," says Christine. As she danced around singing, Kris got down on one knee. "Assuming he was still holding the ring I had made for myself, I blurted out 'You can’t ask me with my own ring, that’s cheating!' He just smiled and stared down at his hand where he was holding a white gold, nine-stone ring," she says.  When it came time to design their wedding day, the couple headed drew upon what they know best—the mountains. Back in the Stowe mountains where they met and fell in love, Christine and Kris planned an eco-friendly, DIY-heavy, mountain-themed affair that embraced the landscape they hold so dear. Taking inspiration from the surrounding mountains, they decided on an organic color palette of stone gray, blue and pops yellow—hues that wouldn't compete with the explosion of green Vermont becomes in spring.