Real Wedding | Emma + Taylor

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We met at the beginning of 2018 while we were both living in New York. I’m from Melbourne, Australia and Taylor grew up in Denver, Colorado. We were living in the West Village when the pandemic hit in 2020. We flew to Colorado to get out the city (for what we thought would be a couple of weeks). We ended up living in Vail, Colorado for almost 2 years. At the beginning of 2022, we moved to Bondi Beach in Sydney, which is where we now live. We love traveling and spending time outdoors — skiing is our favourite thing in the world, and the rest of the year we love hiking and being at the beach.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Aspen is a really special place for us. We got engaged while hiking there, and spent time there while we were living in Colorado. Emma’s dad has been skiing in Aspen since the late 70s, so wasn’t a hard sell for him (or the rest of the Australian guests!). It’s a magical town. We loved the idea of a winter wedding—it was so romantic and cosy, and incredibly fun to be able to spend the week skiing with everyone. It was incredible to be able to have all our family and friends come to Taylor’s home state of Colorado, and to be able to share such a special place with them.

We’ve stayed at the Hotel Jerome previously and absolutely love it. The history of the building paired with it’s beautiful interior design made it an easy choice for our venue.

How many guests did you have?

100 from across the world including Australia, Sweden, and from all across the US – New York, California, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois to name a few! It wasn’t lost on us how special it was to have our families and friends in one place. Being from two different countries, it’s unlikely to happen again!

Tell us about your outfits.

I came across Newhite on Instagram and loved the modern style and silhouettes of their dresses. I found one stockist here in Sydney, Hope x Page. I tried on so many beautiful dresses from different designers, but ultimately I felt the most like myself in this one. The sleeves were perfect for our outdoor ceremony, and I then removed them for dinner and dancing. I changed into a SIR mini for more dancing and the afterparty. The shoes were a dream – they were silk and feather heels from Saint Laurent in the lightest shade of green, with a rhinestone buckle detail. Obsessed! Taylor worked with Belancé here in Sydney to create a custom tux. He went with a black velvet fabric from Loro Piana for the jacket paired with a classic tux pant. For shoes, he did black RM Williams chelsea boots. He looked amazing.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

One of the most important aspects for us when we were planning was ensuring that the vibe was fun and that the day/night were stress-free. A big part of that was having all parts of the wedding at the same venue. Hotel Jerome and the team were incredible — they made it so easy. The vision for the night was a classic, big, fun dinner party. Given the time of year, we didn’t do any florals. Instead, we used hundreds (and hundreds) of candles. It made the lighting so soft and intimate. Three long dinner tables helping bring that dinner party feeling, and we scattered speeches from cocktail hour through to before dessert, to keep the energy up and the night flowing. We weren’t keen on the night ending at 10pm, so we booked the speakeasy under the hotel, Bad Harriet, for an afterparty. Moving from the grand ballroom to the dark speakeasy was a nice change up, and espresso martinis meant people danced all night. It was one of the best decisions we made!

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We were so blown away by everyone traveling so far to celebrate with us, so we wrote handwritten notes for every guest and put them at their place at the tables. It was a special way to thank them for being there, reminisce on memories spent together, and tell them how much we appreciate and love them! Weddings in the US don’t incorporate an MC role, so we decided to introduce our American guests to the concept and asked one of our Aussie friends to MC the night. He did an amazing job.

Any tips for couples getting married?

We focussed on and prioritized the things that mattered the most to us. For us, that was the overall vibe/energy, great food and wines, and music. While planning I would think back to details that I actually remembered from other weddings — when do you ever remember the napkins?? — so we didn’t waste energy on things that we knew wouldn’t change/impact the day.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Monique Bianca was incredible to work with. I found her via Instagram and just loved her work. I really wanted a photographer who would shoot both digital and film, and someone who would capture the energy and emotion of the day. She nailed it. The team at the Hotel Jerome went above and beyond. Our event director Elyse was incredible — her attention to detail was amazing and she made us feel so relaxed through the whole process.

Real Wedding | Emma + Taylor

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