Andy and Mate's Aspen Wedding

Photography by J. La Plante Photo

Andy and Mate are locked in a battle of the most adorable demonstrations of love ever. While Mate fired the first shots, Andy’s response at their fall Aspen wedding took things to the next level.

It all started in 2017. Andy is, to put it mildly, OBSESSED with otters. So Mate, being the adoring partner that he is, arranged an otter encounter for Andy. As if that wasn’t already Andy’s dream day, Mate added a proposal on top of it. Andy didn’t hesitate a single moment before saying yes!

But that meant that Andy had to retaliate. During their wedding planning, Andy reached out to ask if I could arrange a phone call for a time when Mate wasn’t around. He laid out his plan to us and we arranged a wedding day timeline to sneak in the biggest surprise we’ve seen in our 15 years of photographing weddings.

After their first look and portrait session, we returned to the Aspen Meadows Resort, where we blindfolded a bewildered Mate and put him on a golf cart out to the ceremony site. Once there, a sixteen-piece orchestra began playing his favorite song, Rhapsody in Blue. He removed the blindfold, astounded at the surprise that Andy was able to pull off, only to find the cherry on top: Andy had also brought his all-time favorite beverage for them to enjoy as they listened to Gershwin surrounded by the jaw-dropping beauty of fall in Aspen.

The rest of the day was filled with fun personal touches for the guests, including an orchestral rendition of Baby Shark for their flower girl and ring bearer and a choreographed sword fight!