Noah and Taylor's intimate outdoor marsala and burgundy wedding was gorgeous from start to finish. The couple had a custom wooden cross made with a beautiful floral arrangement in the middle which was the focal point of their outdoor wedding ceremony backdrop. It looked magnificent with Arizona's mountains behind it, and was a reminder of their heartfelt faith!

The Minnesota-based couple adore the desert mountains, so they chose the Copperwynd Resort as their venue because it shows of the dramatic landscape beautifully. Taylor's Maggie Sotttero lace gown had a piece of her mother gown appliquéd to the inside. The gown hung from Taylor's grandmother's hanger while she prepared for her wedding day!

The couple worked with a romantic, timeless color palette, adding a natural, spring feel with rich tones of marsala, burgundy, blushes and spring greens to soften the look. Tina, from Melissa Jill photography, who captured these beautiful images, shares that the gown fit perfectly to reveal Noah's initial on her side (he has a tattoo of her initial on his finger).

Lavish flowers in shades of blush, burgundy and marsala were styled in loose, modern arrangements from the bouquet to the cross to the garlands in the trees. "The outdoor reception was threatened by clouds, but there was only the barest hint of rain ... just enough to bless the first dance with a glowing rainbow in the sky! The reception itself was elegant and luxurious, combining more lovely flower arrangements with blush linens and glass accents. As the sunset over the McDowell Mountains around them, the wedding guests danced the night way at the light-strewn reception."

Taylor wanted their intimate 0utdoor marsala and burgundy wedding to be as timeless, romantic, and classic as possible: "I picked out colors, accents that would be elegant and timeless. Our colour palette was focused around the pantone color marsala. We really wanted a rich maroon hue! The goal was to have a tone that popped against the natural colors of the desert."

Outdoor Marsala Burgundy Wedding

Love Story: Noah and I met in college in DePere, Wisconsin. We had a lot of mutual friends and ended up spending a lot of time together. We even took a few college classes together, and I loved watching him play hockey for the varsity hockey team! After dating for about five years, we got engaged while on a trip to Aspen, Colorado.

It was such a beautiful setting in the mountains by an outdoor fireplace. We were actually staying at the same hotel as Will Ferrell, and ended up meeting him and talking with him about our engagement! It was a very exciting weekend, and then the wedding planning began! I wanted our flowers to have volume and look natural and 'wild'. I was really inspired by the marsala and blush color palette, and had as many flowers as I could! The types of flowers were garden roses in blush, antique pink, burgundy and cream, white and burgundy ranunculus, jasmine vine, dahlia's, lilac, and maiden hair fern. I loved the subtle ombre color change of my wedding dress - the gold color at the bottom looked amazing with the desert colors on the wedding day. I had such an amazing time picking out my wedding dress, all of my bridesmaids and mother and mother-in-law were there! We made a whole girls weekend out of it and it meant so much to have everyone there! The bridesmaids wore classic dresses with burgundy lace, black lining underneath, and black belts. The dresses were from Watters, and the shoes were simple black flats from Steve Madden. Their bouquets were mini versions of the bride bouquet, and all of colors looked great together! The groomsman wore their own black suits, we gifted them with burgundy socks, ties, and watches! My husband picked out every aspect of the groomsmen outfits, and they matched so well with the bridesmaids! My favorite piece of the ceremony was the large wooden cross adorned with marsala, burgundy and cream wedding flowers that a local carpenter and family friend, Mark Ferguson, made for us. Even though we weren't in a church, we wanted to have a religious aspect to the ceremony and the beautiful cross with an amazing floral adornment was the perfect way to tie our religion.

I walked down the aisle to a string quartet playing a lesser-known song from the Harry Potter score, I was worried a classic 'wedding aisle' song would make me too emotional! We wrote our entire ceremony together, it was a way to make our vows and readings completely original. Our main goal was for the day to feel like 'us' and reflect our relationship.

My husband really loves to look stylish and had a clear vision for how he wanted to look on the wedding day! He wore a classic black Hugo Boss suit and white shirt, and black Ted Baker shoes. He wore a black tie, and the groomsman wore maroon ties. Our wedding reception was incredible, we only had about 50 guests and it made the entire experience very intimate. We had time to talk to all of our guests who had traveled so far to celebrate with us. The entire ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing was outside! Our family gave meaningful speeches and we danced the night away under the stars with our closest family and friends.

The biggest stress saver for me was only planning when I really felt like it! Some days I felt too overwhelmed or stressed, and I would take breaks from planning for weeks at a time. As a result, this made the planning process a fun experience, instead of a chore!
I also included my mom and mother-in-law and sisters as much as possible, and would constantly ask their opinion and text them my ideas! It was a very collaborative effort.

We purchased our Programs and Cards boxes from ThePaperWalrus.

There was a tiny bit of rain during our first dance, but the result was an amazing rainbow right over both of us! Click To Tweet

Intimate Outdoor Marsala Burgundy Wedding Vendor Contacts:

Photographer Tina at Melissa Jill // Venue Copperwynd Resort // Dress Maggie Sottero "Britannia" // Brides Hair Ruca at Hautie Rogue Salon // Brides Make-up Linda Wagner // Flowers Tamara at Petal Pusher // Cake P.J. Coleman at La Dolce Pesca // Bridesmaid Dresses The Wedding Shoppe // Music Jeremy at Ray the DJ // Decor Wooden Cross, Mark Ferguson // Stationery Minted // Videographer Beau & Karen Leslie eMotion Cinematography // Shoes Bride Shoes Louboutin // Grooms Shoes Ted Baker // Suits Groom's Suit Hugo Boss // Wedding Guest Print Jennifer Raichman