When I read the story of how these two met I thought it sounded like the start of a fun rom-com movie! By chance they met on a Southwest flight when Cinzia picked the last window seat open. Which just so happened to be in the aisle Seth was in. How’s that for a meet cute?!
Their original plans were altered by Covid, but they embraced it and decided to fly back to Denver where their story began and married in the Mountains of Aspen.
Check out these beautiful photos and some Q&A from the couple below!
Photography: AMA Photography
Location: Maroon Bells
Dress Designer: Pronovias
Groom’s Attire: Ted Baker
Rings: Blue Nile and Tiffany
Video : Gold Heart Weddings
Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Getting Ready Location: Aspen Meadows Resort
Makeup : Eliana Davila
Hair : Aspen Mobile Hair
Officiant: Aspens Favorite Wedding Officiant
Florist: Sashae Floral Arts
Q: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.
A: Seth and I met on September 27, 2017 onboard Southwest flight #5488 from Boston to Denver. I was late and rushed onto the flight. I scanned the plane for any window seats left open. As luck or fate would have it, I found one last seat at the back of the plane. A man was seated in the aisle and I sheepishly asked if he’d mind if I took the window seat, he looked up and said, “sure”. A little over 4 hours later this man and I had completed our “first date.” After we deplaned, he walked me to my next gate, I was only on that plane to connect to Seattle! I put my number in his phone and we promised to stay in touch. After 10 days of talking and texting he bought a ticket to CT to see me. From there the relationship was solidified.
After a year and half of dating and learning that I was a national park fanatic, Seth and I took a trip to Tennessee to Smokey Mountain National Park for April Vacation. He surprised me by starting out the day with a horseback ride through the mountains and then told me he had planned a picnic for us. We stopped at the cutest little cafe and packed up the pre-ordered basket and blanket for two. We arrived at Cades Cove surrounded by the picturesque Smokey Mountains. Seth picked arguably one of the most beautiful spots in the park. I noticed we were alone with only a nature photographer in the parking lot. When Seth told me to stay standing and he went down on one knee to propose, I just started crying. After I said, yes, he then told me the photographer was for us and that she had captured this beautiful moment the entire time! Although, he had to battle the inclement weather and even make a last-minute date change with the photographer, his beautiful surprise went off without a hitch. It was a proposal that dreams are made of…especially for a National Park fanatic!
Q: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?
A: Finally seeing each other on the day. We had been through so many ups and downs throughout this entire wedding planning process and really had a rough month leading up to our elopement. We had been so stressed out about both the wedding and elopement that finally holding each other’s hands and saying our vows and doing this our way was the best feeling in the world. Literally in that moment we were everything we needed to be for each other.
Q: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?
A: Our day was not at all what we had planned. We were supposed to get married August 22, 2020 in Sonoma, CA. Unfortunately, 4 weeks before our wedding the venue and church had to cancel our nuptuals due to government rollbacks. This decision was difficult on many levels, but mostly because we needed to start a family. I’m considered a high-risk pregnancy and we just couldn’t wait to have a baby. I had joked when we first started wedding planning that we should go get married on top of a mountain. After we got the news, Seth suggested we get married on top of that mountain; I had talked about when we first got engaged. We decided that Colorado would be a beautiful location and place that had a lot of significance to us, since we met on a plane ride to Denver. On my first visit to Colorado, to visit Seth he brought me to Aspen and our first hike was of Maroon Bells. And so, it was decided, we were headed back to Colorado and to Aspen Mountain and Maroon Bells to elope! We did not have a specific theme, we were going for but I wanted it to be romantic and still feel elegant for him and I among the mountains and trees. I wanted our love to compliment the breathtaking backdrop of Aspen. The colors we chose were a dark burgundy for his suit’s accent pieces, i.e. tie and pocket square, my lipstick, nails, and some flowers. We also had Seth wear an Indigo blue suit. One of the original colors for CA. wedding. and I had some blue accents in my bouquet. Seth is Jewish and we really wanted to include something traditional, so he stomped on the glass after we were married and saved a piece to take home!
Q: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?
A: We used Baby’s Breadth bouquets that Seth put together the line the aisle with.I love flowers! Picking the flowers for my bouquet was one of my favorite things to plan. When I was planning my church wedding, I was only going to have white flowers. Since we were getting eloped outside I added some beautiful bold colors to the bouquet that added to the burgundy and blue Seth and I were wearing.I also stuck with flowers in my bouquet that have meaning for Seth and I. Tiger Lilies: To represent my father, who passed away, since the Tiger Lilly is the national flower of Italy and that is where my dad is from.Mountain Laurel, Cousin: Represents Connecticut my/the bride’s home state.CA Poppy, Cousin: Represents California, the groom’s home stateBlue Thistle, and Blueberry looking plant to give me my something blue.Burgundy Calla Lilly: Meaning faithfulness for our marriage White English Rose: They smell amazing! and they mean loveBlush colored Roses: For balanceBurgundy Peonies: Meaning happy marriage and romance, and because I think they’re beautiful!
Q: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
A: Yes, the location as mentioned prior was very personal to us. We also wrote our own vows, and the song I walked down to him was personal and special. For our original wedding, I was going to have our families walk to Pachelbel’s Canon in D, which Jewish brides usually walk down to. So, instead I walked down to that song and next year our family will walk down to that song for the church ceremony. My father passed away, before I met Seth. When he passed we had pieces of his favorite suit that he was buried in taken to keep and hold onto. I had the seamstress take the piece I had saved and make a heart out of it and sew it into the skirt of my gown. For me the favorite part of the wedding was the look on Seth’s face as I walked toward him. It was such a magical moment. I was so excited for him to finally see me in my wedding dress and veil! Other parts were getting to FaceTime friends and family before we got married and having my sister be able to watch me get my hair and makeup done. Seth also surprised me with Tiffany Pearl earrings to wear for the day.We saw our first Moose!!! We have been hiking and visiting national parks for almost three years and had always wanted to see a moose and never have. On our wedding day we saw a Moose in Maroon Bells, and took that as a sign.
Q: Let’s talk fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.
A: For our original wedding the theme was classic, formal, and elegant all the way. I wanted to slay in a gorgeous Cathedral length dress walking down the church aisle. I wanted a dress that was unique (no sweetheart mermaid dress for me), simple, but memorable. I had gone dress shopping with my friends and family months prior. I had one of my gfs from Seattle fly in and we went to Kleinfeld’s and did the whole girl day dress shopping. I still hadn’t found the “one,” so in a last attempt, I booked an appointment after work to go to Pronovias in NY and try on some dresses that piqued my interest. To say the least, the dresses I picked didn’t give me that feeling. The associate brought me a dress in the ballpark that I was looking for as far as style, I wanted a long sleeve dress with a long train that did not have a lot of flash. When I first tried it on I was like yeah, I like it, but then tried on some other dresses. She told me that everything I was looking for was in the dress that I had tried on and to retry it on and walk into the show room. I did and when I walked into the showroom and caught myself in the mirror, I started to cry. This was my dress!
When she left the room, I wanted to check the price and noticed that the name of the dress was… The Colorado! I couldn’t believe it, since Seth and I met on a plane to Colorado. Now the dress’s name is even more significant and ironic since it wound up being the state we eloped in!
Seth for the Sonoma wedding was going to wear a full tuxedo, since we were having a formal/black-tie wedding. Since we thought that a tuxedo would seem out of place with our elopement location we chose to go with a blue suit, which was Seth’s second choice if he didn’t wear a tuxedo. So we went on the hunt for a blue suit. We only had about ten days to plan our elopement so we went suit shopping as many days as we could. I think he bought three or for suits in varying blue and we had settled on a Charles Tyrwhitt suit. Since he wasn’t doing suspenders with a tux, he wanted a three piece with a vest. We were told his vest was not in store and would be shipped in the next few days. On the Saturday before we left the vest was still not in. We decide to go to Ted Baker in NY and see if there was a vest that could be paired with his suit or a cool textured vest to add to his look. While we were there, we found a full indigo blue three piece suit that he loved. It was slim fit like he was looking for and the stitching details were on point. He had also just purchased about four pairs of shoes for the elopement and one of the pairs was Ted Baker that complimented the look he was going for with an English tan to them. From there we set out to find his burgundy tie and pocket square and matching belt. Since the pants needed to be hemmed, he brought them in on Monday, got them back to Tuesday just in time for us to fly out on Wednesday! Phew!
Q: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
A: Even the best laid plans can change at a moment’s notice, but don’t let that stop you! I think people feel that they need everyone around them with all the fanfare to have a special and memorable day. I’d tell those people to believe in that fact that the two of you are absolutely enough. Seth and I are so happy that we eloped, we know that this is the way it was meant to happen, and we are so grateful that the day was truly just about the two of us and our love and commitment to each other.
