Heather Moran and Rob Sinclair had lived in the small mountain town of Aspen for more than a decade without ever meeting, until the day when a mutual friend asked Heather to come to a barbecue Rob was hosting.

It was a set-up from the start: just two couples and Heather was the only one who wasn't in on it. But the second I saw Rob, I knew I was going to marry him, said Heather.

Rob soon surprised Heather again, with a proposal during a Hawaiian vacation. The couple agreed that they wanted to be married in their hometown in September, just as the aspens burst into their golden autumnal glory. Exactly one year before the wedding, they took a photograph of the reception site, Elk Mountain Lodge, which became the centerpiece of their unique sepia-toned and hand-painted invitations.

Wed seen Arak Kanofsky Studios featured in Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, said Heather, and it was so fun to work with them to create the invitations. They definitely set the tone for the wedding. Extending the autumn theme, escort cards were designed in the shapes and colors of aspen leaves, and then hung from branches at the entrance to the reception.

Rob and Heather also built a flower-bedecked arbor for their outdoor ceremony, tapping into Rob’s expertise as an architect. We collaborated on every detail of the wedding, said Rob.

The wedding day was blessed with clear blue skies and snow-capped mountains, the perfect backdrop for a sylvan ceremony that included the couple's two dogs and Heather's horse, Shadow -- the latter a surprise guest transported to the ceremony by the couple's friends. Id tried to figure out how to include him, and finally had to give up, said Heather, who had toyed with the idea of a horse-and-buggy entrance, or including Shadow in the processional. It just made everything complete. It was like a fairytale walking down the aisle and seeing Rob and then Shadow and the two dogs, and all our friends and family everyone was there.

After dancing all evening, the couple headed off for a few nights at Bacara, a luxury resort in Santa Barbara, Calif. We traded in a big, fancy honeymoon for the music (which included two bands and a DJ), but it was worth it," said Rob. "We were having so much fun that we were the last people to leave we wanted to enjoy every last minute!