Tessa + Tyler love books. We love books. And whether you love books or not, you’re sure to love their library themed winter wedding at the gorgeous Manor House outside of Denver!
Tessa & Tyler (affectionately known as T&T) are total book nerds. Which obviously means they’re the best kind of people. They went all in for their library themed winter wedding and we are still obsessing over it!
Neither one of us are good at the whole “just pick something and move on,” and one of the things that we have in common is that when we choose to do something, it has to be meaningful and it has to be done “right.” So, when the two of us, old souls and type-A personalities both, a teacher and a lawyer, came together to find something that was meaningful to both of us, we immediately knew literature had to be a part of it. Books were one of the very first things we connected on, and we spent countless dates in coffee houses reading, or reading in the outdoors, or just hanging out reading together wherever. Libraries were our favorite places- both of us had early memories of days spent in libraries and being read to by our parents. And, for both of us, books had a profound impact on the people we became.
We knew this was the correct choice because when we started talking about having a literary themed wedding and brainstorming how we would do it, it was something that we would discuss with giddy excitement, fantasizing about how we could share our love of literature with friends and family, while still conveying a creativeness that was uniquely ours.
Tessa & Tyler
They found the perfect locations for their incredible vision.
We won’t claim to be experts in indoor church weddings. In fact, we so rarely ever photograph ceremonies indoors at all! BUT, if we’re going to book a church wedding, we might as well go all out with the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Downtown Denver. Such gorgeous architecture. The photos truly speak for themselves.
The rest of Tessa & Tyler’s library themed winter wedding day was hosted at The Manor House. A gorgeous venue on 6 acres in the foothills, there isn’t a more ideal venue for the style of wedding Tessa so perfectly planned! Highly recommend if you’re looking for something super classic & timeless.
Would you consider a themed wedding?
T&T went all out with the library theme – stamped library cards for their place cards & invites from Posted Fete; books (the classics & some newer titles!) from their personal collection; a different set of book ends on each table. It was magical. We made sure to get a series of portraits in the Manor House library – it was completely Vogue.
Here’s how T&T created their program & invites, as well as their amazing table themes! They even included extra “something’ something’s” for their wedding party – Shakespeare themed!
So, after establishing this, we went all in, pulling out all the stops. We even selected a wedding venue that had a small library in it! Our wedding program was a Plot Diagram, our wedding invites were library card inserts, and our tables and guests would be organized according to (an adapted version of) the Dewey Decimal system. Because we had such a specific vision, we didn’t feel comfortable handing it off to a wedding planner, so we devoted every weekend for about six months to the planning and preparation of it. We knew we would have around 140 people, so we each got to pick 6 table “themes,” and some we created together- for example, both Tyler and I have a deep and abiding love for Shakespeare, so the head table would obviously be a Shakespeare themed table called “To Thine Own Spouse Be True.” We found Shakespeare book ends and trinkets and picked out a specific Shakespeare play to gift to every member of our wedding party. We scavenged countless secondhand book dealers for unique versions of his plays, so the books could also serve as center pieces (we worked with the florist to get flowers that would complement the books displayed on each table). Then, we wrote a note to every member of the wedding party in “their” book, and finished it off with our own library due date ink stamp that said “From the Library of TnT.” And so, this continued for months. Every weekend we would try to knock out one table. Once we got the books home, we wrote messages in the books explaining their significance for whomever brought the book home and finished it off with our library stamp.
Tessa & Tyler
We loved spending their beautiful library themed winter wedding with them, and we are so happy to FINALLY share it with you!
Obsessed with their film!
In conclusion, here’s what Tessa & Tyler had to say about perfectly executing a themed wedding day.
What was most special about this process were two things. First, we had so much fun together. I feel like often weddings can bring out the worst in people, and can be the cause of disagreements and arguments, but for us, every weekend was like we were setting off on an adventure where we would get to know and fall in love with each other even more. Inevitably, we would return home with more than 10 books, books just for our own library, and to this day, I am not sure if the wedding or the book hunt is a more special memory. Second, we love sharing books with people we love, so to be able to give our wedding guests a unique, meaningful gift at our wedding was our dream come true. No two books were the same, and we encouraged our guests to walk around from table to table, browsing as if they were in the library, and to take home a book that looked intriguing to them. So, if they were sitting at the “Ice (nine) Ice (nine), Baby” table (or a table devoted to Kurt Vonnegut who we both love), they didn’t have to pick one of his books, and were instead free to take home a book from any table. It warmed our hearts when we saw how our loved ones jumped in with such enthusiasm, for example, when we saw my 90-year-old grandfather toting around the enormous Truman book by David Mccullough, even though he had not been seated at that table. In the end, only two books were left even though we had 140 books all told, and only 120 people showed up. We were so happy we could share something so deeply personal by gifting each guest a present that would (hopefully) become more than a trinket on a shelf.
To this day, we reflect on our wedding and say how amazingly perfect it was, and how we wouldn’t change a single thing. We still have people that tell us how incredible our wedding was because it was such a reflection of who we are, or we even have guests reach out for photos or ideas, because “I told my niece about your wedding, and now that’s what she wants to do!” Now, I love to look back at that day through the beautiful photos Dave and Shanna took, always silently blessing them for capturing all the little details, so I will never forget that day. My only regret is that I can’t live in that day forever.
Tessa & Tyler
What an amazing winter wedding! Take a look! Manifesting even more days like this. Ya hear, Universe?
Photo & Video: Us! Basecamp Visual
Ceremony Venue: Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Florals: Plum Sage Flowers
HMU: The Haut Haus
Dress: The Lovely Bride
Cape: Michal Meyer
Paper Goods: Posted Fete
Planning: The Bride!
Pies: Colorado Cherry Company
Reception Venue: The Manor House
Band: Diamond Empire Band
Crafting really beautiful films + photos for the wild at heart, Basecamp Visual is a Breckenridge, Colorado based videography and photography team run by us, a husband and wife duo, Dave & Shanna. Are you on the hunt for a creative storytelling team for your upcoming Colorado (or other amazing places) intimate wedding or elopement? Interested in a session just because? Let’s talk about it! Contact us today to learn more.
