environment I was engineering — setting the scene, creating the right conditions, building a space in which something meaningful could happen. In that case, it was the space for my colleagues to connect with the donors they were cultivating. The event wasn't the point. What happened inside it was.

That realization changed how I thought about the work entirely. And when I eventually found my way to wedding planning, I understood immediately why it felt right. A wedding is the same — not a party to be executed, but an experience to be architected. Every design choice, every logistical decision, every carefully chosen vendor is in service of the same goal: creating the ideal conditions for something real to happen. For a couple to be fully present with the people they love most, in a place that means something to them, on the most significant day of their lives together.

Every wedding we produce begins with precisely that understanding.

Moving to Aspen in 2014 changed me in ways I didn't expect.

I had been living in the city. I considered myself a city person — concerts and coffee shops and the particular energy of a place that never quite goes quiet. Moving to the Roaring Fork Valley was a big change, and honestly... I wasn't sure it was for me.

But soon something shifted. Sleeping with my window open and listening to the river as I fell asleep. My first bear sighting. I remember distinctly how dark it was. And the stars. I would park my car in the driveway after getting home in the evening and just stand there, looking up, a little dazed by how bright the stars were. Mesmerized by how many there were when light pollution wasn't masking them. That feeling — that particular mix of wonder and gratitude — is where the name Stargazed comes from.

The mountains taught me things about myself I hadn't known before. That I was, in fact, outdoorsy. That I loved real camping (not just the Girl Scout kind) and powder days and the childlike joy of waking up to a foot of snow. I had been a city girl by circumstance, but this landscape fit me in a way I hadn't anticipated.

I had arrived in Aspen to work for the Aspen Music Festival and School — the next chapter in a career in nonprofit arts administration. I produced fundraising events for arts organizations, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. I was good at those events. But somewhere along the way I realized something: I wasn't just throwing cocktail parties. Every event I produced was an

the
stargazed story