IN THE WINTER, Big Sky’s Huntley Dining Room is known for one mean breakfast buffet. But come summer (read: wedding season), the Huntley Dining Room takes on a whole new role - chafing dishes full of scrambled eggs and bacon are replaced with ivory linens and breathtaking floral centerpieces. And the occasional hay bale.
Think elegant and civilized meets rugged wild west. Last week I met with a bride-to-be whose wedding will be just that. While her life and career may have taken her to the big city, her Montana roots remain as strong as the reins on the Quarter Horses at her parents nearby ranch. This bride’s upcoming wedding will be a weekend-long event, kicking off with a western-themed bar-b-que for over 300 people in the Huntley Dining Room. There will be s’mores around the fire, a wagon filled with penny candy, red and white checkered tablecloths, BBQ pulled pork, and, a mechanical bull. After a few rounds on a bucking bronco and several trips to the dance floor, guests will kick off their boots in either the four-star Summit Hotel or the luxurious Village Center – both within a short walking distance of the reception .
Other brides lean towards the more traditional, focusing on the grandeur of the outdoor beauty at Big Sky. Just a week after one bride’s western bar-b-que, another will celebrate outdoors in the Lone Peak Pavilion as the sun sets behind the towering mountain. Guests will sip on fine wine, munch on mini bison steaks served on Montana grain crostini, and sway their hips to a local Bluegrass band.
But no matter which end of the spectrum a wedding leans towards, there’s no divorcing it from Big Sky’s sense of place and culture. Like the GeoTraveler, making sure to experience the local culture wherever she roams, a wedding at Big Sky is for the GeoBride, finding elegance and beauty in what is distinctly Montana.
- Margo Humphries, Big Sky Resort Wedding Sales Manager
