A Winter Wedding in the Colorado Mountains Where the Best-Laid Plans Changed Last-Minute
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In the days leading up to Wallis and Peter Whitcomb’s wedding, the world suddenly became a very different place. “The President held the first major press conference addressing COVID-19,” Wallis, head of partnerships at the children’s brand The Dopple, remembers. “All major sporting events for the year were cancelled. And companies began strongly urging their employees not to travel. Peter and I drove up to Aspen—where we were having our wedding—from Denver on that Wednesday morning, and we knew there would be some last-minute fall-out. But over the course of the next 72 hours, our wedding went from a confirmed 140 guests to 64. We spent Thursday and Friday fielding non-stop calls from friends who couldn’t believe it, but they weren’t going to be able to make our wedding.”
Wallis and Peter, the chief of staff and head of partnerships at Trove Recommerce, met at Colgate University. He was a year older than she was, and they knew each other but never dated during school or the years following when they were both living in New York City. “The first time we met my freshman year, Peter introduced himself at a party, and when I told him my name was Wallis, he shared with me that his younger sister’s name was originally Wallis—but later it became a middle name and now her first name is Isabel,” Wallis remembers. “I think we had a distant appreciation of each other for a long time.” They eventually reconnected in the spring of 2018 after not having seen each other for over 12 years.
The two dated long-distance for nine months before she moved to join him in Seattle in January of 2019. Peter proposed in July in New York City, the place they’d once called home and still continue to hold dear, though Wallis says she never looked back. “I was and am so in love with Peter, that I apparently cut whatever part of my identity was tied to New York—something prior to meeting Peter I never thought would happen,” she says. “That being said, it was hard to visit New York after moving to Seattle. Seattle never became a place I felt at home in. The natural beauty is absolutely incredible—and yet, there was something about Washington State that I couldn’t completely give myself over to. All of this to say, I think Peter’s intention in proposing in Central Park in New York last July was so that we could celebrate in a place that we both have a wonderful connection with.”
They chose the Colorado mountains—a place of similar significance—as their wedding location soon after they became engaged. Peter is originally from Denver and spent a lot of time skiing, hiking, and climbing in the mountains with his family. Peter’s grandfather was actually the first doctor in the Aspen valley area. Peter’s father grew up in Aspen, and it’s where Peter’s parents, Katherine and Michael Whitcomb, met and were married.
The couple didn’t want a summer wedding, and waiting until the fall of 2020 felt like too long, so they decided on a late winter wedding, with the idea that their guests could enjoy a ski vacation while attending. “We chose the weekend of March 14th due to daylight savings being just the week before on March 8th,” Wallis explains. “So the light at the time of the ceremony would be incredibly beautiful as the sun descended behind the Elk Mountains.”
