The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Katie West knew on their first official date. Over a glass of wine at Mambo Italiano, Katie was sure she’d end up marrying Brent “Benny” Tollar.

“I got home and started thinking about it and it was the perfect date, we just seemed to match each other,” Katie said.

Six months later, they moved in together. All was well after three years under the same roof when Katie decided to prepare a lavish Valentine’s Day dinner in 2007, expecting at least a card in return.

But refusing to act according to convention, Benny had to wait until 12:01 a.m., when a new day had struck, to wake Katie and pop the question.

Benny thought he would just go back to bed for work the next day. To his surprise, Katie already had a shoebox full of magazine clippings and a head turning with ideas for the special day.

A good thing, too, because the couple acted quickly — planning and executing the ideal Steamboat wedding both had in mind less than seven months later. It was a ceremony and reception that, like the act of engagement, put simple and authentic spins on classic wedding customs.

There was no time for save the date cards, just online invitations ordered and sent to 75 close family members and friends who would attend the Sept. 8, 2007, ceremony.

Katie and Benny wanted to keep the wedding in Steamboat, which they knew would force their guests to spend a significant amount of money on travel. So, they reduced guest costs anywhere they could.

“People are coming a long way — you’ll go to weddings and after the hotel, rentals, clothes, it’s a lot of money to give up,” Benny said. “We wanted to make sure we could give something back, so we said don’t worry about gifts, just as long as you’re here.”

Katie didn’t have bridesmaids, so no need for maids dresses, and Benny didn’t have a set of groomsmen, so no need for tuxedos.

“I just wore a black suit like Johnny Cash — no tie,” Benny said. “I didn’t want people to feel like they should buy something to come to the wedding.”

Katie pulled a few more stops for her dress, which was ivory-colored, silk taffeta in a mermaid-style fit that A-lined up from her knees with a short train.

“It had a modified sweetheart neckline, and the back was a deep V,” Katie said.

Katie’s mother and stepfather, Fran and Jim Carollo, provided the key ceremony location that brought together all the prototypical Steamboat elements. The Carollos’ property in Strawberry Park had everything from views of the early autumn leaf transition along the Park Range on a sunny day to two barns, eight horses and one raised stone patio by a pond, which offered an idyllic background for a union under a knotted arch of aspen sprigs.

Benny’s best friend, Chad Briggs, did the formal honors in a ceremony that was observed in a fashion that was anything but formal.

“When we first met, we’d deal with problems on a daily basis with humor,” Katie said. “So, we made it more informal so we could talk. We wrote funny vows we read to each other, and then we did serious vows that we wrote.”

For music, the couple simply burned a CD, which, when played from the Carollos’ living room, could be heard from the patio.

From there, Katie borrowed a classic 1940 Buick Super Series 50 from her stepfather to lead the party to Thunderhead Peak for the reception, expanding the number of guests to about 200.

Although they provided just a few appetizers and held off on alcohol at the ceremony, the Tollars weren’t teatollers at the reception. An open beer and wine bar awaited guests on the third floor of Thunderhead at the top of the Steamboat Ski Area gondola. Guests sauntered along the Thunderhead sundeck to catch the day’s final rays while choosing between more passed appetizers. While guests were seated and worked on the plated salad, Katie and Benny had time to mingle between guest tables before they headed to the three dinner entrée stations. The food finale was a towering chocolate cake tiered between chocolate-raspberry and carrot cake layers along with one of Benny’s only adamant requests — a chocolate fountain in which to dip fruit.

Finishing the night on the dance floor, the Tollars went with a DJ instead of a band.

“We did a DJ because it’s more of a crowd pleaser to request whatever,” Katie said.

The only live music was from the button accordion of Otto Schnauber, a family friend of Katie’s grandfather, Henry Kovach. Schnauber played a standard waltz to reflect the Kovach family’s Balkan heritage.

Not that Katie or Benny knew how to waltz or asked their guests to. Winging an impromptu waltz was just another way to make guests, and themselves, feel comfortable.

“We weren’t traditional,” Benny said. “We were just trying to make sure people always had what they needed — food’s there if they want it, and beer’s accessible.”

With the focus remaining on keeping the celebration a personal affair (and meaningful to the two people involved), the Tollars’ wedding stood up to the ultimate, most critical question — what would they do differently, if they could do it again?

“It really honestly was the best day of my life. … I wouldn’t change anything,” Katie said. “Actually, if I could control time, I would make the day go a little slower.”