In a word: GORGEOUS. Clear blue skies, warm sunny days, and cool, crisp nights. Because we are at high elevation, the temperature can shift up to 30 degrees between daytime and night. So, be sure to pack layers and bring something warm.
We sometimes get afternoon thunderstorms as part of the monsoon season, so a raincoat can be helpful if you're doing something outside. They are typically short-lived!
Bring a hat. Or buy a hat here — it's something that we do rather well in NM. Some of the hotels have swimming pools and some don't — the Historic Taos Inn, for instance, does not — so check with yours before you count on a swim. A bathing suit is still worth packing: there's the Rio Grande, and Ojo Caliente's mineral pools are a wonderful afternoon.
Taos is a very casual town, and you can wear pretty much anything to any place. If you plan on doing any hiking, usually sneakers with a good tread or trail runners will work.
Think garden party: sundresses, linen, a light suit, or a good shirt with the sleeves rolled. Jackets and ties are entirely optional. Color looks wonderful against the mountains, and lighter fabrics will treat you better in the afternoon sun. Beyond that, wear what makes you happy — we mean it.
The one thing we'd steer you on is shoes. The event is outside and we'll be walking through a cut hay field, so closed-toed shoes, boots, or clogs will be far more comfortable. Best to leave the high heels at home — a stiletto and a hay field are not friends. Expect plenty of Western hats and boots out in force — if you own a good pair, this is their weekend.
We'd also suggest a hat: there is shade everywhere except in front of the chapel, where we will have the ceremony. The sun here is very intense, so even if the temperature is moderate, you can heat up quickly in dark colors. And if you hate hats, or the one you packed for hiking doesn't quite go with your wedding outfit, we'll have parasols on hand. The temperature drops in the evening, so you may want to bring a layer along — unless of course you're on the dance floor!
You'll be fine. It's four steps, it takes about ten minutes to learn, and everyone out there is slightly winging it. The whole dance is one phrase repeated: quick, quick, slow, slow.
Get into position. Face each other. One of you leads, one follows — it has nothing to do with who's taller or who's wearing what. The lead puts their right hand on the follow's left shoulder blade and holds their left hand out to the side, about shoulder height. The follow rests their left arm on top of the lead's right and takes the lead's raised hand.
Then walk. The lead moves forward, the follow moves backward, and you travel counterclockwise around the floor — think of it as traffic, and don't drive against it.
- Quick — lead steps forward on the left foot, follow steps back on the right.
- Quick — lead forward on the right, follow back on the left. Keep these two small, almost a shuffle.
- Slow — a longer step, lead forward on the left, follow back on the right. This one takes two beats.
- Slow — another long one, lead on the right, follow on the left. Also two beats.
That's it. Start over and keep going until the song ends. Six beats per phrase, so it won't line up neatly with the count of four you're instinctively looking for — trust the quick-quick-slow-slow and stop counting the music.
Three things that help more than practice: take the quick steps small, let the lead do the work, and do not look at your feet. Your feet know. Looking at them is what breaks it.
If it falls apart, laugh and pick it up on the next slow-slow. Nobody at this wedding is judging your footwork, and several of us will be worse at it than you.
If you are coming in from out of town, we recommend arriving by Friday afternoon. However, if you want to make a trip out of it, New Mexico has a TON of great stuff to see. If your schedule allows, please feel free to come early. We will likely have some adventures planned during the week.
Taos and Arroyo Seco vary in elevation somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 feet. The ski valley is at about 9,000 ft. The air is thin, and the sun is very intense — you're more than a mile closer to the sun.
Be sure to drink a lot of water, wear a hat, and sunscreen if you're going to be outside. Alcohol can also be tricky, so take it easy until you acclimate. Shortness of breath and headaches can certainly happen to anyone, regardless of age or fitness.
Yes. There will be parking marked when you drive through the gate. For people staying in town at the hotels, we are hoping to arrange a shuttle to the venue.
No gifts, please! Northern New Mexico is a difficult place to get to, and your presence is really all we want. If you feel compelled to do something, a donation to one of these charities would be greatly appreciated:
- Metz-Tiderman Fund for Veterans — Donations to the Metz-Tiderman Fund for Veterans can be made to the Community Foundation by check (P.O. Box 815, Staunton, VA 24402) or online donation (cfcbr.org).
- Española Humane — Northern New Mexico's largest animal shelter, and the only one in the region offering free spay/neuter surgeries and vaccines to every resident who needs them. Donations go straight to caring for animals who need homes. Mailing address: Española Humane · 108 Hamm Parkway · Española, NM 87532 · +1 505 753 8662.
We are hoping to arrange a shuttle from hotels in town to the venue. Information TBD — we will update you as we find out more.
We love your kids! Unfortunately, we won't be able to include children at the ceremony and reception. We hope you can still make it, and we completely understand if this makes attending difficult — we'll certainly have another opportunity to celebrate together in Virginia.
If you'd like to bring them to New Mexico, we will have a list of trusted local babysitters available for during the ceremony and reception on Saturday. If you're staying at The Blake in Taos Ski Valley, the hotel has babysitters who will come to the hotel.
Whether plus ones are invited will be indicated on your invitation. If your invitation includes "plus one" please bring them.
We will be using Paperless Post for invitations and RSVPs. If you haven't seen your invitation, please check your spam folder. We ask that all RSVPs be completed by January 31.
This is the ancestral land of the Tiwa people, whose presence continues to shape the spirit of the place. And while visitors come for different reasons—some for the high-desert quiet, others for the gallery-hopping or white-water rafting or world-class skiing—what tends to stay with you is harder to pin down. The pace is slower. The air feels clearer. The magic is real.
New Mexico became the 47th state in 1912, but its human history stretches back thousands of years. Unlike much of the American West, where Indigenous peoples were forcibly relocated to distant reservations during Manifest Destiny, many of New Mexico's Pueblo, Apache, and Navajo nations remain on their ancestral lands. The reservations and pueblos are smaller than the territories these communities once occupied, but the connection to place is unbroken. The Pueblo peoples in particular have lived along the Rio Grande and its tributaries for centuries, and their communities predate European contact by well over a thousand years.
New Mexico was a Spanish colony, then part of Mexico, and then a U.S. territory — each transition layering new cultures onto those already here. Today, New Mexico is a majority-minority state. Roughly half the population is Hispanic or Latino, about 10% is Native American, and no single racial or ethnic group holds a demographic majority. This isn't a recent development — it reflects the state's deep, layered history. You can feel it in the architecture, the food, the art, and the way people relate to the land.
Long before modern irrigation infrastructure, communities in New Mexico built acequias — gravity-fed irrigation ditches that channel water from rivers and streams to farms, orchards, and households. The word itself has Moorish roots: it comes from the Arabic al-saqiyah, meaning "the water carrier," brought to Spain during the centuries of Islamic rule and carried across the Atlantic to the New World. The system was brought by Spanish settlers in the 1600s, though it draws on both Spanish and Pueblo water management traditions. Acequias are governed communally: members share responsibility for maintenance, and water is distributed according to need and tradition rather than market logic. The person who oversees an acequia is called the mayordomo — a role explored in Stanley Crawford's memoir Mayordomo, which chronicles a season of ditch management in a small northern New Mexico community. The acequia tradition also features prominently in John Nichols' novel The Milagro Beanfield War, later adapted into a film directed by Robert Redford, in which a small-town water dispute becomes a larger fight over land, culture, and community survival. An acequia runs through Rancho Diego, connecting the property to a water-sharing tradition that has sustained life in this high desert for over four hundred years.
In New Mexico, the question isn't ketchup or mustard — it's "red or green?" Every restaurant will ask, and the answer matters. Red chile is made from mature, dried peppers and tends toward an earthy, sometimes smoky depth. Green chile is roasted fresh, with a brighter, more immediate heat. If you can't decide, you order "Christmas" — half red, half green.
We're partial to green. There's nothing quite like the smell of fresh green chile roasting in late summer. In early September, you'll find roadside chile roasters all over Taos County — look for the big wire drums spinning over open flame at farm stands along the highway, and in the parking lots of CID's and Albertsons. Buy a bag and take it home. The whole town smells like fire and pepper. But honestly, you can't go wrong either way.