Melissa Rivers Marries Steve Mitchel in Wintery Jackson Hole Wedding Ceremony: All the Photos

On Saturday, March 15, the daughter of the late comedian Joan Rivers exchanged vows with her finacé Steve Mitchel, an attorney, in front of 150 guests at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

However, after losing her home to the Palisade fires on Jan. 7, Rivers, 57, says she almost called off the couple’s big day.

“We were going to cancel,” she says, not knowing how she’d be piecing her life together after losing everything she owned, including clothing she planned to wear for the wedding.

“I was tapping out, like ‘I just can’t do this.’ And that’s when my friends stepped in and said, ‘We are doing this’  Because a number of people who are coming lost their homes too, and they were like, ‘Thank God we have this to look forward to.’ I also knew that we were all going to want to go away for a weekend to get out of all this chaos and rest our brains.”

Rivers, who wore a gunmetal gown by Stella McCartney for her nuptials, says it was healing to see some of her oldest friends — including her friends from her college days at Penn, who were a prominent presence at the wedding — and they felt the same.

“They told me, ‘We need to be around you too.’ And they really stepped up and helped with the rest of the planning. Just to be able to be with all of my friends, all at the same time…it’s really something that I needed at a time in my life where everything felt like it had been taken away again.”

During the ceremony, the couple exchanged emotional vows on the dance floor as Sabrina Lott Miller, the Executive Assistant to the Rivers family for 37 years, officiated.

Rivers’ son Cooper Endicott, 24, then gave a touching speech about how happy he was to welcome Mitchel, 63, into their lives. He also delivered some practical and hilarious advice instructing Mitchel to let Rivers get her own way if he knew what was best for him.

Notable guests like philanthropist Laura Wasserman and former Oprah producer Charles Cook laughed — and cried — as talent agent Charles Silver shared fond memories of Rivers’ late parents Joan Rivers and Edgar Rosenberg. At the beginning of the ceremony, each guest was gifted a small golden bee pin to wear in honor of Joan. (The bee was Joan’s personal inspiration because they shouldn’t be able to fly, and yet they do, instilling in her the belief that anything is possible.)

After the ceremony, the couple hit the dancefloor to the Talking Heads song “Burning Down the House,” as a joking nod to their house recently burning down in the fires. They then swayed to “I Say a Little Prayer.”

Guests kept the party going on the dance floor to crowd favorites like “Hey Ya” and “Country Roads, while dining on Korean fried chicken sliders, baked king salmon in a tomato fondue sauce, and charred brussels sprouts.

The informal dining scene, which also included including short ribs, beef tenderloin, and chicken in a mushroom cream sauce, was exactly the vibe Rivers was going for.

“When we were planning it, our goal was simple: throw a party and have a wedding ceremony break out somewhere in the middle,” she says. “And you know what? We nailed it. People were meeting, laughing, and by the end of the night, strangers were acting like old friends.”

The event also included several days of skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, an Après welcome party, and a farewell brunch.

Rivers notes that she initially wanted to get married at the Hf Bar Ranch in Wyoming where she used to spend time as a child with her mom, but the location was too difficult to get to in winter. (They instead served the chocolate cake from the ranch to honor its special place in Rivers’ heart.)

Despite the happy occasion, Rivers says she and Mitchel are still reeling from losing their home recently, but adds that going through such a traumatic experience together brought them closer.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“It’s very comforting to find out you do crisis so well together,” she says of experiencing the fires with her new husband, whom she describes as her rock. (“He grounds me, and I make him more fun!” she jokes.)

Just three days after they lost their home, with everything they owned thrown into three LL Bean tote bags, Rivers had the idea of going ahead and exchanging rings, just in case the wedding didn’t happen.

“We were staying in the guest room at our friend’s house, and Melissa came with the idea of let’s exchange our rings,” Mitchel recalls. “She said, let’s just do our vows right here. At first, I thought it was silly, but we did it, and it just brought us so close.”

She adds, “And we took horrible selfies. But then we wore our rings for a couple of days, and then we put them back in the box for the real day.”

 While Rivers previously told PEOPLE she would never get married again (she was married to John Endicott between 1998 and 2003, and they share son Cooper), after meeting Mitchel at a Didi Hirsch mental health foundation event, where he asked her for her number, she decided to go on a date with him.

 “There almost wasn’t a second date!” she says with a laugh. “His shoes. They were these really bad old man, low-cut loafers. But then I had to park across the street from the restaurant, and he walked over to make sure I crossed back again safely. I knew there would be a second date. That’s our running joke now, whenever something bad happens like the fires, I’m like, ‘Aren’t you glad we had that second date?”

While she says they still feel like life is in limbo as they figure out where they’ll live permanently again, being married to Mitchel is a blessing.

“He’s just a solid guy,” she says. “If he says he’s going to be somewhere, he’s there. If he says he’s going to call, he calls. For someone like me, who has lived such a chaotic life — not by choice, mind you— it’s so wonderful to be in a relationship where I never question and never worry.”

She jokes, “Plus, he’s smart enough to let me win most of our arguments. Even though I’m right most of the time!”

Jokes aside, Rivers says the wedding was absolutely perfect.

“Who knew almost all of my friends could be on such good behavior all at the same time?” she quips. But seriously, the amount of genuine happiness in that room was so overwhelming. I’m not one to be cliché and say, ‘Oh, you could feel the warmth and love!’ But you know what? I actually felt it! And I’m so grateful.”