Your Wedding is Your Day

Planning, anticipating and executing a wedding can be one of the most stressful things for the bride, groom, and their families.

Your wedding, however, should not be an event to cause stress or anxiety. It should be the most exciting and beautiful adventure you begin.

That is why it is important to always keep in mind that no matter what happens, the goal of the day is that you get married, that you and your spouse-to-be pledge your love and commitment to each other.

While it is important to both you and your family and friends to have their input, remember that this is your day, not theirs. They've either had their chance to have their wedding day dreams come true, or they will.

If your dream is to have purple as your color and your future mother-in-law hates purple, remind yourself that your mother-in-law was not forced to have purple in her wedding and therefore you should not feel obligated to not have purple at yours!

While input should always be welcome, you don't have to do what everyone suggests to make everyone happy. It is absolutely impossible to make everyone happy and have everything everyone else wants in your wedding. So before you give yourself that guilt trip, remember:

Your wedding day = your day.
Your goal = to get married.

If you want a small intimate ceremony, invite a few of your closest friends and family and call it good. If you want a huge white wedding, invite everyone you can think of!

The beauty of it being your day is that it's all up to you!

Just remember, you can't do it all by yourself. Let people take your visions and help you make them all they can be!

Rocky Mountain National Park Wedding~A vision turned reality!

Sarah White and Ben Pernu became Mr. and Mrs. Pernu in Estes Park on June 11, 2011.The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the bride, groom, and their families were such a pleasure to work with!

Sarah and Ben chose to have their outdoor ceremony in Rocky Mountain National Park, located just outside of Estes Park. Brinton Studios did a great job of capturing the happiness and excitement of the couple and their guests, and were great photographers to work with as well. All the photos shown here are by them.

Although the weather here is never predictable, it held up for the ceremony. Just as we were leaving to go to the reception, the wind picked up and rain drops were felt by some of the remaining guests. Mother Nature was looking out for Sarah and Ben that day!

The ceremony took place at the Moraine Amphitheater in the park. This is the perfect place for a mountain wedding and anyone looking for a spectacular backdrop. We even had an unexpected guest drop by!

A shuttle was used to take guests in and out of the Park. While this can be an iffy situation (if guests do not make the shuttle in time) there were no problems. Everyone made it to and from the ceremony and no one was left behind.

Sarah's dress was designed and made by the talented mother-of-the-groom. This makes the dress even more special than you would have already thought.

The reception was held at Mary's Lake Lodge in their larger banquet room. Sarah and Ben mingled with guests as they arrived. They and their families and friends were all smiles.

The center pieces consisted of patterned fabric, frames containing the dinner menu, wine bottles from Sarah's uncle's winery, and wild flowers. The flowers for the ceremony and reception were beautifully done by Blooms Flower Market, a local favorite.

The cake was absolutely breathtaking. Colorado Rose Cake Company did a wonderful job of capturing the mountain scene with details of trees and mountains in the frosting. The cake toppers were adorable wooden moose dressed as a bride and groom.

After dinner was served, the best man (brother of the groom) made a very amusing speech. Then the two maids of honor (good friends of both the bride and groom) made their lovely and heartwarming speeches as well! Sarah and Ben were lucky to have such loving people surrounding them on their special day. The DJ, Kirk Smith from Complete Music Denver DJ, did a great job of MC-ing the evening and provided great music that was both fun and romantic to dance to.

The rest of the night was nothing but celebration as the newlyweds and their friends and families ate, drank, and danced the night away!

Congratulations Ben and Sarah!!

All photos by Brinton Studios, check them out!

Rent your Tux in Estes Park

Great News! We are now an authorized retailer of Jim's Formal Wear! We offer great prices and a great selection of styles. Call us for an appointment 970-584-9771 and take a look at the website for styles and ideas!

DIY :: Birch Bark Vases

Well, for those of you who know me, you can atest to the fact that I am a nature inspired person who loves the outdoors. As is my husband, so we decided to tie that into our wedding to reflect who we are. I started with an idea I had seen, birch bark vases. I knew that was what I wanted for my centerpieces, and started to theme the wedding around them. When I started to search on how to make them, I found this was common among those who choose to DIY. So, I knew that I was going to use tall, skinny vases (I feared hollowed out logs would be too tippy) that I had purchased, and then cover them with birch bark. Well, being that I wanted a tall vase I had to have one large piece of birch bark to cover the entire surface area. Finding large sheets of birch bark to buy was like looking for a needle in a haystack....I searched and searched and searched, and then searched some more. Finally I found a contact of someone who had some, and I bought it right away!

The birch bark sheets came and my (now) husband and I started to make them. The birch was very very thick, and not very pliable. So, we decided to use contact cement to adhere it to the glass vase. After measuring, applying the contact cement and wrapping around the vase we then took cord and wrapped the entire thing as tight as possible so it would form, and stay. Some vases needed a few rounds of this. To camoflouge the "seam" I used wood glue and then filled it in with shavings/scraps of the birch. All in all it was a very time consuming process, but I loved loved loved the outcome!!

Feel free to contact me to find out how YOU can have these vases at your wedding!!!

Wedding Planning Highlights from 2010

Wow, what a great year!! 2010 brought many great weddings (including my own!). I had a blast with all of the couples I worked with and cherish the friendships made with them. Here are a few photo highlights of weddings in 2010.....enjoy!