Welcome to the EAD Weddings blog! We are so excited to have you here. If you are a new visitor, we'd love for you to subscribe to our RSS feed and visit our sister site, EAD Living. Thanks for visiting and we hope you come back soon!

Chelsea and Gabe were married at a private residence in beautiful Deer Creek Canyon, CO. I adore the photography by a.h.p and their photographic style is perfect for the unbelievable scenery!

The couple chose to do a first look - that is always one of my favorite moments.

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Before the ceremony, we had some time to hang out at our venue and just relax a bit.  We were certainly unorthodox, as I was wandering around checking on last-minute details, and dr. dave and I saw all of my guests before the ceremony even started!  It was great being able to mill around and greet guests and friends before the ceremony, and it certainly made me feel so warm and happy knowing that all my family and friends were there for me.

I like this shot of my dad watching my sister and I give each other a good luck kiss before the ceremony started.

This was our cellist for the ceremony.  He and dr. dave’s brother played a beautiful orchestral version of “Love and Some Verses” by Iron and Wine for the processional.  It’s a song that we both love, and hearing it made my heart swell with joy!

These mason jars were originally for the mantle of the fireplace, but when we moved the ceremony indoors we decided to line the aisles with them.

A far-back shot of the ceremony as people began to arrive!

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Hello, dear readers!  Sorry for the long break.  I’m getting ready to start up a business here in SoCal (DIY brides, let me know if you need a hand with DIY wedding flowers…it’s the basis of my biz!) so it’s been a bit crazy ’round here!

Flowers were such a hugely important part of my day (see here, here, here, here, here, and here!).  Since I was a little girl, I’ve always loved flowers…gardening with my mom, terrariums, patio gardening, arrangements…I love it all.  So I knew my wedding had to be lush with real, fresh flowers that also didn’t overpower the venue.  To accomplish this (without spending thousands of dollars–all of our flowers and materials cost about $500), I set about making spreadsheets, practicing bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres until my fingers were raw.  I went back and forth the entire 15 months on colors, flower types, roses or no roses… and had to settle on the heartbreak of NOT ordering my beloved peonies.  Just when I’d sorted through all of our wholesale flowers and found peace with my lack of peonies, my bff bridesmaid Lisa and I decided to run to a nearby Whole Foods to pick up sushi for lunch…and there they were.  Right by the entrance, a rack full of beautiful, blooming peonies…on sale.  We grabbed as many as our little arms could hold, and I couldn’t have been happier.

My bouquet, which consisted of the peonies, vendela roses, dahlias, veronica, button mums, freesia, and fringe tulips.

We planted all of our herbs for the centerpieces that week.  We also used them to line the rainy windows when we had to move the ceremony indoors!  The scent of the verbena and lemon thyme was so soothing.

A shot of the table settings with the beautiful table runners handmade by my amazing mother.

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Captain’s log: May 27, 2009. We’re at T-24 days to the big day, and things are looking stable, if complicated.

You may note my sleep deprivation in the following post, and for that I must apologize. I’ve been up late working on our Bride and Groom chair covers, which I’m SUPER duper excited about and will be blogging about shortly (scroll down for sneak peek!). However, onward and upward to an amazing development in our wedding planning process…our super duper photographers. I think a photographer’s photos say the most about them; so without further ado: some great work from Andrew and Jessica (Oh and did I mention that they’re huge advocates of going green? So not only are they awesome, but they love what we love: our momma earth. Rad.)

I don’t think I can even say enough to praise them (yes, them! They’re a husband and wife team, which just adds to the fun and amazing-nessity of the day). They’re super friendly, attentive, detailed, and more than anything: FUN! Totally fit the bill.

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Our venue? I mean, seriously. I know I’ve mentioned it. I’ve posted an occasional picture. But for how incredibly important a good venue is…have I really POSTED it? ::Gasp:: Here it is. Insert angels singing….

Out of any decision during our wedding planning, the most important has been picking our venue. We actually had put money down on another venue when we found Boettcher…and we just had to cancel our (nonrefundable!) reservation. Not only is it beautiful on its own; it’s 10 minutes from my parent’s place. So for me, it feels as close to home as possible without actually being at home. Plus, the decoration required = minimal if your venue can hold its own! It definitely pays to look at unconventional wedding venues. We looked at several ballrooms and reception venues, but they all seemed so cold to us. So we ended up settling on Boettcher, in the mountains outside of Golden.

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Happy Sunday, everyone!  Hope your weekend thus far has been splendid and full of beautiful adventures.  My fiance and I are currently cruising 37,000 feet on the way to Colorado for an impromptu ski weekend in Breckenridge (big furry boots, here I come!).  This is a big weekend for us; we somehow have to cram Valentine’s Day, hubby-to-be’s birthday, and our anniversary into a 3-day timespan.  Phew!  So we thought we’d celebrate in style this year, slopeside!

As promised, I thought I’d use my space today to start in with the details of my elegant Rocky Mountain soiree!  For me, the most important, and utterly confusing, part of planning our day was finding a design and colors that would be just right for our vision.  I’ve cycled through so many palettes and themes that I could probably fill a hard drive with all the photos I’ve collected!  You certainly know what I mean, I am sure.  There is so much amazing inspiration out there that sometimes it’s very difficult to settle on something and go with it.

Photo by Dean Thorsen via I Heart Peonies

What ended up clarifying all this confusion for me was spending some serious time at my venue.  After talking to quite a few of my friends who have recently tied the knot, the concensus was that the biggest mistake a bride can make is choosing her color palette before choosing a venue.   These ladies held their receptions at many different types of venues: ballrooms, upscale restaurants, ski lodges, and open meadows.   They were all inspired and certainly beautiful.  However, after looking at their photos, the brides noticed that there wasn’t a tie between the decor of the venue, leading to receptions that felt a bit out of place or mismatched.

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Well…best to start at the beginning, as they say! As EAD’s newest weekly contributor, I’d just like to say how very honored and excited I am to be a part of this site. To be quite honest, I’m still a little (a lot!) shocked, but absolutely thrilled that I was picked. I could gush all day about the inspiration that comes out of this blog, but instead, I’ll dive right in! So come on over, find a comfy chair and a cup of tea, and let’s get to know one another.

My name is Briana and I’m a bride-to-be who hails from colorful Colorado. I’ve already retired from two careers at the age of 25 and can now add ex-journalist and ex-ballet dancer to my resume. I’m planning my wedding in the Rocky Mountains from long distance (as I’ve been temporarily transplanted to Southern California). But more about that later…

Hubby-to-be is a bow tie-wearing medical student sweetheart named Dave, and I am extremely lucky to have such a supportive person on my team. What they say is true–wedding planning is truly akin to marriage. We’ve encountered so many conflicts, family disagreements, and scallops wrapped in bacon that we feel prepared for whatever life may throw at us next.

We’re planning our wedding for June 20, 2009 (one week after one of my fellow weekly columnists!). We’re trying to stick to a lot of DIY, homespun details; not only because it is simply cost-effective, but also because of the personal touch and feel it can bring to a wedding. Especially now, in a time when weddings have been made a little…well, industrial. The venue is a historic home on top of Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado, and we’re emphasizing that with our decor and theme, which I’ll tell you more about on Sunday.

So stay tuned, mon petit choux! And thank you kindly for having me!

Much love,
Briana

{Author’s personal collection}

Cinematography is something that is so new and fun to me - I’m just discovering all of the amazing talent out there and one of those artists is Library member Kevin Von Qualen.

Kevin was kind enough to share with us the absolutely stunning Aspen wedding of Brooke and Edouard shot in Super 8.

Aspen, Colorado - Super 8 Film from Kevin Von Qualen on Vimeo.

Brooke and Edouard were lucky enough to have both Kevin and the unbelievably talented James Christianson record their day.  James’ work is just as fabulous, as evidenced by all the eye candy from this wedding!

Check out more luscious images on James’ blog!

E.

Sometime in the middle of planning a $2,000 wedding, it occurred to me, “Why not think of it as a reunion instead of a wedding?” Weddings tend to focus on surface things like flowers, attire, and centerpieces. Reunions tend to be about fun.

When it was time to plan the reception, we focused on just that: Fun. We rented out an entire B&B in the mountains of Colorado. We set up tables in a grove of trees, and our guests feasted on homemade fajitas, tamales, guacamole, salsa, nachos, seven-layer dip, black bean and corn salad, frozen margaritas, and six different types of cakes.

After dinner, we gathered everyone on the flagstone patio for our first dance. Matt and I stood in the center of the dance floor, surrounded by a semi-circle of our wedding party. Our friend, Nick, announced that it was time for our first dance. Matt and I stared lovingly into each other’s eyes. The music started. It was “Kiss” by Prince. We immediately started scissoring our hands and gyrating our hips. The entire wedding party joined in and we performed a choreographed dance, complete with a semi-strip tease by Matt’s brother.

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At a lot of weddings I’ve been to, I’ve either felt like I was part of the “in crowd” or I was on the outside. If I’m in the wedding party? I’m part of the in crowd. If I’m not invited to the rehearsal dinner? I’m on the outside.

Even though Matt and I planned a $2,000 wedding, we didn’t want to have those kinds of divisions. We wanted to spend quality time with everyone. That’s why we opted for a Welcome Picnic instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner. In order for it to fit within our strict budget, we had to simplify: make-your-own sandwich bar (including organic meat from Whole Foods!), chips, watermelon, iced-tea, lemonade, and homemade chocolate cherry dessert with vanilla ice-cream.

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Honestly, one of the most difficult parts of the wedding planning process was trimming down the guest list (or should I say, “going at it with a machete”?). The list started out gigantic, even for our $2,000 wedding. We knew we had to cut it back because of Goal #5 for our ideal wedding: “We will have real time to spend with guests. We want to be able to spend quality time with our friends and family. We don’t want to follow the traditional pattern of a few wedding ‘events’ where the bride and groom only have time for a ‘meet and greet’: rehearsal dinner, reception, brunch the following morning. We want more of a family and friends reunion.” We knew that the bigger our wedding got, the less opportunity we would have to genuinely connect with our guests.

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