>How it all began...

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Our wedding weekend started on the Wednesday before our Friday nuptials. We packed the car with camping gear, the dogs, and headed for Steamboat Springs. Wednesday night was very low key. We just soaked up the beautiful mountain air before the events started rolling out piece by piece.
I slept great that night and while I do not remember much of the day’s activities, I know that my nerves were starting to build in anticipation and excitement. By 4pm, most of our wedding party guests had arrived at the wedding site in the lovely botanic gardens nestled by the Yampa River. Some of our wedding party guests we had not seen in several months or even years. We both had the chance to meet some friends that lived out of state and were coming to celebrate our big day with us.

The rehearsal went great. The pastor did a great job putting everyone in their spots and letting B and me help delegate the order of events. The dinner was at the Smoke House, a very famous BBQ joint with the most amazing fall-off-the-bone ribs you will ever have. The party was a great way for everyone to meet and get to know one another.

After a beautiful speech from B’s dad, we passed out our wedding party gifts. I gave my bridesmaids bamboo plants, a symbol of friendship, and B gave his groomsmen small knives that hook onto a key chain. Everyone was pleased with our offerings, as it was the least we could do to thank them for making the weekend trip for our wedding day.

B and I said goodbye at the restaurant and did not see each other again until I was walking down the aisle. It was hard not to talk to him, but we did sneak in a few texts the day of the wedding. That night, I hardly slept and my stomach started to react to the nerves rushing through my blood. That nervousness continued the following morning. I ate whatever I could, as I did not want to be dehydrated or have low blood sugar. The last thing I wanted was to pass out at the alter! Aside from those feelings I was very calm. I wanted to remember everything I could about my wedding day. So many women have told me that their wedding day is just a big blur and I did not want that to be the case for me.

One of B’s good friends came up around 10am to do my hair. She also did my flower girl’s hair and my moms. They looked amazing! We played music, looked at pictures, did our make up,

helped each other with jewelry, and before I knew it, it was time to put my dress on. I had my MOH, Jess, help me get dressed. She had been so helpful and such a great asset and friend throughout the entire wedding planning process that I wanted that time for us to be special. In a way, she was giving me away to B and while our friendship has not wavered, it has changed and grown in a way that continues to be special.

Our photographer arrived around 1:30pm and started taking pics of all us girls getting ready and just hanging out before it was time to leave for the limo. By that time our bouquets had arrived and I could not have been happier with how they turned out! I opened a gift from B that took my breath away. It was a drawing he did with a special stencil pad that he connects to the computer and it was perfect. I gave him a John Wayne poker set I found in a small shop in Idaho Springs.

The boys left first. They boarded the limo around 2pm and that was our cue to head down to

wait for the limo to return for us. In the process, B forgot his vows that he had written and his uncle so graciously raced back to the hotel to grab them just in time. The weather had been a little cool and rainy for most of the day. I was not worried and did not even care that it was raining. I had always heard some rain on your wedding day is good luck and for that, I was not going to complain about. Once the limo arrived we all piled in and took pictures and soaked up the few moments left before it was go time.

When we arrived at the gardens, the rain had picked up a bit and my uncle walked with me and his huge umbrella

over to a hidden bench. He pulled out his cell phone and pulled up the weather radar and we watched as the sky started to open up and the sun began to shine. With only a 10 minute delay to wipe off chairs and get all the girls situated, our guests were ready to see us take a step into one of the biggest days and decisions we had ever made. My dad told me I looked beautiful as we walked down the grassy knoll, barefoot, and it was all I could do to not cry. We hugged, B and I locked eyes and that was how it stayed the entire ceremony. I did not cry until I read my vows. B’s were beautiful and at the end, we had a butterfly release. It was one of the coolest things I had ever done and by far a major wow factor for our guests. No one else had ever seen it done before. I could hear my mom gasping in amazement as each butterfly escaped the small box it was resting peacefully in.

Once the ceremony was over, we walked around the pond with our photographer for some quick pictures before heading to our limo bus with the wedding party to make it up the gondola. Our reception was at the top of the mountain and the weather had continued to be pleasant. We took several pictures with the entire wedding party, a few with just us and the MOH and best man, and lastly, several of us alone (like the one on the rock in the previous post).

Guests started to arrive around 5:30 and all of us headed into the room to greet everyone. We had lots to eat and drink. The apps were delightful and the dinner was beyond decadent. (I am getting hungry just thinking about it!) As the dinner progressed, so the did the weather and we all enjoyed a lovely lightening show that temporally shut down the gondola. After the lightening passed, a beautiful rainbow and sunset caped off the evening. We danced, laughed and cried. Our wedding day was the most amazing, beautiful day of my life and I would not change one thing.

For those of you who were at or in my wedding reading this, it is beyond words for me to thank you for your participation in our big day. It meant the world to both of us.