(All photographs by IlluminArts Photography)
Laura & David Simcik
Married May 31, 2008
Durango, Colorado
I will always remember all the dancing! Our families and friends flew in from all over the country and even from Paris. When they all arrived in Durango, they were ready for a great time. It was fantastic to have so many of the people we love with us, celebrating and just having fun!
THE DETAILS
Ceremony Location: St Columba Catholic Church - Durango, Colorado
Reception Location: The Doubletree Hotel - Durango, Colorado
How long to plan the wedding: 15 months
Budget: $25,000
Number of Guests: 200 with 85% coming from out of town
Wedding Theme: I incorporated elements of nature with our wish tree (which served as our guest book), programs, coat check tags, cake topper and decorations.
Difficulties in planning:
Fifteen months to plan gave me plenty of time to plan around any difficulties that popped up. Everything really fell into place easily.
Biggest planning challenge:
Our biggest planning challenge was stretching the budget and saving where we could, but still throwing a spectacular party for our family and friends.
The Wedding Attire: The bridesmaids wore a strapless champagne colored dress with a black lace overlay. I wore a strapless ivory and champagne silk taffeta dress designed by Casablanca. The groom and groomsmen wore black tuxedos with ivory/champagne vests. Our flower girls wore ivory taffeta dresses.
The Décor: We used candles and loose plumeria flowers in our centerpieces. The plumeria flowers had been flown in from Hawaii the day before the wedding, and were incredibly aromatic. It was simple and beautiful.
The Flowers: Cindy, with Wildwoods Fine Flowers, was great to work with. I carried a bouquet of ivory and pink standard and French tulips with an ivory ribbon wrap. The bridesmaids carried bouquets of tulips with an assortment of colors. The boutonnières were made with tulips and greenery.
The Favors: Instead of favors we provided our out of town guests with a welcome bag. The re-usable canvas welcome bag contained a bottle of wine, a few bottles of water, snacks, fruit, directions around town, custom maps, and a Durango restaurant review.
The Cake: Heather Hinsley of The Cake Café, was wonderful to work with. She made a four tier masterpiece with Carrot Cake, Citrus Cassata (a specialty of hers), White Lemon Cream, and Chocolate Espresso. It was wonderful!
SPECIAL TOUCHES
I personalized in a number of ways! Our unity candles, programs at the wedding ceremony, menus on the tables, coat check tags, flower cones, kid’s coloring books, and baskets of goodies in the bathrooms were all personalized by me and my girlfriends, who were wonderful about helping with all of the paper projects!
Also, instead of a traditional guest book, we opted to have Wish Trees that our guests could hang their advice, a favorite memory, or well wishes. David and I had a great time hiking Animas City Mountain, Horse Gulch, and a dozen other places trying to find the perfect branches for our ‘guest book’.
Best Thing about the day: As much fun as our reception was, my favorite part of the day was saying my vows to David, then looking out and seeing the love pouring out from our friends and family supporting us that day. It was amazing.
My Advice: I have two pieces of advice.
1. The most beautiful ‘thing’ you can do for your wedding is let your personalities shine through.
2. If you are taking a honeymoon, try to leave on Monday. Getting to spend the time with our friends and families on Sunday was wonderful, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. Even for one more day at the beach.
Rehearsal Dinner Location: Ridgewood Event Center at Blue Lake Ranch
Honeymoon Location: Costa Rica.
RECOMMENDED WEDDING PROS  Thumbs Up
Consultant: Protégé Event Planning. One of the first decisions I made was to hire Stephanie with Protégé Event Planning. Stephanie and her team did a great job setting everything up for our reception. It was very smooth sailing! DJ: Twelfth Night DJ. Rolando was great to work with, and the dance floor was packed (literally) until the lights came on and it was time to leave! Cake: Cake Cafe Florist: Wildwoods Fine Flowers Hair: Avabella Spa & Salon
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All photographs by IlluminArts
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