Lynn & Brian
Married August 26, 2006
Telluride, Colorado
Brian and I met while working together in New York City at a pharmaceutical advertising agency. What started out as a great friendship turned into a romance after a trip to Philadelphia on President’s Day Weekend in 2003 (some call it Valentine’s Weekend). We got engaged in April 2005 and it took a few months to choose where we wanted to have the wedding. After a trip out to Colorado and Utah over the summer we stumbled upon Telluride and fell in love with the mountains, people and beauty immediately. From there it took us about 9 months to plan the wedding weekend.
The Budget
We originally hoped to do it for around $5,000, but quickly realized that even with doing most of the legwork ourselves and keeping the wedding small we still needed to spend $10,000. After all was said and done, I think we had an amazing wedding weekend for that.
Number of Guests: 35 people.
Number from out-of-town: 35!
The Planning
We used Western Colorado Wedding Guide to get inspiration for our wedding, to see suggestions from other couples and to find the best vendors. I found it very helpful! I also subscribed to several bridal magazines. I found them helpful when planning a destination wedding as I was able to pull pictures and keep them as a reference for my planning and when working with vendors.
Since we did a majority of the planning ourselves, including the invitations and “save the date” travel packets, we used the internet a lot.
Biggest Planning Challenge
Convincing Brian that we needed to keep moving on things. I’m very organized and he likes to procrastinate. In the end, I think we found the right balance.
The Theme/Décor
Brian and I designed everything from the wedding “save the date” to the labels for the welcome bags. Agreeing on the design and colors presented a challenge at times because of the legwork involved but everything turned out beautifully. Our advice if you are interested in doing everything yourself is don’t be afraid to send things out to print. It saves time and sanity and frees you up to do other, more fun things.
The Flowers
We chose Susie Meade (Siempre Flores) to do the flowers and arbor. She was able to take a few pictures and some scattered ideas from me and come up with wonderful arrangements. The arbor made the ceremony site all that much more beautiful which is hard to do when the background is 14,000 foot peaks. My bouquet was gorgeous and photographed even better. The centerpieces at the reception were simple and elegant and gave the reception the perfect touch. Susie was laid back and on top of everything.
The Cake
We had a small three-tiered chocolate cake covered in chocolate kahlua-flavor ganache, with raspberry buttercream in the bottom layer, orange-flavored grand maniere buttercream in the middle, and a top with hazelnut buttercream.
The Favors
Brian and I put together a welcome bag for our guests that contained a wedding CD of our favorite songs, fresh baked cookies, Telluride maps, and Telluride chocolate bars. For our wedding favors on the day of the wedding we put out a box of Telluride Truffles for each guest.
Special Touches
1. Brian’s dad is Norwegian and my mom is Puerto Rican and we wanted to capture those parts of our backgrounds in the wedding. We had readings during the wedding ceremony read by our families in Norwegian and Spanish which put a personal touch to the wedding.
2. Brian’s mom made a Kransekakke for the wedding reception that we had in addition to the wedding cake.
Best thing about the Day
Having all of our friends and family together in one of the most beautiful places.
What would you do Different
Not taking ourselves so seriously at times. It’s 5 hours of your life. Focusing on the rest of your life together and having fun is the key to successful planning.
The Rehearsal Dinner
We wanted to keep the rehearsal dinner fun and laid back so we held it at a Telluride Brewpub. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. The great part is that we could hang around and have a drink and relax with our family and friends the night before the wedding.
Our Advice
Plan as early as possible. We had a small wedding that we tried to keep as inexpensive as possible. As time progresses you end up spending more money than you anticipated so keep that in mind when setting your budget.
- Pick one thing that you cannot live without and spend money on that aspect of the wedding. We wanted a great photographer and pictures wouldl last a lifetime.
- Take video of your day. We rented a video camera two days before we left for the wedding and it was the best idea. We made DVDs and sent them to family that couldn’t make it.
- I think one of the main focuses for Brian and I was to make the wedding weekend like a big party for everyone making the trip. We saw it less about this spotlight day for us and more about a weekend focused on our amazing family and friends and the spectacular beauty of Telluride.
Honeymoon Locale: Near Moab, Utah for some relaxing, kayaking and horseback riding. We stayed at the Red Cliffs Resort, which I would highly recommend. Close to Arches National Park and lots of outdoor activities. It was the location for tons of old Westerns back in the day.
RECOMMENDED WEDDING PROS Without the help and direction from our vendors this special weekend would not have been possible. We wanted to put their information on the Western Colorado Wedding Guide website to say thank you for doing such an amazing job. Brian and I could not have been happier. To all the couples planning your wedding it really does turn out to be one of the greatest days of your life. HAVE FUN and good luck! Florist: Susie Meade of Siempre Flores. It was great working with Susie. She was able to take my thoughts on a bouquet and centerpieces and make them more beautiful than I could have imagined. And the arbor was just amazing!
Entertainment: Heart Haven Duo
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