The Ceremony…

 …planning it…

There is so much to say about the ceremony. There is no way I could ever cover it all here so I’m not going to even try, but I am going to mention things…some will seem like  noteworthy events of the day and some will seem like sidebars within the story but rest assured, every little detail, every presence, every effort, every hug, and every smile was an important piece in what will forever be a momentous day in our memories.

When we began the journey of planning our wedding day…um, and rehearsal dinner…oh yah, and engagement party … and the reception and honeymoon and gifts and thank yous and invites and shopping and…sheesh! Well, my goodness, there was a lot to plan!! We decided it would be best to give ourselves plenty of time so we could do this planning thing right and not be too stressed. We were engaged in May of 2011 and planned our wedding for May of 2012. So of course, we began planning in July 2011…for the August 2011 engagement party!! That was a little short notice so we tried harder for the wedding and really got serious with that in, well let’s see, ah yes! It was around January 2012 that we started getting more serious about that. If you’ve never planned a wedding, it might seem like five months should be enough time to plan the celebration, right? You’re probably laughing at me at this point…of course it isn’t!! Despite our late start, we were incredibly pleased to find that this planning stuff really suite us and we still talk about that part of our wedding with such affection.

We had such wonderful bonding times during this process. One activity that was especially fun was putting together, addressing, stamping, and sending out our invites with the help of our very wonderful Maids of Honor, Tyler and Laura. Did I say especially fun? Did you say “yah right” or “sounds brutal”? Well you are a smart one! HOWEVER, because of the fabulous ladies we were working with, it actually was fun! …right up until the point that we were completely drained and had to drag ourselves away to bed. Did I mention we are all Virgos with a tendency towards perfectionism? You might not be able to tell by looking at your invite or thank you but rest assured, we are perfectionists in our own mind. ;-)

We also bonded with parents, future in-laws, cousins, siblings, siblings’ spouses, aunts, uncles, nieces and children during activities like

~~Shopping for just the right wedding dress, shoes, and accessories,

~~Shopping for Maid of Honor dresses and men’s attire in Denver, Fort Collins and Loveland,

~~Figuring out beautiful, simple-ish, and personality specific Brides’ hair,

~~Realizing the ideal music, and musicians (who blew us away!), to enhance our ceremony were in our very own family,

~~Discovering that the answer to where to find the perfect jewelry was also in our very own family,

~~Again, embracing family skills to create the beautiful Brides’ and Maid of Honors’ bouquets, as well as the Mother of the Brides’ gorgeous corsages, and the Father and Son of the Brides’ respectable boutonnieres,

Finding just the right the sand vases,

  ~~Deciding on the beautiful readings and the other details of the words that would be spoken, more accurately, the messages that would be absorbed by our loved ones, their loved ones, and most of all, each other at our ceremony.

Finding the perfect venue seemed like a miracle. In 2011, we thought we had found the perfect place near Fort Collins. I don’t remember what it was called now, but it had a lake, a beach, privacy, a romantic and warm setting…we LOVED it. Unfortunately, they had just shut their doors due to letting their permits lapse so they weren’t available. When we first started calling in early 2012, the prices had us floored; the weather and capacity logistics were toying with us, too. Can you believe that at one point, we actually had a pompous individual at one of the venues near Red Rocks ask for his card back when we told him our budget?? I’m not joking! He snatched it right back and walked away! That actually did get us down for a few minutes…but it turns out the joke is on him because we found the perfect place for us at the Lakewood Heritage Center. From the first moment we spoke to our contact there and the first time we saw it, we knew it was just what we were looking for.

Another piece to the ceremony puzzle was finding somebody to actually marry us. Luckily, we had recently begun going to this wonderful and embracing church. We called and spoke to a very nice lady, who actually saved Aishie’s sanity by comforting her about the budget and options - and probably had more of an affect than she would ever really know – and connected us with Reverend Norm Bouchard. Before we met with Reverend Norm, we were pretty nervous about the ceremony…standing up there in front of a crowd, announcing the most intimate of feelings and thoughts. After we met with Rev. Norm, we felt so much more comfortable; we were actually excited and inspired at that point. The ceremony sounded like it was going to be exactly like what neither of us knew we had always dreamed of!

…living it…

Ceremony recap coming soon...don't miss all of the lovely details!

Check back next week (updated on Wednesdays) for more info!