Wedding Planning Tip #1:
Hire a wedding planner right away, don't wait until you have a venue and a date! The planner can help you find a venue, because they know the venues' rules, needs, costs, and pros and cons like the back of their hands.... or at least WE do! We have multiple lead planners on the team, so you won't be limited by date by hiring us first - You'll get the full force of our team's expertise in Colorado's wedding venues, and have an awesome planning team by your side the entire way! 

Wedding Planning Tip #2
Set your budget with your planner BEFORE venue hunting. This allows you to not find yourself what we call 'venue poor' - The wedding equivalent of being 'house poor'. This occurs when you spend too much of your budget in one place. If you don't know your budget yet, and start touring venues - you could end up in big trouble. A good wedding planner can help you sort out your budget, and understand the implications to guest experience if you do decide to splurge in a certain category - and this includes venues! 

Wedding Planning Tip #3
​Take your planner venue hunting! This may (or may not) cost you a little extra, depending on the package you choose with the planner - but it's worth it. They know all of the ins-and-outs of the venues, including all the blemishes that the venue sales person won't show you. They know when it's a difficult space to work in, or if the staff at the venue is amazing and easy to work with or a mess and constantly replacing sales and operations staff. These things make a huge difference in your planning experience, as well as the guests' experience on the day or weekend of your wedding! 

Wedding Planning Tip #4 - 
Give yourself time! Most weddings take 12-18 months to plan. You can plan faster than that, of course, but know the stress of making all those decisions can weigh on you and your relationships. We can plan a wedding for 150 people and 100k budget in a month... but the decisions have to be made in like a week. An average wedding takes hundreds of hours to plan, because it takes some thinking to make all of the decisions that weddings and events require. Think about how you make decisions, and how your fiancee does... and how that will affect any other decision makers in the process.. I know 6 months sounds like forever away, but truly, it's right around the corner! 

Wedding Planning Tip #5
Choose your date carefully! You have already considered other important days in your lives - birthdays, holidays, months you love or hate, etc. Now think through the date with another lens. What will the weather be like? Are you wanting the leaves to be green? fall-colored? covered in snow? What experience do you want your guests to have? Keep these things in mind: 

• Fridays and Sundays are often less pricey than Saturdays, and more often available. 
• Off-season dates can be cheaper, but weather and other factors are why! Think that through before booking an off-season date. 
• It can be tempting to go for half-days or shorter time periods for price, but keep in mind what that may do to your timeline! 

Wedding Planning Tip #6 - 
Don't fall into the all-inclusive trap - unless you're in Mexico! This is a huge trap. There seems to be an uptick in all-inclusive venues - handling everything from the food and beverage to the DJ, officiant, photographer, and flowers. What you're really getting with these venues is what EVERY wedding they've done before you, and every one after has gotten... all packaged in a boring, repetitive box! 

• The food is bad. Like memorably bad. Almost infallibly. They have no reason to make it better, you guys. No competition. 
  
• The images look like a 1990 flash-photography wedding. They use the cheapest photographers, and pay them crap. You're better off finding a photographer on your own, and curating your look with them. Getting to know them, and getting comfortable with them. 
  
• The looks are dated, and boring. Trust me, an experienced planner and designer can do so much more with less!  

Check out Brandy & David's beautiful wedding at the Stanley Hotel! They had an awesome vendor team, and a perfect weather day! (Not that Colorado's weather isn't nearly always perfect!)... They came in as a destination wedding - They live in Oklahoma, and chose Estes Park for their day. The Stanley served them delicious food, awesome bar service, and their vendor team worked to make sure the look was perfect! They chose the Stanley Concert Hall for the reception and Longs Peak Lawn for ceremony. 
Sweetly Paired - Planning & Rentals & Stationery
Ashley Kidder Photo - Photography
The Olive and Poppy - Floral Design & Decor
Have a Seat Colorado - Geometric Wedding Arch
La Tavola Fine Linens - Awesome Velvet Linens (we help with that!!)
Venue - The Stanley Hotel

Gorgeous Vail Wedding - Indian Wedding with beautiful blush details, saris, mountains, gold accents!
Tara and Kenny had a gorgeous destination wedding in Vail Colorado and brought their very international guest list from every corner of the planet. They had guests from India, Spain, all over the US, and as far away as Australia! They chose a gorgeous venue – the Donovan Pavilion – and had such lovely 75 degree weather in August in Vail. They had a stunning mandap, gorgeous saris, lots of blush and gold detail, amazing flowers, and beautiful cultural elements. We adored this wonderful couple, and had such a blast planning it with their families! Tara had a stunning white Sari to begin the day, changing into a beautiful colorful sari after the ceremony. We love the awesome details of this wedding! One of our favorite things is to help with cross-cultural weddings. Incorporating various religions and cultures into our weddings is so much fun! Finding out different religious, family, and cultural traditions... and then incorporating them into a wedding to bring families together... so much fun! 

This wedding was so much fun. They had gorgeous florals by Bella Calla, photos by Cayton Photography. Her hair and Makeup was by Kim J Beauty, and his awesome suit came from J Hilburn. We had linens from La Tavola Linen, Music from the kick-ass Wash Park Band. They had a gorgeous light wall and a beatutiful chuppah by Have a Seat Colorado - they do rentals for ceremony. Benches, arches, chuppahs and light and greenery walls. 

Elissa and Jeremy were one of the most fun couples to work with! She always had the best attitude about everything, and holy moly were they adventurous the day of! Though the wedding was at Sapphire Point, they also traveled down with their awesome wedding photographer Ashley Kidder - to Windy Point, as well as Loveland Pass to get some epic shots! 

Shannon with Olive and Poppy made that gorgeous bouquet, and Have a Seat Colorado did that stunning wedding chuppah arch! 

Pic Cred HERE!

The first thing to think of when setting a table is layout! Here is a diagram that outlines the parts of a place setting. Some tablescapes have all these elements (and potentially more!) and some have fewer. Often at a wedding we see a wine glass and a champagne flute, rather than a red and a white wine option. We often see lots of napkin folds, tucks, and wraps, instead of the napkin on the table to the left. Use this great pic as a starting point to setting your formal tablescape! Don't be afraid to change things up - just make sure if you do, you're doing it intentionally for experience or aesthetics! 

​Don't break the rules just to break them.... have a reason!