Although I had originally intended to do a series of posts sharing what I as a wedding planner was doing for my wedding and details around all the little things throughout the planning process, I didn’t. It wasn’t that I wanted to hide anything from anyone about our plans, but rather that I wanted to ensure that our clients’ weddings were their own and not influenced in any way by what I had chosen.
And, if I’m honest, throughout the planning process, well-meaning people would ask me to share details thinking that I’d have some crazy lighting in store or more flowers than they’d ever seen in one place or some over the top idea for this or that. I really didn’t and although I think our wedding was beautiful and unique, it wasn’t necessarily all that astounding from a “stuff” perspective. The things that were memorable were the ceremonies, ways we incorporated our families and cultures, traditions we bucked and others we embraced. It was an absolutely blissful day, I wouldn’t have changed a thing—there’s a reason the bottom of our invites read “Dinner, dancing, a, bonfire and ridiculous amounts of joy immediately following the ceremony.”
I believe fully that your wedding should be reflective of the two of you and your lives together, not simply what was seen in a magazine or, on a wedding planner’s blog.
All this being said, as I said on Friday, I’ve been excited for the right time to share these photos with you—Talia Events’ clients and readers, fellow Colorado wedding vendor friends and those friends and clients I don’t know yet. So, for the rest of the week, I’ll share a bit more about what I experienced as a Wedding Planner turned bride and a bit more about the day as a whole.
Our Mission
If you’ve followed this blog for long or, have been one of Talia Events’ clients, you’ll know that I think it’s incredibly important to figure out what three things are most important to the two of you early in the planning process.
For us, it was imperative that we hosted a day that was as easy as possible for our loved ones to attend, that it was indicative of us and our hometown and, as a former floral designer, I was excited about the flowers.
I know it sounds cliché, but the people in attendance were most important. We wanted to make sure that the things we loved, our heritage and our families and family of friends were well represented and that the day was joyous for all in attendance.
So today, as I begin a week of posts on our wedding, I thought I’d start with those who stood beside us, our beloved wedding party.
Matchy Match Begone: A mix of wedding party attire
Our wedding party was our family. It included all our nieces and nephews (with the exception of a babe), our siblings and their partners, a couple cousins and two close friends.
In thinking about their attire, I decided to buck the traditional practice of choosing two or three colors and instead focus on a range of similar colors that worked together.
Our bridesmaids chose their own dresses. It was fabulous—they were comfortable on the wedding day and were in attire they would truly wear again. It was a fun process as we went shopping on-line or in person. They sent me links to web sites of dresses they’d found, I sent links of dresses that I thought they might like, we held impromptu fashion shows and my brother’s incredible fiancé and I stood crying with dress in hand at Anthropologie as I asked her to stand-up with us while they were visiting last spring—the acquisition of bridesmaids dresses was touched with all the excitement of also acquiring 4 new sisters, something I’d always dreamed of.
The flower girls’ outfits might have been my favorites of the day—cream tutus and embellished t-shirts (one was complete with a pearl necklace, a little girl’s dream). All the girls, grown-up and little, wore ballet flats. Mine were decorated with a variety of pewter sequins, beads and bobbles, others’ were gold and animal printed.
My dress was a simple strapless, ivory chiffon Jenny Yoo dress. I actually had a difficult time finding a dress until one day while skimming through Martha Stewart Weddings magazine, I saw an ad with a model in a fabulous muted teal bridesmaid dress. I went online to the designer’s web site and found Jenny Yoo’s line of Bridal Alternatives. I knew that Anna Be in Denver had the bridesmaids dresses, but it wasn’t until I started talking with the staff and they mentioned “You know, we have this new line that you might like,” that I found the dress. As it turns out, I ended up with the bride’s version of the teal dress I found in the ad. It was serendipitous!
It suited to the location and occasion perfectly and was comfortable throughout the day. A friend of my mother’s knit me a wrap sweater to put on as the temperatures dipped in the evening. You can’t tell from the pictures, but it was ivory with flecks of metallic in the yarn and will forever be a treasure!
The groomsmen were asked to wear navy or grey suits and white shirts and we provided each of them with a different navy or blue tie. They coordinated, but didn’t match.
That, I suppose, was the idea–unmatching comfort for all!
location: Planet Bluegrass, Lyons, CO
wedding design and planning: Talia Events
