Knowing when it's right...

I may have led you astray in that title, because I am not here to talk about knowing when you are ready to marry the right man, as the famous cliche would allude. I am sharing with you the lesson this past 6 months of wedding planning have taught me, that I need to just go with my gut. I shared with you that I just knew that I needed to retry on my wedding dress (the one I chose) because I couldn't get it out of my head. Then I also shared how I subconsciously did not pay for the first officiant we found and liked because he seemed rather pricey.  Well, all has fallen into place as we wrapped up another week of wedding planning in Colorado last week. We hired our officiant, Josh, and spent a wonderful hour and half at our favorite local joint, the Dam Brewery, outlining what is set to be an amazing wedding ceremony that captures our humor and fun-loving personality as a couple, but incorporates the very real love we share and want to express to each other in front of our closest friends and family. We also got our contract with our caterer, who is by far the best deal we've scored so far in this wedding planning, and after the tasting we had (more to come), is not just a value but a talent! We got a videographer, a florist, and a rehearsal dinner lined up as well, and all because I stopped worrying about doing "the right" thing and started to go where my heart led me. After all, it is how I found Kyle, why couldn't it also apply to our wedding vendors?

Lake Dillon, CO as the sun rose our last day. It is the only time we've seen a glassy frozen lake, due to lack of snow.

It's Officiant...

Talk about capitalism, not wanting to pay for a church membership should not be punishment when planning a wedding. We have found that had we wanted a religious ceremony, we would have not only saved some money (some churches listed officiant services as "donation of choice" and others were free with membership), but we would have also not had such a hard time finding an available officiant.

Anyway, well, we have been on the search for the most cost effective yet unique and entertaining officiant for our wedding. Truth is, in Colorado you don't have to have a certified officiant at all, your wedding congregation can marry you, your DJ could marry you...  and you wouldn't have to fake it Heath, Jill, and Vance! But we want our ceremony to mean something special, to be truly "us", and to be fun at the same time. Kyle, of course, also wants to know if Jack Daniels is an appropriate substitute for wine.

So we have met with 2 officiants in Colorado who advertised "unique and original" ceremonies. Unfortunately, I learned that I need to practice what I preach and not procrastinate. We found out this past week that we waited too long to reply to one of them and we lost out on the date. Everything, however, happens for a reason, and this rejection became a blessing in disguise when I found a new officiant to meet with. This one asked if we could somehow arrange a meeting to fit his ski schedule. Now we're talking...

While panicking momentarily about who could marry us, I had contacted a number of officiants, and asked numerous questions about their services. We first of all found out that the original one we picked would have been way overpriced in comparison. Second, we think this new guy is going to rock our ceremony based on the first 1/2 hour conversation I had with him on the phone, where he let me vent about the woes of wedding planning and Kyle's procrastination about choosing his groomsmen. And when he asked if we could "meet slopeside for a brew" when we will both be in Breckenridge over New Year's, I knew that I would be booking this man. (At least, I hope our meeting in person will go as well as our phone call did). He also told me he Skypes, so I guess being hip with technology was kind of appealing.

Anyway, everyone always says that getting married brings some stress and disappointment, and not everything will go right, but as I see it, it DOES all go right with the right attitude. Everything happens for a reason.

Our ultimate back up- my soon to be brother-in-law got certified to officiate his sister's wedding.