Every bride knows that whether you are planning a Colorado outdoor wedding or a Denver Metro modern wedding it is a smart idea to attend atleast one of the  Colorado Bridal Shows 2010. Colorado Bridal Shows and wedding events are a fun and exciting way to learn about wedding trends and fashions as well as a great way to find local wedding professionals. My favorite part was seeing the portfolios of many colorado photographers, not only do you get to see their wedding photography but you also get to meet the individuals that would be working your wedding…this is a big deal! Plus, there is always some sweep stakes to register for…a free honeymoon wouldn’t be so bad would it…? And ofcourse there are caterers there that want to share with you their tasty delights, centerpieces and wedding cake masterpieces that you just can’t resist (or just might and are glad you didn’t call them to set up a tasting..eek!), so indulge in the moment!

Look through the Colorado Bridal Show dates to see which venue would work best for your schedule and your timeline, oh and make sure you plan ahead and read all the event details…some do charge a cover fee. There are small and intimate Bridal shows that might not have as many vendors but are a lot more “stress free” such as the Ellis Ranch Wedding Park that is hosting a fun little couples party and then there are the large events hosted at Rocky Mountain Bridal Show at Colorado Convention Center or the Bridal Festivals at INVESCO Field at Mile High that have so much going on that you could spend days looking at vendors, wedding dress and bridal party fashion shows and signing up for free prizes. So, according to your needs and stress-level capacity choose an event that fits you best, bring a friend or your mom and have a blast seeing what’s new in the wedding world of today!

Click here to see the new Colorado Wedding Venue of the month featuring the Kraft Wedding at Grant Humphreys Mansion, Denver Colorado… See our website for more details on the following wedding venue.

Do you think your Colorado Wedding Venue was amazing and should be featured on our website? Let us know, we’d love to see your pictures and put together a video!!

Not only is cutting the cake a part of the wedding tradition events that take place on your wedding day, but it is usually what your guests are looking forward to the most, next to dancing of course. The guests get to admire the beauty and creativity of the cake during the reception (while you and your groom take some last minute pictures), they also get to take pictures of the two of you sharing the first “bite” together in front of your chosen delight and they get to enjoy the yummy flavors and textures of dessert. Now these days the tradition has evolved and so having a “cake” is not absolutely a must, but having some type of dessert to represent the cake is acceptable. For example, I have been to a couple weddings in Colorado where the bride and groom decided to have a neatly and fun stack of cupcakes. The cupcakes were simply decorated but created a fun design with different colors and shapes. It was perfect! The cupcakes fit the whole style and fun spirit of the couple. Plus the benefits…cost of course, you don’t spend quite as much for cupcakes as you would with a full blown out “wedding cake” with tiers and fondant decorations. We’ve seen cupcakes, cheese cake, chocolate fountains and more, but it all depends on your wedding style and your personalities. For our wedding we did have a multiple tiered cake with a fountain underneath the bottom layer, but our wedding was formal and somewhat magical setting. My brother in law and his wife had a cute little chocolate cake just for the pictures and then the guests got to indulge in the awesome chocolate fountain….so the sky is the limit. Here is a great site for Colorado wedding cake designers or pastry chefs! Remember anything is possible with desserts these days! Bon appetit!

 Colorado Wedding Cake businesses 

 Colorado Bakeries

There are now 140 Colorado wedding venues listed on www.myweddingincolorado.com with amazing pictures, venue descriptions and google map listings. We have worked diligently to get the Colorado wedding sites up as quickly as we can and continue to find more throughout the state of Colorado.  Our goal is to provide every Colorado Bride and Groom with a complete listing of Colorado wedding venues which you could never find in www.brides.com, www.theknot.com or www.weddingsitesandservices.com. Currently we have several wedding venues listed for the Denver Metro, Front Range North and South , Colorado Foothills and now we are adding wedding venues to our Western Slope collection. We are going to shoot for 200 Colorado wedding venues by April!!

Of all the choices, besides choosing your dress, you have to make I would say that the photographer is right up there on top…the company or photographer that you choose is in complete control of your wedding memories that you share with your future family. Bride and grooms are so overwhelmed and blown away on the day of their wedding that afterwards it seems to be a blur…a beautiful and amazing blur of course, but  a blur still…so those wedding pictures are a must! Now there are family members that have their cameras on hand and snap away happily but some how the angles and shots they take aren’t quite as appealing as what the professionals capture. So how do you go about finding the right photographer, especially if you are out of state? These are a few steps that will lead you to finding the right memory catcher who will go above and beyond photography and capture time …

• Make a list of what you want included with your photography session. Having a list of “would be nice but not necessary” and “absolute musts have” are important. Here are a few examples of what to think about: engagement photo session, prior event photography (i.e. bachelorette/bachelor parties or showers), how many hours of photography coverage do want (before, during and after), style (traditional, modern/trendy, mystical, etc), rights to all the photos, photo book or CD, pictures posted online for friends and family, etc
• Decide on your photography budget. How much are you able to or willing to spend on your pictures. Just remember the pros and cons of spending more or less. When you spend more there are more options but maybe a little less control and when you spend less there is less coverage or not as many options such as a website or a book made.
• I always recommend going through family or friend referrals, they know most about compatability and style…plus the cost is usually much better than the photographers that have a fancy website they paid a bunch of money to be on the top of interent searchers… Make sure you like the style and variety.
• If you are searching online I recommend this Colorado Wedding Photographers site for a great listing of some of the best photographers in Colorado. It includes pricing ranges and location listings. I would find three that you really like and then email the website link to your parents and a few friends and see which ones they like or what their opnions are. From here you are usually able to narrow it down to 2-3 photographers.
• Call the photographers and go over what they provide and how that relates to your “absolute musts” and “nice to have” lists let alone your budget! From there you will be able to find what fits you best for your special occassion!
• If you know you will be making your own wedding photo book and other prints here and there I would make sure you get the rights to your pictures. Some times great photographers go out of business and you lose access to your pictures! We made sure we had the rights to our pics!!!!
• Just remember that price does not always equal QUALITY! Choosing someone that you feel understands you and your style is always better!

Some women expect to be surprised with extreme creativity and others just want a little romance, either way the proposal is such an important introduction to their  life of marriage. Everyone loves to hear the story about “how did he propose..” but now a days they want to see the proposal on video. I just have to say…Isn’t it amazing how the man knows how to “pop the question”. I love it! Every story I hear or see makes me tingle and smile. Okay back to the video… The fun part is sharing the news with all your friends and family as quickly as possible. Sending a wedding proposal video clip with a little music or editing is the perfect way to let them know the news! I posted a few examples that were fun and thought more people should see. If you have a fun story or video do share with the rest of us! Check out these links…

The Bird dance proposal

The Magic Trick wedding proposal

Colorado is one of the BEST and EASIEST places to get married! Just follow a few simple steps with the county you wish to be married in, bring about $10+, an official ID, sign the papers and BAM! your married. Woo hoo! In other states in order to get your marriage license you have to do blood tests (eek!), pay large fees, send in large amounts of paperwork and have an “official” officiant officiate your wedding ceremony. Shoot, in Colorado you don’t even have to have a wedding…just living together, sharing bills and claiming yourselves to be married seals the deal* (as long as you’re 18 yrs and older). Of course you’re here because you are planning a Colorado Wedding, so back to business…  My husband and I went to the local County Records department, presented our Driver’s Licenses, paid $10 and signed our names…shortly after we received the marriage license in the mail (they are good for 30 days), then when it came to our lovely wedding ceremony we were blessed to allow our good friend we love and respect officiate our wedding (Choose your  Officiant for your wedding ceremony together, the person has to be special to you both!). We designed the ceremony ourselves, according to our beliefs and values, and involved our loved ones to be a part of the service which in many states you can’t do. We recommend “The Wedding ceremony Planner” book, it was an awesome guide for us.  Check out this link for more details on  “How to get a marriage license in Colorado”

*Please research more on the common law marriage because there are steps you take in order to be considered married…

Planning a wedding in Colorado or in any state becomes a little sticky and pricy when coordinating accomodations, entertainment, food, flights, transportation,etc…etc… Someone related the wedding coordination process to “herding cats” (ha ha!) which I can totally agree with, it’s so true. Not only that, but it would be nice to find coupons or group deals to save a little money for your wedding guests. Luckily Colorado reps have their ducks in a row and have put together a great website that has an interactive map that is user friendly and extremely helpful! If you click on the Find Places tab (just above the map in the middle) you can find different transportation hubs, restaurants, hotels and more. This beats going to google maps and entering all the different addresses… The other page that I love is the Colorado Hot Deals! Every bride and groom wants a hot deal and savings while planning their Colorado Wedding,  there is enough mula going into the celebration that it wouldn’t hurt, right! So Colorado was nice enough to not only categorize the different types of deals available in the state but they also put together a city search option that allows you to type in the city or town near by and see what kind of savings are being offered in the area (just make sure you scroll down a little to find the search bar). Hopefully you can find some great deals for your wedding guests while they are in the beautiful state of Colorado, the best state for a Mountain Wedding!

When you plan your wedding the one thing that will tie it all together is your wedding music. Event transitions, setting the mood, motivating your guests to dance or to lounge is all depended on the wedding tunes that you choose. Your music also determines the formality of the ceremony, dinner and dance stage. Not to mention deciding on the one and only “First Dance” with you and your new spouse. Do you want a romantic yet simple first dance, a choreographed tango dance or a fun silly first dance. Depends on the song right… I always tell my girlfriends to think back when they were younger, what song did they swirl in circles to or sing their hearts out to while driving in the car…dreaming of their knight and shining armour.  This song is usually perfect for the first dance. Or what is the first song that the two of you really busted a move to and felt completely connected (like the two of you planned the whole dance ahead of time but it was all spontaneous…). Have fun with your first dance, keep it light and try not to stress out yourself or your fiance. First of all, a lot of men aren’t Patrick Swayze, who moves to the music naturally, and secondly the less stress the better (let this be a fun part of your planning). Oh, and ladies…for the father daughter dance be careful with how much freedom you give your dad to choose your father daughter song, if you give them this option. I would decide on five songs or less and let them choose from your options. I gave my dad complete freedom to choose the father daughter song and it ended up being super cheesy and hardly meaningful to me (I found myself laughing during the dance almost the whole time…). “My daughter is going to be a bride” country style doesn’t get any cheesier than cheddar cheese.  Help your dad find something special for the both of you. Your wedding should relfect the two of you, so try to pick music that is special to you and fits your style. Stretch outside the “wedding norms” box and be creative. If you still need a little guidance here is a great site for wedding music ideas that allows you to listen to songs and navegate through the different types of music that fit the specific wedding event. For example your prelude and postlude music are going to be different than the cake cutting and garter toss…

My husband and I have always been great with communication and planning from day 1 but when we started to plan our wedding together we knew we had to put our communicative and planning skills into a higher gear than normal! Every couple, whether they are engaged or approaching engagement, know that there is a lot of work that goes into planning a wedding. You have to coordinate the wedding ceremony, the reception, dinner menu or lunch menu, music, groomsmen and bridesmaids, wedding flowers and bouquets, families,travel…etc! Whew! My head started to spin there for a second. And at times the process starts to become more like a job than a happy experience.

Our neighbors, happily engaged, are getting married in May and you can already tell the wedding bell blues are chiming in their heads. Stress… stress… stress..! You can feel the tension in the room…but shouldn’t it be love that we feel instead? After all it is their engagement period…
Okay, I think we get the point! Weddings and planning weddings are a beautiful event but can be stressful (even if you have a wedding planner working for you you will experience stress…keep it real ladies!) So when your valiant prince asks for your hand in marriage and the engagement starts or you are in mid-planning here are a few ideas to keep in mind. (My husband and I used these techniques that worked like a charm…we actually had fun!)
Wedding Planning Stress-Easers
1) Purchase a wedding planner book that you can carry in your purse but has helpful details with time lines, traditions and check off lists. Click here for some good ideas!
2) Put on some fun music (not too loud) and sit down with your fiance with separate pieces of paper and pens. Create a T-chart with “Absolute Musts” and “Would be nice but not necessary” then take ten minutes or so and fill in the chart separately. Think about location, guest lists, food, music, formality, wedding party, etc.When you are both done then compare answers and figure out what is important to both of you and what could be put to the side and re-visited when budget allows the flexibility. This sets the stage for what kind of wedding you two are expecting to plan together (no surprises) and it creates a guide to keep what’s most important in mind. (Family and friends like to influence)
3) Do you have a wedding budget? After you decide what’s most important then go through the wedding budget together to see how much you really want to/can spend on your wedding day, parties, gifts and honeymoon. Try not to number crunch too much yet but remember you do need to be reasonable. Then you need to set up times with families that have offered to help and ask them how they would like to help (or how much…you know the fine line better than I do with your families and money talk…just be gentle and kind) After you have spoken with family then you can figure out the difference in cost.

3) Wedding service providers…remember that this is a competitive market and their are plenty of options out there (you are NEVER stuck). For each area that you need a provider i.e. florist, photographer, caterer etc. create a list of  absolute musts, and contract questions (your planner usually has a great guideline for this). Review thoroughly over what is and is not covered. This is the biggest wedding planning stress creator of them all! Actually to protect your rights and to make sure that you do not get screwed over with a contract try this company out! For $36 a month (month to month) they can review contracts  and protect your rights when dealing with companies… plus they’ll do your wills for you for free! (You and your soon to be spouse!) Click here for more details! The representative is amazing and we love the membership. Still have it! (They even help you with speeding tickets…)

Just remember to ask lots of questions before you sign the paper and then write it all down!

3) Take walks together throughout the week or set up at least one day a week where you spend time together but are NOT allowed to talk about the wedding AT ALL!!! Usually a nice date night that doesn’t involve spending money is the most relaxing and romantic! Your fiance will appreciate it!

4) Delegate! Delegate! Delegate! Yes it is your wedding and you want to make sure that everything goes as planned…you did spend many exhausting hours on this momentous occasion! But to stay sane this is the best choice for you! Not only that but everyone wants to be a part of the beautiful event! Give your moms and dads things to do, give your fiance a “to do list” and you will be in heaven!

Best of luck and stay positive! Enjoy your engagement!