Allurynn & Doug
married May 3, 2003
Durango, Colorado
How did you meet?
Doug and I met in November of 2002, on the Internet through eharmony.com.
He came out to Colorado for New Years. Once we met, we knew we were
meant to be together. From our initial contact the number 3 kept
coming up in the most uncanny way. So we chose to honor it by setting
the date for May 3, 2003. So, that gave us 4 months to plan the
wedding.
The Planning
We didn't want a big hoopla and we were on a tight budget. I didn't
have a wedding planner, but I must advise new couples to look into
it if they can afford it. If not, they need to have awesome friends
and family like we did. I used the Western Colorado Wedding Guide
web site to help us plan and sort things out.
We had invited 80 guests most of which were going to be out of towners. We wanted an outside wedding, so we wanted a spot where the wedding and reception could be held. After going to the Bridal fair in Durango, which I must admit helped us out with a lot of information we needed. We decided on the Silver Pick Lodge, we rented the whole place for the day and evening. Giving our guests a place to spend the night.
We made our own invitations, Doug is a multimedia designer so, we really had fun creating a wonderfully unique invitation for our special day, celebrating three aspects we wanted to bring into our new life together JOY, LOVE and CREATIVITY.
The Dress
I wanted a Celtic/Irish flavor wedding....so to go with
the theme I had picked out a pattern for a dress from the renaissance
era....unfortunately I had an acquaintance make it and 2 weeks before
the wedding I was left with an incomplete dress. But Durango Designs,
thanks to the generosity of a good friend, finished the dress for
me which I picked up the day before the wedding. They did an incredible
job on it, it was exactly what I wanted and so beautiful.
The Rings
Our rings were a challenge-we looked in Durango, Colorado Springs,
Farmington and even in Portland, OR. They were finally made through
Seawear.com in PA they are wonderful handmade bands with the Celtic
Trinity knot, in white gold and yellow gold settings. The gifts
for the children were from the Irshshop.com also in PA, they are
a silver heart pendant with the trinity knot in the middle.
The Cake
Once again we incorporated three...it was three tiers of hearts
each increasing with size with one of the aspects we chose above
written in the middle and a trinity knot with roses on each.
The DJ
Our DJ, was a local Ignacio DJ, and my Daughter's Science teacher....Mr.
Danny Jaques. He was great, his personality is awesome. He played
the songs we had previously told him we wanted to hear and included
great music on his own. He kept things rolling and alive.
Ceremony details
Since we wanted to create our own wedding ceremony and we had family
and friends from all kinds of faiths, we found someone who was open
to what we wanted to create in our ceremony. We had a hand fasting
and a sword blessing. And even then it was still very nontraditional.
We read many ceremonies, both traditional and non, and came up with
our own. It included the children, where Doug made vows to them
as well and gave them gifts. (I have two children of my own a 13yr
old and an 8 year old.)
The Wedding Day
Since it was still spring, the outside wedding didn't happen, the
mountain air was too chilly to have everyone outside. We ended up
having it in the Sow's Ear Restaurant right in the Silver Pick Lodge.
My sister jazzed it up with balloons and ribbons. I arrived at the
Silver Pick early that morning, to finish helping with the decorations
and setting up.
The wedding was scheduled for 3:00, but at 2:15 I was still in my sweats doing finishing touches. My new Mother in-law is a Mary kay cosmetic consultant so she did the make up for my daughter and I. And kept me calm...which honestly I was. She was so great, now I knew where my husband got all his patience from. My only concern was that HE knew I was just running late and not had a change of heart. My hair dresser and friend Mikal Renzi from Estetica, along with his partner Marian did these wonderful hair styles with some babies breath. Needless to say I was late.
The wedding started at 3:30. I didn't have the traditional wedding song, I chose "A moment like this" by American Idol Kelly Clarkson. The song was playing a lot when we first met and the words seemed just right for me. The officiant read the ceremony as we created it, I was trembling for most of it. We said our own vows, which we thought would be more personal and special that way. The hand blessing and hand fasting was as powerful to me as the exchange of rings and vows. And the sword blessing at the end was exciting.
After the ceremony and signing of the license, we went outside where we released 6 balloons out into the air. Three of them blew directly into the electrical lines and blew up. So, we started off with a bang a friend told us.
The reception was fun....I hadn't seen my family in a long time and my sister and I had such a great time. It was wonderful for us to be surrounded by all of our friends and family and our new friends and family. Knowing that thanks to them it was all possible. We danced so much that night. We spent the night there at the Silver Pick. My newlywed husband and my sister had decorated the room we stayed in with rose petals, balloons and candlelight. It was wonderful.....the whole day and evening was just Beautiful.
The next morning we said good bye to all of our out of town guests and headed off to Ouray for your honeymoon, we stayed at the Box Canyon Inn, they had a wonderful suite and 5 hot tubs running up the side of the mountain. We had a wonderful time.
I feel it all happened and went the way it was supposed to. For a small wedding it still needed a lot of planning and money that we didn't expect. But working together on it and with our friends and family, it all came together in the end. Weddings can be so expensive and overwhelming, I believe that even on a budget you can still have the wedding you've always dreamed of!
RECOMMENDED WEDDING PROS Ceremony/Reception Site: Silverpick
Lodge; Durango
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