Even though we are both from the Midwest, even before we got engaged, Tom and I decided on getting married in Colorado, where we met. Being in the mountains really feels like home to us and we wanted all of our friends and family to come and get a glimpse of our life together here. Planning a wedding across the country from most of your guests during a global pandemic wasn’t ideal and the guest count ended up being the most stressful part of wedding planning. We got very lucky with the vaccine roll out and while we had to cut down our original guest list, we were able to keep our original date and have most of our original guests in attendance including my grandparents which I know has not been the case for so many people this past year.
Our wedding day went perfectly with the only unexpected surprise being the 39 degree weather in mid-April that Colorado threw our way, but the snow in the mountains was a beautiful addition to pictures. We started the day by getting ready at The Pinery At The Hill in Colorado Springs. Before heading to St. Mary’s Cathedral for the ceremony, I did a first look with my dad which is where the emotions of the day really hit me. The walk down the aisle with both of my parents was the true highlight of the entire day for me. It was the biggest rush of emotions walking into the church and seeing Tom waiting for me at the end of the aisle that I’ve ever experienced. After the ceremony, we took a limo to the Mesa Overlook and took pictures in front of Garden of the Gods which was absolutely stunning. We knew we wanted our wedding pictures to really show off Colorado in some way for us to have forever and the location was perfect.
Our reception was back at The Pinery and all of our friends and family had gathered there for the cocktail hour. Tom and I both have extremely large families and many of the people that came to the wedding, we hadn’t seen in over a year due to COVID so getting to walk in and see everyone was truly special even separate of it being for our wedding. The speeches from my dad, Best Man, Matron of Honor, and my three sisters were another highlight of the day for me. It’s rare to get to hear what you mean to people so close to you in that way and it’s something I won’t forget. After all of speeches, first dances, and cake cutting was through, the dance floor really opened up. I think you could really tell that people were ready to dance after this year in lock down because everyone was out on the dance floor, including our two year old flower girl who had a circle around her for most of the night for her to showcase her moves. This was definitely a weird year getting engaged in quarantine so we missed a lot of the typical celebrations like an engagement party or big bridal shower and wedding planning was a bit more stressful with shut downs and restrictions on party size. However, all of the stress was more than worth it. We truly had the best day and couldn’t have imagined a better way to kick start our lives together.
