IN Weddings

Being that I’m a wedding photographer and have worked in the wedding industry for a few years now, I was completely stoked to assemble my very own team of wedding vendors.  Mark & I had a pretty good idea of what we wanted the overall feel of our wedding to be so when we started looking for vendors we didn’t stop until we found just the right match.  In the end, we couldn’t have put together a better team of people.  We wanted people that were first and foremost fun to work with and people who we knew would be working in our best interest.  When you have great vendors, you should have nothing to worry about on the day of your wedding and I had just that.  Every aspect had been so well thought out ahead of time and everyone was so good at what they do that I was never bothered with a single thing.  (It drives me crazy when I see vendor after vendor coming up to the bride with question after question.  A great reason to have a coordinator but still these issues should have been settled prior to the day of!)  

So here, they are, my awesome group of vendors, I’ll never be able to thank them all enough for everything they did!

Venue:  Evergreen Lake House | Lorna Bleck | 303.674.0532 | www.evergreenrecreation.com

I feel completely silly admitting this but Mark and I weren’t even considering Evergreen Lake House when we first started planning.  We live in Evergreen and just felt as though everyone gets married there so we wanted something “different.”  I could not be more thankful that we reconsidered.  It just goes to show when you’re trying too hard to find something, exactly what you’re looking for may be right in front of you.  

When you rent the lake house, you are simply renting the space and need to hire out catering, linens, etc.  Our caterer had done many previous events at the lake house so everything worked seamlessly.  Evergreen Lake House has an extensive list of rules to follow but I believe this is why the place stays as gorgeous as it is.  Our guests were completely blown away by the beauty of the space, the gorgeous deck and the views overlooking the lake.  

The Octagan Room is a smaller room connected to the main room.  We set this room up as our kid’s room complete with buffet, arts and crafts, dress up clothes and babysitter.  This was a huge hit!  All the parents at our wedding kept thanking us for being able to enjoy their meal and know that their kids were happy and entertained in the next room!

Caterer:Mary & Craig-Aspen Specialty Foods & Catering | 303.838.6388 | www.aspenspecialtyfoods.com

I’ve posted about Mary & Craig previously here on IN Weddings but I’ll say it again-these two are awesome people and so much fun to work with!  During cocktail hour we had passed appetizers that consisted of goat cheese bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms and cocktail shrimp.  For dinner we stuck with a simple menu of rosemary chicken, beef tenderloin, grilled vegetable medley, mixed green salad and rolls.  Mary & Craig managed to take simple food and make it exquisite.  Everything was delicious and the service was top notch!  We got compliments from our guests all night long.

Coordinator: Keri Scott-Keri Scott Weddings | 970.393.0240 | www.keriscott.com

We met Keri last year and were so impressed by her.  Not only is she extremely professional and organized but she is completely laid back and super fun to work with.  I felt so lucky to have Keri at our wedding.  I knew that everything would run smoothly with her around and it did.  I love that I never once had to pay attention to what time it was.  All I had to do was look at Keri and “ten minutes until toasts.”  We followed our timeline perfectly and I never had to even think about it once.

Photographer: Jenna & Matt Walker-Jenna Walker Photography | www.jennawalkerphotography.com

Being a wedding photographer, I figured this would be our most difficult decision.  After much research we decided to meet with Jenna.  After chatting with her for a few hours we knew her and her husband Matt were a perfect fit for us.  Jenna’s appreciation for all of the emotions, moments and relationships that take place at a wedding ensured me that our wedding would be documented just the way I wanted it to be.  We just received our images and we could not have chosen a better photographer.  (I’ll be sure to share some later this week!)

Florist: Liz Bayard-Fleur de Liz | 303.679.0458 | www.fleurdelizweddings.com

Just a few minutes on Liz’s site and I knew that I would fall in love with anything that she created.  Since I hate throwing away flowers I decided to have potted plants for our centerpieces that our local guests could take home.  I did the centerpieces myself but I had to have a fabulous bouquet.  I gave Liz our color palette and told her to run with it and surprise me.  When she showed up at my house with my bouquet I was completely blown away.  It was stunning!  She also put together one table arrangement with the leftover flowers from my bouquet.  Let me just say, if I had any idea what an amazing centerpiece Liz could create I would have spent way more on flowers than I needed to and all my potted centerpiece ideas would have gone out the window.  At least I was lucky enough to enjoy my bouquet in a vase for a week.  Amazing considering how many bouquets I’ve seen wilting half way through the wedding.

Band: The Hazel Miller Band | 303.296.5559 | www.hazelmiller.com or www.blackswantalent.com 

What can I say, it’s the Hazel Miller Band!  We met Hazel last year at another wedding and after that there was no question as to who we wanted at our wedding.  I’m just thankful she was available!  

 

Okay, I think that’s enough writing for one day!  I just have one piece of advice when it comes to finding the best wedding vendors.  Word of mouth!  Ask people that work in the industry who they like.  If you’ve found your photographer but are having a hard time finding a florist, ask your photographer who they recommend.  As a wedding vendor, I know that we love to spread the word about other great vendors because when we get paired up with other vendors that we love we work together that much better and provide that much better of a service to the couple.