Q & A with the Bride:

How did you meet?

Brandon and I met in college at Colorado State University. He sat in class behind me for a couple of months trying to work up the nerve to talk to me. Finally at a mutual friend's birthday party in Old Town, Fort Collins he found the courage to talk to me and we immediately hit it off. That night he asked if I would go fly fishing with him the next day, and believe it or not I was "hooked" so to speak.

Tell us a little a bit about your wedding (your vision, color, style, and location choices).

When we sat down to talk about the wedding, we knew we wanted to hit a few key points: 1) we are both geologists and love being outdoors, so the venue had to have a large outdoor component, 2) we wanted to show our family and friends our love by providing an open bar, 3) we LOVE to dance so we had to have a dance floor and a dj that would keep people moving all night long, and 4) we wanted it to be FUN! Besides that, I have always loved wildflowers, specifically sunflowers so I knew they would play a key role and every other decision we made was just trying to reflect our personalities.

Please describe any DIY, handmade, or personal details.

Most of our decorations were handmade since I gave myself a year and a half to plan, there was lots of time to craft things. Additionally, we borrowed or repurposed most of our decorations. We repurposed pallets for signs, I used stencils to write the words and Brandon traced the letters with a wood burner. Centerpieces and the seating chart were my favorite of the handmade items. Brandon is a photographer, so we found pictures of us on our many travels throughout the world and placed those on the table alongside a rock that we had collected at each location (remember we're geologists). Additionally, we went to the family cabin and cut wood cookies, which Brandon used the wood burner on to write the location name and year we visited. The candles on the tables were borrowed from a friend's wedding, and the seating chart was a world map with the visited locations on it and the people at each table. I also really enjoyed the favors, which were blue rock candy (purchased in bulk from the internet). We printed slips of paper that said "She got her rock, here's one for you" and tied them to each favor. All-in-all, I think the little details really made the wedding feel "like us".

Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?

Several pieces of advice: 1) We had an open bar, so we booked a shuttle to take people to and from the venue, this was perhaps the best for putting my mind at ease at the end of the night. We knew our loved ones could have as many drinks as they desired and still make it home safe. 2) Amazing vendors ARE KEY, when you book amazing professionals the day goes smoothly for you and you can relax knowing they have seen every situation in the book and know how to fix it. 3) Don't try to handle everything yourself or make family/friends work on your big day. They love you and want to have fun as well, try to let them focus on the fun instead of making them pass food around. 4) It's cliche to say, but it goes so quickly! Try to focus on the idea that if you're married at the end of the day, everything else is a great story later on.