Smitherrama.com ~ A Wedding Blog

How We Met

2010-08-30T20:20:33Z

When people find out I’m from Colorado and Dave’s from San Diego, the question that usually follows is, “How did you meet?” Well, here’s how we met.

http://interdictor.livejournal.com/36111.html?thread=430095#t430095

I was watching CNN during Hurricane Katrina, and they were talking about this guy’s blog. servicesix is Dave. I read that comment and IM’d him. And the rest is history. Literally, needle in a haystack (haystack = entire Internet).

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Scope Out Venue Pics on Photographers’ Sites

2010-07-15T06:57:17Z

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth mentioning again as I was looking at La Foret pictures online. I took several pictures of La Foret’s chapel and dining hall, but they don’t do the venue justice. When I was remotely scoping out venues earlier this year I discovered the best sites to view venue pictures is not usually the venues’ website. You’d think the venue would have put up the best pictures possible, however, many venues I came across barely even have a website. La Foret actually has a fairly decent site, but only feature a few wedding pictures.

After Googling a bit, I found 2 great photographers who feature wedding pictures from La Foret.

Photographer Holly Pacione wrote a blog post that shows off some beautiful photos from a summer wedding.

And photographer Charlotte Geary displays lovely photos from a winter wedding on her website.

I haven’t met either of these ladies, but their photos are gorgeous. Just wanted to give them a shout out in appreciation for posting their work. It really helps me when I’m planning my wedding miles away.

So my tip for today is: when you’re searching for your own venues, try searching out photographers first. Their professional photos can help give you a clearer idea of what you can expect from having your wedding at that location.

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We Have a DATE!!!

2010-07-15T13:36:26Z

June 25th, 2011

Finally we have a date! Dave called La Foret earlier today and our options that they knew of for sure were May 7th (still) and June 25th. So! June 25th it is!! Mark your calendars, only 346 days to go! Now, onto designing invitations.

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La Foret Update

2010-07-15T13:35:43Z

Yesterday was supposed to be when we found out our wedding date. I had Dave call La Foret to see if the calendar had been set, but the lady that we’ve been talking to wasn’t in. Looks like more waiting. Dave did talk to one of the other ladies there, & she said that May is really hard to book but June/July could be more promising. Which I find weird, considering those are the busiest wedding months, but we’ll see. Sorry to those who are anxiously waiting to know the date.

In other news! I finally launched the website for my web studio, Splash of Code. I’ve been working on it for the past three months, and I am so happy for it to finally go live. So…if you or anyone you know needs web work, let me know!

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Planning Hiatus: Need a date!

2010-07-01T17:09:19Z

So the planning has been on hiatus for awhile now for two reasons. We are currently waiting for La Foret to get back to us regarding what dates they have available. They are currently working on getting their annual clients set in their calendar before they can start booking weddings. It’s taking longer than expected I suppose. Not to mention, the campground is busy with the summer season already. I called yesterday and they are swamped with a group of 180 kiddos. I am supposed to have an update on July 12th.

However, she did tell me that Mother’s Day weekend is typically open. And if I want to go ahead and book that date I think I can. I wouldn’t mind having my wedding on Mother’s Day. I actually think it would be kind of sweet. But what bugs me most is it’s on my brother’s birthday. I find it annoying when important dates coincide. But I know it’s just a date, but still. So we’re going to wait for a couple more weeks and then talk to La Foret again. It’s a good thing we aren’t rushed.

The second reason for the hiatus is due to my classes. In three weeks I will be done, yes, completely finished with my Bachelor’s degree! Heck yeah!!! I will finally be able to redirect my attention back to my wedding. Stay tuned.

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Wedding Colors: RGB Easy As 123

2010-05-10T05:59:40Z

Here are some RGB combinations I’ve come up with. Some are bolder, some are brighter, one’s pastelly (not sure how we feel about pastels…). Share your opinions.

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Bringing the Colors to Life

2010-05-10T06:00:14Z

I went to Michael’s earlier today for a frame. Of course I got distracted. I wandered around the floral section picking out flowers trying to pair up wedding colors. I figured now is the perfect time to do this since it will be this time next year when we’ll actually be tying the knot.

So here are my findings:

Many of the pics are flowers in the colors of my original color scheme. Let me know what you think.

I still want whatever colors I go with to be set against black. So bridesmaid dresses, table cloths, etc. will still be black.

I think this one is my favorite because these are more muted colors as opposed to the other brighter colors I found. I think the bright colors will clash with the venue:

However, I’m also really partial to this combination. This is so geeky, but I was playing around with an RGB color scheme. RGB is the color model that is used on the web. Yes, I know…geek. But these colors seem a little more sophisticated than the five-color combination:

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Wedding Dress: Check, Venue: Check

2010-08-30T22:55:35Z

The Dress
Dave and I returned from a very productive Colorado Springs wedding planning trip about a week ago. Bought THE dress (thank you Mama)!! I love it soooo much! Tried on many-a-dress at David’s Bridal with my Mom, sister, and MOH-zilla, and ended up going with…well you’ll just have to wait and see. Pics are on the Internet somewhere, so if you’d like to see just let me know and I’ll send you the link. Just don’t share with the groom!

One of the biggest to-dos down, many more to go!

The Venue
Next, we were able to narrow our list of venues to check out to two: Phantom Canyon and La Foret. We liked Phantom Canyon. Nice room size, affordable, really nice wedding coordinator who knows her stuff, but we didn’t really like the downtown feel. Especially after we visited La Foret.

I don’t know why La Foret seems to be such a secret. I’ve never heard of them prior to my wedding venue research. But oh my gosh!! The place is gorgeous! Tucked back in the cozy woods of Black Forest, La Foret is the perfect place for my wedding. Originally, I really wanted to have a foresty type wedding. Very Colorado-esque, don’t you think? The large reception hall has a wood-burning fireplace, kitchen, and stage. And the chapel, which is right next to the hall, is so amazing. The chapel was built in 1928 in the southwestern adobe style. There are large wooden icons adorning the altar, and there’s a spiral staircase that leads up to a small balcony that can sit a few more guests. There’s a cord that can be pulled from the balcony that rings a bell. From the balcony you can go to an outside balcony, which will make for great photo ops! Pikes Peak is perfectly framed in the doorway of the chapel courtyard. *sigh* It’s going to be perfect. Sorry for the somewhat crappy pics…

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The Date
We can’t officially book a date yet until La Foret confirms their annual guests, which won’t happen until later in the summer. But right now we are currently penciled in for April 9th and May 7th.

Next On The List: Colors & Caterers
My next big task is to finalize my colors. I’m not so sure about my original color choices. I don’t know if they will go well with the location now. I still want a variety of colors, but…I don’t know, maybe not so all over the color spectrum. I’m so indecisive. All suggestions welcome, I could use the help.

Caterers are also next on the list, but we can’t really do much until Dave and I can go taste testing. But here is La Foret’s approved caterers. If you’ve heard anything about these caterers please share. From that list Dave and I are liking:

Alpine Chef
Blue Sage
Picnic Basket / Cravings Catering (not sure if they’re the same company or what)

It was a quick but wonderful and exciting trip. We also sneaked in checking out some bakeries around town. We have a brilliant idea for our centerpieces/cake, but I will go over that in my next post seeing as this one is now super long.

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Leavin’ On a Jet Plane

2010-04-07T05:22:34Z

Tomorrow is the first of many big days in the coming year. Dave and I are flying off to Colorado to officially begin the major wedding planning.

The Mother of the Bride/MOB (aka Mom), my Maid of Honor(zilla), and I have an wedding dress appointment on Thursday (holy cow!), where I will more than likely be purchasing THE dress. Ah!! And then on Friday, Dave and I hope to scope out some venues first-hand. Our goal is to put a deposit down so we can reserve a date.

If all goes as planned, then everything else can start falling into place.

Here’s to one year and counting.

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A Not-So-Traditional Wedding Website

2010-03-01T22:35:04Z

A classmate of mine is also engaged, and she introduced me to OffBeatBride.com. A lot of posts on there seem to be in the opposite direction of my wedding, but who knows what DIY projects I might dig up. Plus, they seem to have the greatest shoe ideas.

Anyway, I read this post from a recently married bride who said some things that make me laugh and I think is worth repeating here.

My favorite moment: This is so lame, but after the wedding was over, after we were in our awesome hotel, the photographers had left, Matt and I looked at each other and he said “We really should have brought some food with us.” A few hours later, we went out for McDonalds, came back, and I curled up against him while we watched Mythbusters and fell asleep. At 7:30, when we woke up, Matt proclaimed us the worst newlyweds ever. But that cuddly moment was the most “husband and wife” I felt all day. All the dramas were gone, it was just us, and it was perfect.

So cute!!! For some reason…I have a feeling this is going to be me.

Those details that all the bridal blogs are constantly obsessing over are NOT worth your sanity. Seriously.

And on that note, for the love of God, please don’t go overboard with the bridal blogs. This said from a girl who currently has over fifty on her RSS feed. While they’re great for inspiration, they also have a tendency to make you doubt your own decisions, even to the point of hating your own wedding, because it will never be as awesome as the people in the blog. Screw them. Take what you need from them and move on. Seriously. That was THEIR day, focus on YOURS.

I’ve gotten into the habit of RSS’ing everything. She does make a good point though. Funny that I mention this on my own blog…

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