Our Wedding Part 1: Getting Ready & The First Look

This is incredibly hard to believe, but it has been 11 months since my sweet husband and I got married.
It's crazy that I haven't blogged much about it yet already (though we already know I'm a slack blogger), but my brain definitely needed a break after the six month whirlwind of meticulously planning that bad boy. Don't get me wrong - I LOVED planning every detail of our DIY, super on-a-budget big day (I'm a little crazy like that), but after pouring so much energy into it, it has been nice to just relax and enjoy marriage.

Now that things have settled down a bit, I fully plan on blogging about all of the DIY projects, the planning details, and a breakdown of how we were able to stick to a budget of $15K (yes, it IS possible).

But first, I want to count down the weeks to our first anniversary (May 11th) by reminiscing over each part of that amazing day. Starting with, of course, getting ready:

My sweet groom looked so handsome. He wore a vest he already owned from a friends wedding and we got his blush bow tie from Etsy.

Our groomsmen gifts were beige linen bowties that I also ordered from Etsy. We also provided the boys with snacks and glass coke bottles to pair with some whiskey to nom on while they got ready.

Before we arrived to the venue, the girls and I got our hair done at a local salon. My baby sister did my make-up. I loved having this special time with the girls getting ready. My parents gave me this necklace when I was 18, and these earrings were borrowed from my sweet great aunt - so while I'm not usually a big pearls girl, I loved having these sweet sentimental jewels on my big day.

The girls each got a white bangle from Stella and Dot. They each wore different dresses, so it was a little unifying accent - and I still see them wearing it every day! We also provided them with little lemon Pelligrino sodas to pair with vodka while we all got dressed.

My dress - oh, my dress. With a short five month engagement, I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to get the dress of my dreams in time. Most shops we visited swore there would be no way to order and alter any dress in time. I found this dress at our third stop and knew it was the one, but getting it ordered formt hat shop in time was going to be impossible, so I tossed it aside. Then, on our last stop we went to a shop called Formally Yours, and they had that dress on their sample rack in my EXACT size. It had only been tried on a few times, but they offerred to let me have it that day for 20% off! I almost died that I had found my dream dress, and on top of that it needed ZERO alterations!

After getting ready and having my girls come pray around me, we headed off for a first look.

I tell every bride that worries about breaking tradition that the first look was one of my favorite parts of the day. You don't get many moments alone amidst the chaos, so having a private reunion was so sweet and intimate - not to mention it helps calm the nerves before the big moment.

We hired an amazing photographer, Lesley Kerr, who was actually a friend of mine from high school. I'd actually known for years I wanted her to capture my big day, and was overjoyed that she was able to take these wonderful photos.

Our First AirBnB Experience

For our trip to Colorado, we were able to stay at a friends condo for our three nights skiing in Vail, but we needed to book a hotel for our two nights in Denver. While perusing the hotels, my co-worker sent me an e-mail for a sale from AirBnB - first time users could get one free night! We had been wanting to try out AirBnB for a while, and since I wasn't finding any amazing hotel deals, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We found this amazing loft located right in downtown Denver, and with our free night discount, it was cheaper than any hotel in the area. The place was beautiful - so well decorated and spacious. The homeowner described it as the love-child apartment of Indiana Jones and Anthony Bourdain - and we definitely agreed.

It had everything we needed, was super clean and well-heated, and even had a covered and gated parking garage for us to park our rental car. The homeowner (who we never met, but communicated with frequently over e-mail) was very attentive and nice - he answered all of our questions before we arrived, and offered great restaurant recommendations in the area.

However, it being our first time using AirBnB, we were a little surprised about how strange it felt to stay in someone else's apartment. Although it was incredibly clean and well-stocked, we naturally felt like we need to tip-toe around so as not to disturb anything. I've stayed in rental houses and condos at the beach before, but staying in an apartment in the city (that wasn't adorned in generic beach decor) felt different somehow. It definitely wasn't a deterrent, but it was an aspect that you don't experience in a hotel room.

There also is a tiny bit of clean up involved post-stay - for us it was nothing more than washing a few dishes, wiping down counters and putting linens/towels in the washing machine. And although the homeowner set up a great system to retrieve our key without him being there (he stored keys in a lockbox close by), it took some time to get the key, get the garage door opener, park the car, and carry our suitcases up a few floors to find the apartment. Our flight arrived late at night, and we slightly missed the ease of just showing up to the hotel lobby and being taken care of.

But those cons were small compared to the pros: plenty of space, amazing location, a full kitchen (although we didn't end up using it), and all at a much better price than a tiny hotel room. We definitely felt like we got a good authentic feel of Denver, and we loved being in walking distance to many great restaurants and shops.

(the view from our window)

So, would we do an AirBnB booking again? Definitely, but depending on the circumstance. If we were staying in a place for more than two nights (and wanted to save money by cooking meals at home), and were splitting with another couple or friends, it would definitely be worth the savings for the space and home-iness gained. However, for a quick stay (and in this instance, we really were barely there), the ease of a hotel might be worth the extra cash.

All that being said, I 100% recommend this loft if you are staying in Denver, and I'm so glad we tried AirBnB for the first time. It made our adventure more exciting and I loved taking pictures of the beautiful space. And now we know the pros and cons of renting someone else's space, and we can choose the best option for our adventure at hand.

Colorado Lovin'

It's been over a month since our Colorado trip, but we're still basking in our newfound love of the west. I shared the video a few weeks ago, but I thought I would share some photos from our adventure.

We hadn't taken a big trip since our honeymoon, and when a trip to Aspen with Jordan's school feel through (sigh), we bit the bullet and booked flights to Colorado for Valentine's Day weekend. We spent six days and five nights walking, skiing and eating in three of Colorado's best cities.

Day 1 was spent exploring the city of Denver. Little Man Ice Cream was one of our favorite spots - salted oreo and samoa were the best flavors. 

We also took a road trip to Boulder that day and decided to walk a trail we found while driving around. We didn't know it but we were hiking up Mt. Sanitas - which turned out to be an awesome three hour hike with some amazing views!

Hello Boulder!

Once we made it to the top, there was so much fog you couldn't see a thing - but it made for an epic photo op that Jordan couldn't ignore.

Boulder, we love you. On Day 2, we explored downtown Denver. We started off the day eating Mexican pastries on the steps of city hall.

We can't be trusted around inanimate objects - we are children in grown-up bodies.

On the evening of Day 2, we drove a few hours up to Vail. We woke up the next morning and began to shred some slopes!

Well actually, I fell about 45 times and maybe cried once, but the pain only made me stronger!

And my sweet, patient husband joyfully did the green slopes with me until I started to get the hang of things. On our second day of skiing, I could consistently do the blues and even did some bowls! 

My talented husband conquered some scary black slopes, while I watched from afar.

The views were so amazing. Ski resorts in the South - take note. We were incredibly lucky to stay in our friends condo at a ski in/ski out resort - but the ski lift was only slightly terrifying.

On day 5, we had to say goodbye to our beautiful Vail home and make the trek back to the Denver airport. On our way, we stopped at Red Rocks amphitheater and saw some great views.

Red Rocks was breathtaking and definitely felt very Colorado-y. The weather couldn't have been better, and it was a great way to end the trip. Now that my bruises have healed, we are getting the travel bug again - I can't wait for our next adventure!