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After arriving in after dark on Wednesday night, the girls and I woke up early on Thursday morning. Mr. CB had gone off with his groomsman the night before. The girls and I woke up around 7 AM. Maybe it was because we’d gone to bed at 11 PM? Maybe it was because Bridesmaid FSIL was on East Coast time as she’d flown in from NY the night before? Whatever it was, we were ready for the day’s festivities to begin.
For many of those in our wedding party, this was their first time in Colorado or even west of the Mississippi. So you can imagine Bridesmaid FSIL’s surprise when she woke up in the morning to this farmland on the edge of Boulder.
I’d been looking forward to this day for quite some time. The Wednesday before the wedding when we would sausage our stuff into my car, drive for seven hours through the mountains of Northern New Mexico towards Denver, and finally unite with a few early-arriving bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Over the past year, I’d done most of the trips to Colorado for planning on my own. Mr. CB often had to work, so spending some time alone with him on this adventure was definitely a sweet spot. Our dogs with friends, our goldfish with other friends, we were left to our own devices. No distractions.
We left around 11 AM, having started the packing process and dropping off of the dogs and fish around 7 AM. Yep. It took quite a bit longer than we expected. But given how much we had to bring with us, it didn’t surprise me. And, we were both fairly relaxed and excited.
In four hours, we leave for New Zealand for our honeymoon. In the meantime, I thought I might leave you a couple of pictures from our beautiful, harmonious wedding. These are from friends (not pro pics) but they make me giggle with glee, nonetheless.
The day began clear and blue but clouded up by noon. With howling winds and chilling temps, we trudged into the field for outdoor pictures anyway. Thanks b-maids and groomsmen!
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Dear Hive: Today’s the day! I am writing from my BlackBerry because my little, rustic (yet luxurious) cabin doesn’t have wireless. It’s a brisk 25 degrees out now, up here at 8300 feet in the mountains of Colorado, but the sun just crept over the peaks and is starting to defrost this little patch of earth and warm it to a comfortable 60 degrees.
I am sitting on the deck of my cabin, snuggled in a huge down comforter. Before me, the light stripes through the pines and makes the wheat-colored grass appear to be standing at attention. Beyond the stand of trees, there is a very still pond in a meadow, a forested hill beyond that, and a snow-capped 14,000 foot peak peering into the meadow. Birds are calling to each other in sweet chirps.
I feel calm, relaxed, exuberant, vibrant, happy. We’ve been here at Devil’s Thumb Ranch for 3 days with friends and family filling our days with yoga, hiking, good food, laughter, intimate conversation and many bouts of good tears.
Today, it culminates with a possible spot of rain or snow later, but I am ready for whatever the day throws our way. With plenty of sleep last night, I am finally rested. Crying—even if they are tears of joy—is exhausting, and the past few days have been a serious windy road of emotion. Just something to keep in mind, future brides. It is a transformation, after all.
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Featured on Weddingbee
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Today could not have gone better. In Denver, pre-wedding, I made it to Saks Fifth Avenue with all of my bridesmaids in tow to pick up my gown. Yeah, three days out. I was nervous for all sorts of reasons—it had been four months since I’d tried the dress on, I hadn’t seen it with its final alterations, and there was a lot of pressure with my girls there to make sure it looked perfect!
Here are the results:
(MR. CB, THAT’S YOUR CUE!)
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With less than six days until our shindig and nothing to accent my lovely lobes, I stumbled upon an image while on our photographer’s blog.
Image by Tec Petaja
Not only is she stunning, but so are her earrings. Suddenly, I’d seen a pair of earrings that I thought might actually work.
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
A while back, I gave my five bridesmaids the choice to buy any dress* they wanted. (*Stipulations included 1. picking from J.Crew’s silk chiffon options in Light Shell or Deep Rose; 2. Choosing a custom Sarah Seven dress in a coordinating color; or 3. Finding a different dress altogether, but getting my OK before buying it.)
Two of the girls opted for J. Crew’s Juliette dress in Deep Rose, below.
(source)
This is a question we’re hoping our guests won’t have to ask as they’re making their way to our ceremony site or our reception location. Thanks to Mr. CB, who once again pulled out his skills, we now have signs that should hopefully point guests in the right direction.
Where have I been? At home. Snipping and sorting and stamping nearly everything in site. Our DIY projects are heading towards home plate and I need to get them done in the next two weeks. Luckily, most of them are already dusting the catcher, and only a few of them are still on third base. (Note: No idea where these baseball analogies came from.)
Here’s a sneak peek at some of what I’ve been working on (although the images below are just inspiration, they’re not of my actual projects):
1) A picture wall–but instead of pictures of only us, we’ll be hanging pictures of us with our guests with clothespins.
(source)
Finding Mr. CB’s suit was not only based on taste, it was based on budget (shocker!). Keeping our purchases in check has been hard, and Mr. CB’s suit was no exception. Although he got something absolutely gorgeous and high-quality, it wasn’t inexpensive. That said, it wasn’t as expensive as it should’ve been. Thanks to J.Crew’s frequent sales, we were able to snag Mr. CB’s suit as well as his five groomsmen’s suits for under $300 each.
Mr. CB is wearing the above suit in black, while his men are wearing it in Heather Coal (pictured above) with black ties.
We haven’t managed to figure out what color Mr. CB’s tie will be, but the guys’ ties look fantastic.
COWBOY BOOT GROOMSMEN, STOP READING NOW! (Some of them actually do read this.)
At first, I was wary. Was I really going to order a ring from iweddingband.com? The name itself made the website sound cheesy. But after searching around online for better prices, I never found them. I also scoured the internet for reviews of the site, and all were glowing. So, I bit the bullet.
Enter: Mr. Cowboy Boot’s 18k yellow gold, 5 mm, half-round wedding band. It arrived in the mail a few days ago (about a week after ordering it) and it’s lovely. The best part? It was $254, and Mr. CB loves it.
(source)
Our “acceptance” percentage? The final tally falls into the 45% range. That means we have a total of around 65 guests attending our lil’ shindig. You’d think I’d be disappointed but, to be honest, I’m excited for the intimate experience it will now be. I’ve talked a little bit about our food-and-beverage minimum. That, combined with our lower-than-expected head count, means that we have to fill out our order to match the price minimum. Otherwise, we’ll end up paying a lot for very little, when we could be getting more.
So, what are we considering adding? Quite a bit.
1) Our BBQ menu now includes another dish:
Cole Slaw (source)
And, since we last spoke about our menu, it’s also been updated with Black Bean Burgers with Chipotle Aioli instead of BBQ chicken legs, and a tomato, mozzarella, and basil salad as our veggie.
The day after our wedding, we’ll be loading up the car from Colorado and driving to Los Angeles with a stop in Las Vegas (mandatory, of course). Mr. CB has never been to Vegas and since it’s directly on the way of our 14-hour drive, we figure we should make a thing of it!
From there, we’ll drive to LA (where we’ll unload the dogs at my parents’ house) and fly to the Land of Kiwis the same day we arrive. How we’re going to fit everything in my car (two medium-size dogs, my wedding dress, our honeymoon luggage, dog beds, etc), I’m not sure. Good thing I drive a station wagon.
Once we arrive in Auckland, it’s straight to the South Island for nine days of New Zealand fun. Where are we going?
But where are we really going? And what are we doing? I’m all too excited to share what we’ve planned so far.
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I thought I loved Martha Stewart Wedding’s Ring Bearer Pillow as much as the next girl. And the next girl. But I didn’t love it as much as they did until I saw fashion designer Myriah Zatoun’s version of it featured on Once Wed. Her garden wedding was gorgeous.
Myriah’s ring pillow and flower girl dress (source)
Today, we are officially one month out. Not only does that mean I have to go into overdrive with my to-do list, but I also get to start stalking the weather. I won’t get an actual likely forecast until we are within the 10-day mark probably, but it’s kind of fun to have a vague idea of what the sky, wind, and temperature might be doing.
Right now, weather.com says we’ll have a high of 60 with a low of 29. Brrrrr. The record high for the day is 72. Let’s hope we get closer to that because the low makes it low enough to snow! Luckily, our Harvest Moon is still there, winking at us from the calendar.
I’ve decided that inclement weather is quite alright with me. If, in fact, we need to turn to Plan B because of the weather, our wedding will be in the barn where our reception is taking place, under the barn doors (like below), as opposed to this.
Wedding in the Barn (source)
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Mrs. Cowboy Boot, Santa Fe Age and Occupation: 25, Magazine Editor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Artist and Whitewater Rafting Guide Engagement Date: April 28th, 2008 Wedding Date: October 2009 Venue: Devil's Thumb Ranch, Colorado About Me: I grew up in Los Angeles and have since lived in San Diego, Boston, Italy, Hawaii, New York City, and Santa Fe. I speak Italian and love pasta. My real passion is the outdoors, though. When I'm not at work, I'm snowboarding, hiking with my two dogs, mountain biking, surfing, cross-country-skiing, or boating New Mexico's rivers. Despite my boyish love for adventure, I'm a girly-girl at heart and am overly-excited to pull off the romantic, vintage-inspired, country wedding of my dreams.
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