15 Minutes of Fame

A gigantic thank you to Abby Larson who writes "Style Me Pretty" for posting my wedding inspiration board to her blog. Go to http://www.stylemepretty.com/2008/02/reader-inspir-3.html to see our little 15 minutes of fame.

This is what I wrote:

Growing-up in Montana, I always knew I was going to get married in the mountains. As a couple, Chris and I are children at heart, extremely practical, and down to earth. We live in Denver, but love to go to the mountains on the weekends. I love the rustic, natural beauty of the mountains, but living all over the world has transformed me into an urbanite. My big question was how to combine the natural beauty with urban elegance.We found this amazing location for our wedding in Breckenridge, Colorado called Ten Mile Station. Situated on the ski hill, it has a panoramic view of the Ten Mile Mountain Range for not only our ceremony but reception as well. I can't think of a more romantic place to share with friends and families the deep love that Chris and I share.

I chose teal and brown as my main colors, but want red and orange flowers -- not only for the fall foliage that will be coloring the landscape during our September wedding, but because red is Chris' favorite color. We chose" Songbird" by Eva Cassidy for our first dance, so I decided to carry the theme even further by incorporating the love bird silhouette into the cake and invitations. I love the urban feeling of the damask pattern, which I will be making into table runners. With the combination of the damask pattern and the location/flowers, I hope to achieve the perfect balance of natural beauty and urban elegance that I envisioned. Overall, I want us to look back years from now and remember how much the wedding was an expression of our love.

September 2, 2006

Since it's Valentine's Day, I think it apropos to tell the story about how we met.

At the time I was living in Washington D.C. Actually, I had just moved to DC two weeks prior to attending Anderson and Stacy's Wedding to take a position at The Studio Theatre. On an early Saturday morning, I flew back to Minneapolis for their wedding.

Later that evening was their rehearsal dinner, which Stacy kindly invited me to attend. I arrived with my friends Angie and Justin Spencer. After dinner, drinks, and catching-up on life with friends I hadn't seen in a few years, I was talking with Anderson. Suddenly, he disappeared and the next thing I knew I was being introduced to this tall, handsome, green eyed guy (Chris) who just so happen to also live in Highlands Ranch (Ironically, we would find out later that Chris lived a mile away from my mother.) We started talking, but what we talked about is a blur to me -- all I could focus on was those lovely green eyes and the giddy smile that was on Chris' face. The time flew away so quickly that before I knew it we had to go -- Angie, Justin, and myself were meeting friends at my favorite bar in Minneapolis later that night. I couldn't get Chris off of my mind that night and hoped that I saw him the next day at the wedding.

Fast forward to the wedding. During the cocktail hour, I was talking to Gino, one of my professors from the University of Minnesota, when I saw Chris come around a corner (I would learn later that he was actually looking for me.) Our eyes met and instantly I wanted to talk to him, although I felt torn because I was talking to Gino and felt rude to break from the conversation (The picture of the two of us above was taken at this time. Ironically, it looks like our wedding photo). After a little while I was able to talk to Chris, and before I knew it we were downstairs and he was asking me to dance. Well, we danced the entire evening. Not a lot of songs went by that we were not dancing with one another. We didn't want the night to end, so we continued talking until 4:00am. Graciously, Chris walked me back to Angie and Justin's apartment just a few blocks away because I had a 6:00am flight back to DC. We kissed goodnight and promised to email and call one another.

The moment I got back to my apartment in DC I emailed Chris, and that would be the beginning of the rest of our lives...

Where: Ten Mile Station

We're getting married at Ten Mile Station in Breckenridge, Colorado. The ceremony and reception site is located on Peak 9 of the Breckenridge Ski Resort and a whopping 10,234 feet above sea level. Don't worry you won't need an oxygen mask to have fun, but I do recommend that you bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and lip balm as the sun is 40% stronger at this altitude. At a later date I'll post info about "mountain health."

During the winter, Ten Mile is used as a cafe for skiers, but during the summer/fall it's used for wedding. We fell in love with this site when we were scouting out locations, and knew it was the perfect place for us to get married. The panoramic backdrop of the Ten Mile Mountain Range will not only be visible during our ceremony, but the reception as well! It reminds me a lot of growing-up in Montana, and the mountains back home.

The ceremony will be presided over by Pastor Todd Schmidt of Cherry Hills Community Church (not only does my mom work here, but the church is less than five minutes from our house in Highlands Ranch). I recommend you arrive early to hear the Levitt Sting Trio. They will be providing music before and during the ceremony and the cocktail hour.

We have decided on a menu, but will make final decisions a few weeks before the wedding. For dinner the first course will be dinner salad, followed by Beef Tenderloin and a Salmon Fillet Duet (If you have any food allergies, please include that on your reply card!), and last but not least, wedding cake. Don't worry vegetarians, we have an option for you.

After dinner, get ready to dance to the sounds of DJ Phil Palmmer from Alster Entertainment until 11:00pm!!! So this is "where" we are holding are wedding. I'll post info about transportation, directions, and lodging at a later date.

Tie a String Around your Finger: Save-the-Date

September 21, 2008: Keep repeating the date, tie a string around your finger, or -- as I like to --write it down on a Post-It and stick it around your computer screen, whatever you need to do but save that date. Chris and I are getting married September 21, 2008 in Breckenridge, Colorado. Currently, I am in the process of designing/printing our save-the-date cards, which I will send out at the end of March. But before the cards get to you via snail mail, mark the date on your calendar -- actually do it right now so you won't forget ;) See you in September!

226 Days To Go...

I'm cheap and weddings are expensive -- that is why I am starting this blog. I really wanted to develop a website for Chris and my wedding, but being the obsessive, cheap bride-to-be that I am, decided to create this FREE blog to keep you all updated on the all the details. So according to my checklist on theknot.com we have 226 days until our wedding. Keep checking back periodically for details about the Jackson/Chandler Wedding!