Real Wedding - Dunafon Castle, Colorado

Jewel and Matt
An Elegant Summer Mountain Wedding

Jewel and Matt's wedding took place in June at the beautiful Dunafon Castle. I have some great photographs from 2 Sisters Photography of this grand outdoor extravaganza(I can't wait to see the video! C&K Video). This was one of the more logistically challenging weddings, but also amazingly beautiful!

Whenever I plan an outdoor wedding and reception the weather is the one thing that makes me (and everyone else involved) so incredibly nervous. Now, to add to that......we were planning the largest wedding the venue had ever had, the most vendors of any wedding I've ever coordinated (I think we ended up with 27), a multilevel seating arrangement, and a completely outdoor dance floor with paper lanterns (please no rain!). Well, there's just something magical and wonderful when the Colorado weather cooperates. We ended up with a perfect Colorado Day!

Jewel and Matt enjoy the outdoors and fell in love with the Castle immediately. We really wanted this to be a completely different wedding experience for the guests. So as soon as they stepped off the buses they were greeted with the sounds of our bagpiper, Scott Beach. He also did a great job of playing during the processional and recessional.

The guests were directed to our lakeside area for a pre-ceremony cocktail time. We planned to start 10 minutes past the ceremony time so that we could fit this in (about 25 minutes total). It worked really well, nobody was "late", guests had time to arrive, take in the gorgeous site, enjoy some wine and bruschetta appetizers, and catch up with the family. Then it was ceremony time!

At Dunafon there are these great lawn areas separated by lakes. I love using this area, right by the stream for the ceremony....plus you get a nice LONG walk for the bride! That's Jewel just before she starts that long walk!

Jewel selected a natural green color with touches of light buttercup yellow...the flowers by Bella Fiori didn't just look amazing, they smelled delightful as well!

For outdoor ceremony decor it's hard to compete with Mother Nature! The bride found a photo of a simple and natural arch that we recreated for her. We loved how it turned out!

With kids in the bridal party you just don't know what they're going to do.....we had 2 adorable little flower girls. As they made the long walk past the lakes, I guess it was just too much. The littlest one decided she not only needed to toss petals, but had to stop along the way, grab a handful of fish food from a nearby bowl and toss it in to the lake. Loved the comedy relief!

One of my favorite touches...during the ceremony was an artist painting the couple as they took their vows. Then the piece was displayed during the reception...people were amazed that he could paint it that fast (me too!). What a great keepsake!

Then it was back to the cocktail area.....oh, those poor guests more great food and drink by Gourmet Fine Catering! Little did they know they should save their appetite for the amazing dinner ahead. They were greeted with Washington Apple Martinis and of course a whole bunch of other delicious appetizers.

The guests signed the guestbook, a great photography book on Colorado and picked up their escort cards. Then off to the tents for more food....there were several courses starting with an amazing lemon sorbet garnished with a candied lime served in a martini glass rimmed with green sugar (yellow and green of course!).

At Dunafon there are several fire pits around the lakes, and we thought it would be fun for the young guests to make smores after dinner.....and it was fun......only everyone ate them up before, during and after dinner! I think these guests were kids at heart! Not too worry as there was plenty of fabulous cake by The Makery. I really thought the flower girls were going to do a little taste test.

After that amazing dinner there was only one thing left to do....dance the night away under the lights (by TDA Design).....the clouds kept threatening to rain, but only a few little drops ever appeared. Which we always say...rain on your wedding day is good luck.