Wedding Coordinator - Shelby Sampson
Venue - Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield Farms, Littleton, CO
Catering - Rocky Mountain Catering
Florist - Blush and Bay Floral Designs and Events
DJ - A Music Plus
Lighting - Firefly Events
Cake - My grandmother made our wedding cake as a part of our dessert bar full of cookies, cakes, and cupcakes from traditional family recipes made by relatives of the bride and groom
Dress - Essence of Australia purchased at d'Anneli Bridal
Jewelry - My necklace was a set of pearls that my Grandfather gave my Grandmother on their wedding day (My something old). My bracelet was borrowed from my cousin Mia and was a set of pearls that were her Grandmothers, and my earrings were pearls borrowed from my Aunt Debbie (My two somethings old). I also work a sixpence in my shoe for good luck that my mom passed down to me.
Photographers: Drake & CO Photography + Films, Drake Busch and Mike Bradley
How did you meet each other?
My mom and Mark's Aunt Ann have been best friends since before either were married or had kids. Ann's two sons are practically my brothers and I call Ann my "other mother". Well coincidentally, ten years ago I was up in Steamboat Springs where Mark lived. At the same time, he was down in Texas visiting his Aunt. She took him over to my parents' house to swim at their pool and he saw pictures of me. Well he got back to Steamboat and I was still there…I was leaving a restaurant with my parents and this guy comes up to me and goes "Are you Mariah?". I said yeah, who are you?? Ha! Turns out he was Ann's nephew, he had recognized me from the pictures. We hung out a few times and spent the next 6 months talking on the phone and visiting before Mark finally moved down to Austin, Texas. And the rest, you could say…is history :)
What was the best memory of your wedding day?
Two favorite moments….
One was our first dance. Mark had the idea months and months before our wedding that we should do a choreographed dance to our first dance song, "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. Well about a week before the wedding we hadn't even started. Talk about crunch time! We spent the next three evenings in the back yard practicing but were still so nervous the day of the wedding to actually do it in front of people. It ended up being soooo much fun. I think we surprised most of our guests and we just loved hearing everyone cheer us on! I'm so glad we did something unique for our first dance, it was perfectly "Mark and Mariah"!
And the other favorite moment was during the ceremony when we forgot to exchange rings! We had done our first kiss and the music had started for us to head back down the aisle before we heard a few people whispering, "the rings"! We had totally forgotten that part! So we quickly put them on each other's fingers, snuck another kiss and laughed all the way down the aisle. It’s those unplanned quirks that end up making the best memories. We love looking back at our wedding ceremony video and hearing all the guests chime in and laugh. It ended our ceremony with such a laid back, relaxed, and funny vibe, exactly what we wanted!
What would be some advice you would give to future couples as they plan their wedding day?
The day goes soooo quick, so enjoy the entire process: engagement, planning, and of course the big day!
And video your ceremony! I almost didn't thinking someone would for sure get it on their phone, but if I hadn't gotten it professionally done we wouldn't have any way to look back on the vows we said to each other, and to really remember the ceremony, the whole reason for the day. Plus nerves are high at that point and sometimes it's hard to remember it later, you definitely want to look back on it when the day is over.
Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We plan to honeymoon next summer in Iceland, but the weekend after our wedding we took a mini-moon to Ouray, CO (near telluride). It was AMAZING and is our new favorite Colorado town. Nestled in the San Juan Mountains, its touted as the "Switzerland of America" and it definitely lives up to the title. We stayed at the historic Beaumont hotel and spa, rented a jeep and went off-roading to the Animas Fork ghost town, hiked the gorgeous Ouray Perimeter loop trail, and ate, drank, and shopped our way up and down the quaint main street. Even the 5 hour drive from Denver was beautiful. Definitely a perfect getaway without even having to leave Colorado. We can't wait to go back!