Wedding Planner and Venue Search

Shane and I have been crazy busy trying to get a lot accomplished before we leave for Family Christmas in Texas. Our goal was/is to have a wedding planner and a venue before December 19th. For the math whizzes out there, that leaves us a whopping 8 more days. The good news? We have hired a wedding planner! We met with Pamela last Thursday and instantly fell in love. She is easy going, has tons of experience, and instantly got our vision. We met a couple more people, but we knew that Pamela was the right fit for our wedding. We chose the middle package that she offered for a couple reasons. 1.) Price, we didn't want to put too much of our budget out for a wedding planner and then have to scrimp on the actual wedding. 2.) I want to be involved in the details anyway! I really got a wedding planner so that there would be someone there to guide me and help me understand the processes and help with vendor selection and all of that. I don't mind going out and physically seeing and meeting everyone, since I want to do that! So, half of our goal is not complete.

On The Venue Front...

On Saturday we took a drive down to Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods club and the Broadmoor Hotel. Both were breathtaking; however, each had its own problems.

At the Garden of the God's Club, we needed the larger room. It was gorgeous and included an outdoor patio space.

The size and food&bev minimum on the space; however, limited us to a day time or a Friday wedding. I don't know about you, but I am not keen on daytime weddings. We almost had ourselves talked in to doing a Friday evening wedding, because how do you not snatch up a venue that looks like this:

YES! That would have been the ceremony venue. Right there with the to die for reflection and the breathtaking view of Pike's Peak (one of Shane and my favorite day trips!). However, sense started to take hold when we realized the walk way between the reception room and the reception patio was a main passthrough for the hotel, spa, and rec room. Plus, they were having a club cocktail party in the main part of the club on Friday night and WE would have to work around THEM because it was for members. Well, crap...

So, we ventured over to the Broadmoor. I mean we knew we would fall in love before we walked in the door. We THOUGHT that money would be the problems; however, date seemed to be the standing issue again. 

Yeah, no wonder it is 5-star, 5-diamond, AAA Preferred, etc. etc. etc. Well we enjoyed wondering the property and having a wonderful lunch, since we got there several hours early. We even got to tour some of the rooms. These were not room, they were HOUSES! One of the suites we were shown had a living room 3 times the size of my house's living room (which is saying something because my house has a BIG living room). Anyways, we found a spot that we fell in love with called the Ross Room. It had a gorgeous outdoor space for the ceremony and a beautiful view for the reception. 

Well, wouldn't you know, we could afford it! We were so excited until the catering manager ran dates and told us we would have to do a daytime event or a Friday. See above... Well, crap... She also kept showing us bigger and bigger and more expensive spaces. Then, she disappeared to handle a problem at an event. We heard from her over an hour later and she informed us that she was too busy that night and would call me first thing in the morning (Sunday). I have yet to hear from her (It is Tuesday...). So needless to say, The Broadmoor is out.

NEVER FEAR! We have so many other fun options in the works thanks to a little bit of creativity and an amazing wedding planner. More later!