Photographer love and planning in general

So since I'm going to be with both my parents together, in the same place, at the same time in about 10 days I want to have all my ducks in a row (rubber ducks that is) about wedding planning, dun dun dun.

Dress. Check. Just need to sign a contract and put down a down payment. I've got a strong idea of what I want and the seamstress I met with didn't tell me I was nuts and may have thought I even had a good idea. As soon as I sign with her, she'll start working on sketches, then a pattern, then a muslin and finally my dress with all the fittings I need inc. for $700-900 (depending on fabrics). AWESOME. I might find it harder to find the perfect shoes, since it's not as price efficient to have those custom made.

Location. We're still working on this one. I'm a huge fan of the Sunrise Amphitheater for the ceremony, followed by a late lunch at either Flagstaff House Restaurant (a very classy Boulder locale) or the Chautauqua Dining Hall.

Flagstaff Sunrise Amphitheater, by Adrian M. Grey

For doing everything all in one place, the backyard garden party feel of the Millennium Hotel is probably number one. Though the mountain view, beauty, and casual/modern formality of the St. Julien makes it a major contender too. Crap. We have NO idea. Ben's going to take me out to dinner at either Flagstaff House Restaurant or the Chautauqua Dining Hall for my birthday soon and I'm hoping that we can stop by the Millennium Hotel this coming Friday (before I leave to go traveling with my family in South America) for their FAC party.

Photographer. I love Julie Afflerbaugh's and Otto Schulze's photography. Julie is more local and more affordable and therefor more practical. Plus, I liked her when we spoke on the phone this afternoon. I'm going to ask Ben when he wants to meet with her and set that up to look at her albums. Maybe she'll have some input on locations that will push us to make a decision.

Flowers. Decided. We're not having any florals. I'm going to make my bouquet out of fluffy tulle and curly ribbon, maybe silk flowers if I can find some great ones (I read somewhere that Pier 1 has the best fake floras, I'll check it out some time). Same for boutonnieres for the dads/brothers and corsages for the moms/Ben's sister. No flowers = fewer allergy potentials for me, my dad, and Ben's dad. And, they can be done WAY ahead of time.

Invitations. We have a laser printer. It prints in black. Now we just need some awesome paper and a layout. As beautiful as thermography and letterpress are, they're probably more formal that we're interested in, and WAY more pricey.

Music. We're hiring a DJ. Our musical tastes are too eclectic for a band. Heavy on the 80s and goofy pop music. I'd be more than happy with a swing/jazz/bluegrassy kinda band, but that's not Ben's style AT ALL. Though we will have to play some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy because the free concert at Taste of Denver was where I took Ben on our first date.

Guest list. It keeps growing and I'm kind of OK with that. I'd rather have a lot of great people there and great food and skimp on the stuff that I don't feel is super important (flowers, DJ, invitations, etc.)