We love this colorful, DIY wedding! A note from the bride:
Chris’ and my families are on opposite sides of the country which assured us that having our wedding in Colorado was a good idea. We met in Colorado and currently live and raise our family here, so why do it anywhere else?
We decided on Salida, a small mountain town located 3 hours southwest of Denver. We knew we wanted a unique venue that fit our love for vintage flare; then we came across the Salida SteamPlant. It was built in 1887 and used to power the town of Salida; it retains its historic red brick exterior and is located right on the Arkansas River. We knew that having the wedding so far from our home made our wedding a destination for all invited; but we also knew that our guests would want a true Colorado experience – Mile High Mountains, the great outdoors, and even a day after wedding rafting trip.
Every detail of the wedding was handmade, borrowed, or found on a discount. I am an antique shopper at heart; and I wanted to show my love for vintage items in our wedding. I collected all types of jars; Mason, milk, syrup, anything that was cute and unique for the center pieces and my family brought out their depression glass to complete the look for the dessert table.
To further cut costs I decided to only have the bridal party carry real flowers in their bouquets and to make paper flowers for the center pieces. I bought the dessert hutch and the doors used in the ceremony and photo booth from second hand stores and painted them myself.
The Save the Date cards, programs and invitations were all designed and printed by my sister and me. The bridesmaid’s jewelry, place cards, napkins and runners and banners were also made with the help of friends.
The most difficult and time consuming project was the groomsmen ties – I couldn’t find a tie that I loved so I decided to hand sew each one. And I incorporated the fabric used for each tie by having each bouquet wrapped in the fabric that matched the groomsmen they were paired with. We couldn’t have done all this without the help of our awesome family and friends!
