The Ceremony

Again... I'm biased, but how can I not be!? Our ceremony was amazing! It was short and sweet and perfectly US.  Absolutely nothing could compare with getting married on the edge of a mountain with one of the most beautiful views in the state.

One of the best things about the ceremony was the joyful and light-hearted sentiment that ran through the whole thing. Stuffy ceremony, this was not! So, for the many friends and family members who were not able to make it to the wedding, I wanted to share with you a home video of the ceremony (most of it!). Enjoy!

Check out my new magnets!

Got an awesome gift from my cousin (and bridesmaid) Katie this week!

They're magnets of pictures she took from our wedding. I LOVE THEM!!!! This is a gift I will be re-gifting, these are great. The company is called StickyGram. i'm not sure if they're related to instagram or not, but they are GREAT!

Our First Dance

I know that I'm biased here, but.... our first dance was the BEST!

As you know, baseball has played a big role in our relationship (remember my engagement post?) and we really wanted to incorporate it into our wedding in some small way, so we were SUPER excited when we found this song by Carley Simon. I'm not going to tell you what it was, in case this is the first time you're seeing it, but let me just say, we could not have asked for a more appropriate song. We had a blast! (p.s. for those getting my blogs in an email, go to the website to see the video!) 

Nothing like a little crowd participation for your first dance, hehe. We had so much fun!

Our First Look!

Thanks to some convincing by our photographer, Nick agreed to do a "first look" before the ceremony. Basically this allows you to get your formal couples portraits and bridal party pictures out of the way before the ceremony.  Due to the size of our site, he strongly encouraged us to do this before the guests arrived in order to make sure that we got some time alone and to make sure guests wouldn't be popping up in all of the pictures.

But it also gave us some QT together before the ceremony, and I'm really glad that we did decide to do it.  Also, the clouds rolled in right after the ceremony was over, so it allowed us to get some great shots with the view before it disappeared. 

Anyway, before the bridal party pictures began, Nick and I did our first look alone. He waited in the aspen grove for me to sneak up behind him. Kevin got this great picture just before I walked up to him, I love it.

 I can't wait to see what the photographer got from out little photo shoot, but this one came from our wedding site coordinator. I didn't even know she was up there but I'm so glad she was, i Love this shot!

And Katie got this one as we were walking out to greet our bridal party... this is one of my favorites so far (can you see my snow boots!?) 

Ahhh it was amazing! What a fantastic day!

 

Skiing Video!

The first video!! Check out Me and Nick on our way down the mountain - this is a view from the bottom. We had sooo much fun skiing down the mountain with all of our friends.

And it was sooo amazing to have a huge crowd of friends and family waiting for us at the bottom cheering. It was one of the best moments of my life! Thank you so much to all of our friends who waited at the top and bottom of the mountain for us, we felt so loved, it was incredible. So without further ado.... here we are (for those of you who get this blog emailed to you, you'll have to actually go to my website to see the video!)

Wedding Photo Booth!

Nick and I agonized over having a photo booth at our wedding for quite some time. We really wanted one, but they are EXPENSIVE and our budget was tight!  Unfortunately, for us, only about 50% of our invited guests could actually attend our wedding, however, this did give us one advantage... it gave us a bit more room in our budget for some extras. Like a completely open bar (which I think was a big hit) and our photo booth! There are some great guys up in Winter Park who have a photo booth in the shape of a gondola, so it was PERFECT for our ski-themed wedding! Here are some of my favorites from the photo booth:

 me and my bridesmaids! 

 we're married!!!

Husband and Wife!

 

Well worth the money, it was SOOO MUCH FUN!!! (to see the rest of the photos you can go to http://ear2earphotobooths.smugmug.com/Other/Rachel/28294019_D3fSrw  our password is rn3313.

oops!!!

We just watched our ceremony video for the first time, and I can't wait to share it with you - it was definitely very "us" and very laid back. Brian Clark, our friend who introduced us to eachother (and my mom's third cousin's brother-in-law) was our officiant and he did an amazing job.
There will be videos coming soon, but I just had to post this amazing photo of the exact moment the word "shit" came out of my mouth - as I was saying my vows!!!

oops!! Turns out, I have a potty mouth!

First Wedding Post!

WOW!!! I AM MARRIED!!! I cant believe I am a Mrs. and am lucky enough to have the absolute most amazing husband in the entire world... omygod, yes I have a HUSBAND!!!!  (and isn't he handsome!?)

It was absolutely the best day of my entire life. I had so much fun planning it all year and I could absolutely NOT be happier with the way it turned out. We had a FABULOUSLY GORGEOUS DAY and are so lucky that so many of our friends and family showed up to support us and celebrate with us.  It is probably going to be quite a while before we get our professional wedding pictures, but thankfully Facebook is already providing us with some amazing pictures of our special day. I thought it would be nice to share some of my favorites with you all.

First is the cutest little flower girls in the world, Peyton and Tayla

 Our ring "bear" Todd:

 and me and my daddy - best dad in the entire world!

Our ceremony was on Vista Ridge, at Granby Ranch and we were so lucky that we got a clear day so that our guests could experience the breathtaking view from up there. We were right on the edge of the mountain - it was absolutely the most incredible moment of my entire life.

 You may now kiss the bride:

Announcing for the first time: Mr. and Mrs. Stachokus!!!

Check out me and my HUSBAND!!

After the ceremony was over, we strapped into our ski and snowboard boots and took a run with all of our friends

(we had like 20 people skiing with us!) it was ABSOLUTELY the most amazing ski run of my entire life. We had a BLAST!!!

 

And of course, there was lots of partying at the end!!!

 

 And Allie caught the bouquette!!

We hired the absolute most amazing photographer ever and I cannot wait to see the professional pictures, but I have to say, our friends did a pretty good job!!!

 

I feel so lucky to have married my best friend in the most amazing setting and to have had all of our close friends and family there to celebrate with us. It was an incredible day! I am sure there will be many more wedding posts, but for now this is all I can muster - I'm pooped!!