Erica and Casey were friends in college beginning in 2012, and both shared a secret romantic interest in one another but didn’t express these feelings until three years later. After dating a short time Erica realized how special Casey was and how lucky she was to have found a caring, patient and fun-loving man. They traveled to Thailand, Colorado, and Italy. Traveling became unimaginable without one another.

Erica was working offshore by then but called Dallas home while Casey lived in Arlington TX. They maintained a “long-distance” relationship and grew closer and closer. Then in 2016 Casey was offered a job offshore on the sister vessel to Erica’s ship. He accepted the position but they both dreamed of living together in Colorado. After 2 years of dating, their schedule finally aligned and they were able to enjoy each other every 3 weeks (3 weeks on, 3 weeks off) sleeping in, cooking together, taking long walks, and discovering their passions.

In 2017 they took a trip to NYC to celebrate Christmas and on 12/22/17 under the Rockefeller tree Casey dropped to one knee and proposed.

Soon thereafter in the summer of 2018 they moved to Idaho Springs and began to plan their wedding …enter Blue Linden Weddings & Events. We scheduled an in-person consultation and I was 45 minutes late because I went to the wrong Starbucks. Imagine my embarrassment! I was off my game and I thought I blew it. But a few weeks later Erica reached out and wanted to chat over the phone for a follow up meeting. I was hired on the spot for our full planning package and I was so excited to be working with them.

The original plan was to host a wedding for 135 guests at their newly purchased home in Idaho Springs so I drove out to walkthrough and share my thoughts on how we could “pull this off.”

I soon discovered that although their home was sunny and bright with a welcoming backyard, it would not comfortably hold more than 50-60 people. Many couples think planning a home-based wedding is easier that hosting their wedding at a venue. It is my obligation to educate my clients so we spent some time discussing just how complicated and potentially stressful it can be to hold your wedding at your own home. But it was their dream, so we did some brainstorming and came up with a compromise. They would work on making their guest list smaller and I would work on a creative floorplan. In addition, the three of us decided to explore a few venue options before coming to a firm decision. In the end they opted to have the ceremony in their backyard and host the reception at a beautiful outdoor venue. So, we proceeded with planning accordingly. Using Blue Linden’s vendor recommendations, they hired a band, caterer, photographer, videographer, florist and “all the things” were going smooth as silk.

Then the pandemic hit! The venue wasn’t allowing any mingling (so no cocktail hour) or dancing (there goes the band) and the guest count was limited to 50 people, including the 13 vendors. They decided to cancel the venue but NOT the wedding! So after more than 16 months of planning it was back to the drawing board.

There were lots of conversations, tears, moments of panic and despair, and absolute gratitude. In the end, Erica and Casey were able to fulfill their dreams of having the entire wedding at their home. With a significantly smaller guest count, the small intimate ceremony was in their backyard and they exchanged vows at the top of the retaining wall as the guests and bridal party looked on from below.

Unfortunately, mother nature also threw us a curve ball and it began to rain while they were exchanging their vows. But fear not, Blue Linden was prepared. We had pop-up tents at the ready and thanks to the quick teamwork, Blue Linden and the staff from Occasions Catering had the tents up, tables in place, DJ equipment protected and bar open!

The rest of the evening was filled with love and laughter (and yes, lots of rain). But no one cared. Everyone was so grateful that these two love birds were finally able to say “I do” in front of the most important people in their lives. Nothing was going to stop this wedding from happening and we couldn’t be happier for Mr. and Mrs. Jordan!

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