Just a few reasons why our wedding planner, Heather Dwight, is a rock star.
I wasn’t one of those little girls who dreamed about her wedding. I didn’t have a color scheme or flowers or even a dress style already picked out at age seven, thirteen, or twenty-five. But after my now husband proposed, I will admit that I definitely had a blast planning our “perfect wedding.” We knew we wanted it to be outdoors, so we found a venue on the bank of the St. Vrain River, with red rock cliffs behind us and large grassy fields to play lawn games on during the cocktail hour. We knew we wanted the music and the food to be what our guests remembered, so we called upon our cousin’s band to play the night away and hired an incredible chef to cater a scrumptious meal, including a late night snack of grilled cheese sandwiches and a tomato soup shooter. We knew we wanted our ceremony to be short and sweet so we wrote our own vows, had our best friend officiate, and had our brothers do readings. Finally, we knew we did not want a “traditional” wedding. I refused to wear white (my slate grey/blue dress by Tara LaTour was to die for!), there were no bridesmaids or groomsmen standing with us as we declared our love for each other, and there certainly was no garter removing, bouquet throwing, cake in the face, or receiving lines.
All of these elements were easy to envision all on our own. However, planning them, and every other beautiful detail, could never have been done without the help of our amazing wedding planner, Heather Dwight, and her team at Calluna Events. From the very beginning, Heather really listened to what we wanted and helped us bring our dreams to life. She introduced us to the most talented vendors, most of whom we fell in love with upon our first meeting – we hardly ever had to meet with a second option – probably because she took the time to learn exactly what we were looking for and then connected us with the people who were most likely to embody our vision. She was extremely attentive to our needs and responsive to all sorts of crazy inquires and ideas. Most of all, Heather was the epitome of a true professional – she was extremely well organized and maintained grace and poise at all times. And she was all of that even before the 1,000-year flood hit Colorado’s front range the week of our wedding.
On the Thursday morning before our Saturday wedding, we woke up to the news that our venue in Lyons, Colorado was under eight feet of water. The town was completely inaccessible and would ultimately have to be evacuated by the National Guard. Now, obviously, we had made a “rain plan” for our outdoor wedding, but there was no way we could have been prepared with a “flood plan.” All of a sudden, we had to come up with a completely new wedding in just two days. While my fiancé and I hosted family and friends from out of town and tried to keep on a brave face, Heather managed to do just that. She found us a new venue, she reorganized every time line, reached out to every vendor, and designed a new layout using some of the décor we had rented for our original wedding. She even managed to get the new venue, a hotel in Boulder, to let us bring in our own caterer and wine, which they had never done before and will likely never do again. Not only did Heather plan a new ceremony and reception in two days, she also planned an entirely new rehearsal dinner and Sunday brunch (neither of which she was contractually accountable for planning) because both of the original locations were flooded. And, I’ll say it again, she maintained grace and poise at all times.
So, as it turned out, my husband and I did not have exactly the wedding that we spent almost a year planning. But, on a weekend where thousands of people were dealing with the devastating consequences of a fatal flood, we felt lucky to have a wedding at all, let alone a totally enchanting, incredibly fun, and seamlessly planned (in two days!) wedding. And it never would have happened without the assistance and skill of Colorado’s premier wedding planner, Heather Dwight.
