At the stroke of midnight, my brother—my big brother, my only brother—dropped to his right knee, pulled a heart-shaped box out of his front pocket and surprised the hell out of his girlfriend. She gasped “Yes!” and the small crowd of voyeurs cheered, hoorayed and sighed as the couple fell into one another’s arms. Morgan, my brother, who moments earlier looked as though he was going to vomit, puffed his chest with masculine bluster, and Missy, his bride-to-be, gazed at her obnoxiously sparkly ring. They smiled painfully immobile smiles, and immediately clamped onto their Blackberries to text, update their Facebook statuses, take photos, post photos to Facebook and call anyone and everyone who might have been interested in the news. “Mom, I’m engaged!” Missy said, clutching her cell phone.
It was a lovely little moment. I cried. Nay, I sobbed, and we all basked in the glow of romance for at least eight hours after witnessing such a sweet spectacle. Rarely do we find ourselves in the presence of others’ intimacy. Rarely do we soak in the warmth of such affection.
It was a perfect piece of inspiration—especially as we pieced together the magazine that you are reading now. And by “piece together” I mean, brainstormed and strategized and researched and wrote and panicked and nurtured and rewrote and edited and designed and, eventually, fell in love with this book we had created. We set out to develop a handbook—well, a really awesome handbook and lookbook—for the diverse, educated, active and beautiful brides of Colorado. The idea for Colorado Brides (and Colorado Babies) came when we realized we had countless friends and family members getting hitched and starting families, turning the Front Range of Colorado into one giant wedding aisle. And yet there are so few high-quality, locally relevant bridal magazines in the Centennial State. Throughout the past several months, we’ve only been validated by the excitement of an incredibly vibrant group of local creators, thinkers and doers in the wedding industry. Plus, what can we say, we’re suckers for a great love story.
In the wild world of weddings, inspiration and motivation are never far away. There are countless blogs, wedding coordinators, florists, stationery artisans, caterers, photographers, friends and co-workers to inspire floral concepts or DIY touches. Together, we can have weddings that take over the world (or at least feel that way). And with this issue, we are adding more ideas and ideals to help make your wedding the best it can be.
In the nitty gritty, when the flower girl starts crying during the vows, when your uncle drinks too much tequila and starts a fight in the parking lot (I was at that wedding)—remember the moment when you said yes.
