This Couple's Wildflower-Centric Minimony in Boulder, Colorado, Was a Complete Surprise

After initially planning to host a mountain wedding with more than one hundred guests, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Lauren and Caleb to shift to a 25-guest farm wedding. For their second plan, the couple wanted not only a new design, they wanted to be completely surprised. As such, the twosome turned over all their design plans to First Look Events, allowing their wedding planner to select everything without their input. "When COVID derailed our original plans, we felt like we were starting from the beginning. We had no venue and had lost our vision. After much thought, consideration, and many, many difficult conversations, we eventually decided that we were going to hop back on the wedding roller coaster of 2020 and figure out a way to make our wedding happen.We also did what no sane bride and groom would ever do, and asked our incredibly talented wedding planner, Brynn, to plan the entire wedding from start to finish without our input! She was able to work with all of our other original vendors (florist, photographer, caterer, band, etc) who all played such a large role in executing the most magical surprise wedding we could have ever imagined," Lauren says.  

For their surprise wedding, the couple's planner put together an, "elegant 7 course dinner with wine pairings and clues dropped before every course. The highlight of the dinner was homage marshmallows used to make an elegant s’mores dessert that required the guests to toast their own marshmallows. The décor was based on rich jewel tones highlighted by lush green velvet chairs and velvet place cards tied to beautiful vases filled with bright blooms. The ceremony was anchored by a beautiful willow tree adorned with lush florals growing from the ground around the trunk of the tree. The cake was a stunning centerpiece made with edible flowers, a feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. We were able to create a video of guests who could not attend the wedding and zoom call in family for toasts," shares their wedding planner. 

Of the surprise wedding, Lauren recalls that, "one of the silver linings of having such a small wedding was that just about everything was personalized. Brynn helped us turn every disappointment from our canceled wedding into an opportunity to create something unforgettable. Neither my brother nor Caleb’s best man were able to attend the wedding so we arranged to have my brother deliver a toast via FaceTime and for Caleb’s brother (who lives in Saudi Arabia) to pre-record a toast that we were able to watch on a projector screen. At the end of the night, we were also surprised with a slideshow of videos from friends and family all over the world who weren’t able to be with us on our wedding day. A year ago some of these elements would have seemed ridiculous, but it was so special. We had so many good laughs and will cherish those memories forever." 

Given the success of their surprise wedding, Lauren encourages all to-be-weds to, "assemble a team of vendors that you trust and then give them creative freedom to work their magic. It was so fun to have little surprise elements here and there throughout our wedding day—none of which would have been possible if we had planned every detail ourselves."