Josalyn & Brad

Please, tell us your engagement story!
Brad proposed to me in Steamboat Springs in February 2020. Steamboat Springs has been a special place for us. One of the things that drew us together when we first started dating was our love for skiing, I am a skier and Brad is a snowboarder. Brad and I went to Steamboat Springs together the first time a year before in February 2019. My friends and I take a trip to Steamboat every February over their winter carnival. In February 2019, we had only been dating for a couple of months, originally he was not supposed to be on this trip, but we had really been hitting it off so I invited him to come along. It was an amazing weekend where he gained the approval of all of my friends and we learned more about what a great couple we were. A month later in March 2020, we went back to Steamboat Springs on our own and Brad told me he loved me. Flash forward to February 2020, we were back on our annual friend's trip to Steamboat Springs for the Winter Carnival. On Saturday evening, the whole group went down to Howelson Hill for the Winter Carnival fireworks show. I thought everyone was super stoked because we were all excited to see someone attempt to get in the Guinness Book of World Records by setting off the world's largest firework. So I was shocked as we were watching the fireworks go off and Brad got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was an amazing moment with all of our friends circling us and the crowds cheering. Afterward, I was so in shock and excitement that I didn't even notice the world's largest fireworks going off! Haha!!!

What made you choose your venue and theme? 
We chose our venue YaYa Farm and Orchards for a couple of different reasons. First, we knew we wanted to get married in Colorado but since we are both New England transplants (fun fact: I am from MA and Brad is from VT, but we had to move to Colorado independently, get on OkCupid, to fall in love with another New Englander), we knew lots of friends and family would be traveling in so we wanted to keep the location convenient by limiting travel from DIA to an hour or so. So we decided to keep it local and have the wedding in our adopted hometown of Longmont, CO. We thought our wedding would be a great opportunity to share our adopted hometown and life we love with our out-of-state friends and family. There are several different front-range venues in the Longmont area but we chose YaYa Farm and Orchard for a couple of different reasons. First, the venue and the ceremony site have an amazing view of Long's Peak. Living in Longmont, Brad and I have had lots of meaningful talks about our relationship and future walking around open spaces and trails with views of Long's Peak, for us, it was special to us to say our vows with Long's Peak in the background since it had been there for many other important conversations. Second, we are both New Englanders (Brad grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont) so the farmhouse, red barns, and apple orchards of YaYa Farm and Orchard reminded us so much of the landscape of New England, with the Rocky Mountains in the background, it was like our two homes (New England and Colorado) meeting which felt very fitting for our wedding. Finally, we wanted our wedding to capture what we loved about living in Longmont, which included great outdoors, laid-back energy, and a farming community, YaYa Orchard captured all of those things. Finally, so many venues we toured felt a bit like a wedding factory, hosting 3 weddings every weekend, it felt a bit like showing up at this time and inserting the bride and groom here. Brad and I loved the positive and laid-back energy of Sharon, the owner of YaYa Orchard, and that we would be the only wedding at the venue that weekend.
Much like our venue, our theme for the wedding was really inspired by summer in Longmont and our passions. We both love local living and eating. I guess if I had to sum it up we were going for a summer solstice soiree with a focus on farm-to-table and local agriculture. I have to say we really nailed it with the help of our vendors. I did a lot of DIY, and Ivory Events (our coordinators) did a great job capturing our vision with the arrangement and set up of all our decor. One of our favorite things was the dinner portion of the evening. We ate al fresco in a grove in the apple orchard with views of the Rockies in the background. We had long rows of farm tables with mismatched china, all the plates used at our wedding were collected via thrifting and second-hand shopping by Brad and I the summer before. The florals on our table were in my Mom's antique collection of mason jars. Our florals were absolutely stunning and we were amazed by the design and flowers by Farmette Flowers. All of our flowers were in season and locally grown at Farmette Flowers organic farm collective just a few minutes away from YaYa. Really topping it off was our dinner. Three Leaf Catering (which also has a working farm in Boulder County) did a great job designing a menu and drinks focused on in-season flavors and local when possible. Other notes from our reception playing into our theme was live music during our ceremony and cocktail hour, dancing in the barn, yard games during cocktail hour, farm animals, and perfect craft beer. We loved getting to have a perfect front-range Colorado evening with our friends and family.

How was the process of working with SuitShop? 
Using Suit Shop was one of the very first things we decided when planning our wedding. Brad knew from the beginning that he would have a mixed-gender wedding party. One of his groomswomen, Sara, had stories from a previous wedding where she had been a groomswoman of buying several suits and sitting in Men's Warehouse trying to pick a suit closest to an exact match of all the other groomsmen. I knew I wanted to try to find a company that provided matching men's and women's suits to prevent that situation again. A quick googling found you guys. Your brilliant blue matched the color Brad wanted which thrilled both of us because we knew trying to match suits in that blue shade from different companies would have been tricky. We were also impressed with the size range (we have people of all different sizes in our wedding party and wanted to find a company that would include everyone). Brad also loved that the suit was a purchase and not a rental; he had been a groomsman in several different weddings and said he hated dumping money into ill-fitting rentals when he could have bought a suit! Finally, with having groomshumans in 4 different states and 2 countries we knew that we wanted to have a company that had easy remote try-ons and returns. So basically you checked all the boxes!

We know it was important to you to incorporate everyone you love, can you tell us more about that? 
Before taking the plunge and committing to Suit Shop, we wanted to make sure we liked the fit and the quality of the suits. Since we lived in the Denver metro, we had a consultation appointment in your Denver showroom with myself, Brad, and a groomswoman, Sara. Both Brad and Sara were super impressed with the quality and fit of the suits, so check and check! However, what totally sold us on the Suit Shop was your amazing customer service! Two of our groomshumans live in Germany which would have made getting the suits expensive (customs) and any exchanges a headache. Since they would be flying in Denver for our wedding, your staff actually suggested that instead of purchasing the suits ahead of time and getting shipped to them, that the Denver showroom would set aside several sizes and cuts in the men's and women's suits for our friends and they could just try on and purchase when they arrived. Our friends set up an appointment for the morning after they arrived and were quickly and easily able to find the correct fitting pieces and purchase on sight! Thanks for taking a situation we thought would be a headache one way or another and making it SUPER EASY!!!!! Also, Brad had to exchange something via mail on his suit and it was so quick and easy! We loved working with you guys! We were able to suit up all of Brad's most important humans with next to no effort! And everyone looked great and felt good in our suits. Also, we love your price point, it was something we felt comfortable asking our friends to spend.

Any advice for brides or grooms to be? 
My advice to couples planning your wedding is to start early, particularly if you need lots of vendors or have a lot of DIY. Vet your vendors and follow your gut, your vendors will make or break parts of your day. Finally, it is so easy to get caught up in Instagram, blogs, and magazines but stay true to you, your budget, and don't be obsessed with perfection. It was so important to us to find ways to include many of the people we loved. This included having my aunt make our flower crowns, boutonnieres, and corsages, my brother officiating, friends and family doing readings, a good friend serving as MC, both of our dogs at the ceremony, and 6 ring bearers/flower girls. Were there little glitches and hiccups with that many people involved? Sure, but it paled in comparison with having so much love surrounding us in every part of our ceremony. Our motto while planning this wedding as we are not having a wedding for Instagram; we are getting married and sharing the day with friends and family in celebration. In the end, we did just that and the beauty in our photos and video comes from all the love and positive energy deeply rooted in all parts of our day!