Well, we have been married almost 4 months now and there is not a week goes by that we don’t look at all of our pictures and listen to music we recorded for the DJ at our wedding.  We have been able to see all our family and friends since we got back that attended the wedding.   Everyone, to the person, said our wedding was the coolest wedding they have ever attended.

Being the old macho retired fireman, I wanted to let you know what this event meant to me and why.    First of all, since my lovely wife is still working and I had the time needed to work with you on the wedding plans, I believe may have been something of a rare opportunity for the guys out there that are getting married to enjoy.   I wasn’t sure how I would work in the ”pink world“, as I call it, but found out it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Tradition……..which neither of us tend to adhere to in our lives, kinda’ mandates that the bride to be, do all the work planning the wedding and the groom to be, just shows up.   Well, we have never been people to swim down stream with the main flow of things, we decided to swim upstream!!

When I asked my beautiful woman to marry me 1 year and 5 months before the wedding date, we decided we both should be involved in the planning.  

A destination wedding takes a lot of detailed planning.   Our first decision was to find a Wedding Planner in the Durango, Colorado area.  Hmmmmm, guess who we chose?  Yep, PROTÉGÉ EVENTS.

You were a Godsend for what we wanted.   Within a few minutes of meeting you in August before our June wedding, we both knew you were the one.   Your attention to detail and most of all the way you listened to what we wanted, gives you a heads up over all the other planners.  You did not TELL us what to do, you helped us plan the event.

You listened and guided us.   We brought 70 people with us and the logistics just coordinating that from our end, was almost overwhelming.  You not only handled everything up there for the wedding, but gave us some tremendous advice and guidance on how to deal with the issue of bringing so many people to Colorado with us.  Your attention to details and every one of your vendors were perfect.

The venue at Chris Park was astounding.   When I watched my bride walk through the aspen grove into the meadow on that beautiful sunny day in June, my heart was pounding.   The spring flowers, the beautiful mountains surrounding us and our Circle of Family and Friends was beyond any human beings expectations for what a perfect wedding should be.  Your arbor and the beautiful flowers were spectacular. Oh, and the humming bird that came to the arbor flowers during the ceremony had a very special meaning to me, since my mother could not be there with us.

There are three things I want to share in closing for those planning a wedding in Southwest Colorado.

ONE:   Use Protege Event Planning and let Steph and her staff do their job.   We checked

           several planners out.  Don’t micromanage, they are the professionals.  We chose

           the best you can find in Durango, by choosing Protégé Events.

TWO:    Take some time for the planning.   We had 17 months.   We met

             Stephanie 10 months before we got married.   It might seem like

             a long time, but it flew by.   In hindsight we were able to go

              slowly and enjoy every minute of our time with Steph.   She

              kept us focused and with that much time, we were able to make

              changes to suit our specific desires.  She is so easy to get along

              with and truly does have all the answers!!  Something we did

              that added to the pleasure of our wedding was work with Steph

              on the music.   We had recorded and downloaded 100 of OUR

              special songs to give to the DJ.   He loved it.  And, all the music

              we used meant something to both of us.   We had several small

              children there, she found us a bounce house!!  There is not

              enough space to go into all the details, but this lady can do

              anything you want to do.

THIRD:  Guys, get involved!!   Of course, with the permission of your

                future bride!!   Just because it is the ”pink world“ does not

                mean we can’t add to the event.  Some things they need to do

               without us, but,  remember, it is your wedding and the biggest

               day of your life too. 

               I can speak from experience, my wife absolutely loved having

              me help her make some of the decisions and handling some of

             the logistics involved in taking our family and friends on a

             destination wedding.  I guess for the guys that just want to show

             up is perfectly OK.  But, in my case, I will always cherish this

             event from a totally different perspective since we made the

             decision to share our lives at the very beginning by planning the

              wedding together. 

             When we decided to plan our wedding together, it put a

             whole new meaning to such a wonderful and spiritual experience

             to begin this life long commitment to each other.

Steph, it was an absolute pleasure to have worked with you on making our wedding day the most fantastic day of our lives.   It is a blessing to know we now have a friend in Durango that we can visit when we get back up to the High Country.

Roger and Christan Smith

June 13, 2008