A nice little surprise landed in my inbox yesterday. Cure (curetoday.com) has published a lovely article about The Wedding Pink. We are very honored.
You may read the full article here.
A Few Words from The Wedding Pink Couple, Liz and Lee
It's hard to believe that a month has passed since our beautiful wedding day. In looking back over the last year, we're so grateful to have been chosen for this experience. It was an enormous blessing in our lives and a time that we will cherish for years to come.
When we applied in November 2017, we didn't actually believe that we could be the chosen couple. It's like buying a lottery ticket-- it's fun to dream about winning, but you don't think that you'll actually win the jackpot. The shock and awe that we felt upon finding out that we had been chosen stayed with us throughout the planning process. It's hard to feel worthy of such a spectacular gift, but we are so thankful that The Wedding Pink chose us.
From our first visit to Denver in March of 2018, we knew that this would be a wonderful experience. During our first meetings, our wedding planner, Ann Marlin, was a pleasure to work with and made made everything so easy for us. During that trip, we saw our amazing venue-to-be at The Sanctuary golf course in Sedalia, met with our florist Janelle, selected a wedding dress at The Bridal Collection, and worked with our wonderful photographer, Katie Van Buren. Liz even had a chance to do a makeup trial with Cynthia of Magnifica Bella and felt so beautiful on the day of the engagement photos. It was such fun to meet Cheryl, Melissa, and other members of The Wedding Pink family. We felt very welcomed into this wonderful community.
On our second planning trip in July 2018, we worked on further details for the big day, including meeting with Rev. Kim Tavendale, who worked closely with us to ensure that our ceremony would be perfect. We also loved meeting Chris, our DJ from Elite Entertainment, and Turi Gustafson, who helped to customize the music for our ceremony and reception. We also got to meet with our awesome caterers from Relish Catering, and Lee's favorite part of the whole experience was tasting the delicious cakes with Lisa from A Cake Come True. We topped off the visit with a meet-and-greet with our vendors at Kendra Scott Jewelry, where we loved visiting with everyone and celebrating over wine and cheese.
When it was time for the wedding day, we couldn't have asked for a better experience. It was a beautiful Colorado fall day with clear skies and a chill in the air. While everyone says that your wedding day is never perfect, it truly was perfect in our eyes. From the lovely ceremony to a delicious dinner and a raging dance party, we had a blast with all of our family and friends in attendance. Throughout the day, we felt excited, grateful, and so happy to be there. All of our vendors, Ann, and The Wedding Pink team worked tirelessly to make it a beautiful, stress-free experience for us, and we are forever grateful to everyone involved. Many thanks to The Wedding Pink for making this possible for us and for future couples in the years to come.
Liz and Lee
Liz and Lee, the recipients of The Wedding Pink 2018
Liz + Lee are Married! Sneak Peak!
What an amazing day. Beautiful bride, lovely weather, everything was perfect. Here is a sneak peek of images. A full gallery of photos coming soon, please stay tuned.
Thank you to our fabulous photographers, Katie Van Buren and Paige Eden.
Ann Marlin of Cloud 9 Wedding Joins the Board of Directors
We are pleased to announce that Ann Marlin of Cloud 9 Weddings has joined our board of directors as Co Vice President. She has been an integral part of The Wedding Pink since 2013 and we are thrilled to have her on our team.
Ann is the CEO and Lead Designer at Cloud 9 Weddings. She has been planning weddings and events since 2000. She brings extensive event planning experience, enthusiasm and fresh ideas to every wedding and event.
Ann has planned and executed over 300 weddings at most every popular Denver-area venue including out of state weddings and has relationships with the finest wedding and event vendors.
Liz and Lee Vendor Meetings
Liz and Lee were in town recently to wrap up wedding planning before their big day. So much was accomplished as they had the pleasure of meeting with quite a few vendors including Cloud 9 Weddings, A Design Resource, A Cake Come True, Elite Entertainment, Erin Ferris (fabulous hair stylist), Relish Catering, Kendra Scott, Rev Kim Tavendale, Men's Wearhouse and Hipster Mama Productions.
I was fortunate to join in on the catering tasting at Relish. Wow, is all I have to say! So yummy!
Kendra Scott in Cherry Creek hosted our meet and greet with Liz and Lee. They were also gracious to donate 20% of the proceeds from the evening back to Wedding Pink. Thank you to Cynthia Mazzara of Magnifica Bella, Rev Kim Tavendale and everyone else who came out to join us!
Lee and Liz, the recipients of The Wedding Pink; Ann Marlin of Cloud 9 Weddings; Cheryl Ungar and Melissa Childs of The Wedding Pink.
Liz and Lee's Engagement Photos
We were so happy to receive Liz and Lee's engagement photos from Katie Van Buren of Van Buren Photography. They are all very beautiful and we can't wait to share them with you. Here is a sneak peek, the full gallery can be viewed here.
Dress Shopping at The Bridal Collection
As the first bride to be awarded this amazing gift, and also a member of the board of The Wedding Pink, I have been lucky enough to witness many beautiful moments throughout this journey. So far, we have helped eight couples by giving them their dream weddings, right here in Colorado. One of my favorite parts of The Wedding Pink process is wedding dress shopping. Our brides have graciously allowed me to join in their once-in-a-lifetime experience, and for that I’m so grateful. I’ve met mothers, sisters, best friends, and it really makes me feel like we’re all one big family. Our “Pink Family” as Cheryl Ungar, our founder, likes to call it.
For the second year in a row, we have been lucky enough to partner with The Bridal Collection for our wedding dress needs. Last year, The Bridal Collection graciously donated two beautiful gowns to our 2017 bride, Laurie, and her wife Jessie. Jordan was our stylist and she was able to find two dresses that perfectly matched each of our brides’ personalities.
Liz trying on dresses at The Bridal Collection
This year Jordan was at it again, helping our 2018 bride, Liz, find her dream dress. Liz was in town from the East Coast last week doing some wedding planning with our rockstar wedding planner Ann Marlin of Cloud 9 Weddings. While The Wedding Pink is a Denver-based non-profit, we accept submissions from all over the country. Because we needed to fit as much planning into one weekend as we possibly could, The Bridal Collection was tasked with the tough job of getting Liz to “Say Yes to the Dress” in one 90-minute appointment. Jordan was up for the challenge. She would come sweeping through the sitting area under a mountain of fabric, pulling the dressing room curtain closed, while we sat with baited breath, waiting for Liz to come out in each dress. Jordan dazzled us with fancy words like moonstone, Swarovski, and French lace. It’s clear that she really knows her stuff. While each dress was gorgeous in its own unique way, we all knew Liz had found her dress when she came out with tears in her eyes. We all knew it was the one. The Madison James stunner of a dress was absolutely gorgeous on Liz. I know she can’t wait for her big day where she will forever be joined to her fiancé, Lee in October at The Sanctuary Golf Course in Sedalia.
Liz says Yes to the Dress with a little help from her BFF
Our happy bride Liz has selected a dress with the help of her BFF; Ann Marlin of Cloud 9 Weddings; Melissa Childs, 2011 Wedding Pink bride and the fabulous stylist Jordan from The Bridal Collection.
Our appointment at The Bridal Collection was my first time meeting Liz in person, but I couldn’t help but feel emotional myself. After all, what does a wedding dress represent? It signifies love, commitment, and unity. But for our brides, who are also breast cancer survivors, the wedding dress is a reminder to us that we fought through something horrific and we came out on the other side, survivors. We live to see another day and we get to experience a wedding with the love of our lives. For a brief second, we forget what we went through, and bask in the realization that our wedding day is approaching. As we wear this wedding dress down the aisle, everyone’s eyes are on us, yet our eyes are firmly fixed on the one person in our lives who has been in the trenches with us; our support system who loves us for who we are – scars and all. The wedding dress makes us feel like a princess. In the mirror, we don’t see a cancer patient. We see a bride ready to start our lives with our one true love. We are eternally grateful for The Bridal Collection’s continued support of The Wedding Pink and for helping our brides’ dreams come true. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
~Melissa Childs, Board Member, The Wedding Pink
Introducing Liz & Lee!
We are beyond thrilled to introduce Liz and Lee, the recipients of The Wedding Pink 2018. We look forward to following their wedding planning journey leading up to their big day on October 25 at the Sanctuary Golf Course in Sedalia, Colorado.
You may read more about Liz and Lee here.
The Winners of The Wedding Pink 2018
The winners of The Wedding Pink 2018 will be announced tomorrow live on Denver's Channel 7 The Now during the 4:00 hour. They livestream the newscast here: https://www.thedenverchannel.com/live
Please tune in to meet the recipients of The Wedding Pink 2018!
Submissions for The Wedding Pink 2018 Closing Soon
We are receiving heart-felt submissions for The Wedding PInk 2018 and look forward to starting the selection process for next year's wedding.
We intend to close the submission period no later than Monday, December 18. If you are thinking about applying, please send in your form at your earliest convenience.
If you have any questions, please drop us a line through our contact form. We are always happy to chat with you!
-The Wedding Pink
Wedding Pink 2018 and New Website
Happy Thanksgiving!
There is so much to be thankful for and we appreciate all of the support we have received over the years from everyone particularly the vendors and donors. Without them The Wedding Pink would not be possible.
We have two big announcements to make.
First off we have just launched our beautiful new website, huge thank you to our 2014 bride Erika for the lovely redesign.
And, drumroll please, The Wedding Pink 2018 will be held at the Sanctuary Golf Course in Sedalia, Colorado on Thursday, October 25. We are beyond excited to partner with this exquisite venue. It's a true Colorado destination wedding venue that you and your guests will never forget, just south of Denver, yet a world away. Surrounded by mountain views the breathtaking clubhouse is nestled amongst unrivaled scenery in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. This beautiful venue has multiple fireplaces, custom wood details and intricate stonework creating a rustic Colorado feel.
A Beautiful Note From Laurie And Jessie
It's rare in this world to instantly connect with people over the written word but that is what happened when The Wedding Pink selection committee read Laurie and Jessie's story. We are thrilled to welcome these special people into our Pink Family.
In Laurie's words, her experience of being selected as the recipient of The Wedding Pink 2017:
When we got engaged in October 2015, we started discussing what our ideal wedding would look like. However, those discussions didn’t last very long because less than two months later, I was staring at a Stage III breast cancer diagnosis. As with so many other things on our agenda, the wedding was put on a back burner so I could focus on getting through my treatment.
Near the end of my active treatment, a friend sent me a link to The Wedding Pink. I read everything that I possibly could on the website, and I immediately fell in love with the idea of a beautiful Colorado wedding. I got to work on my application, hit the Submit button, and crossed my fingers.
A couple days later I received a call from Melissa. Instantly we connected, and I knew right then that even if I didn’t win, I wanted to somehow stay in contact with her and The Wedding Pink. The next call with Cheryl and the larger committee solidified that thought. All I kept saying over and over is that I wanted to somehow remain connected to this amazing organization and the wonderful people involved.
When the committee asked me why I should be chosen over someone else, I said, and still honestly believe, that I am no more deserving than so many others out there who have gone through this breast cancer experience. Every single one of us was deserving of a silver lining. For me, however, this was about so much more than me. I wanted to give Jessie, my fiancee, my caregiver, my co-parent, and my everything something beautiful after everything she had gone through with me.
We cried tears of joy when we found out we were chosen as the 2017 Wedding Pink couple. Our excitement only grew once we flew out to Colorado for our initial meeting with The Wedding Pink organization and our wonderful team of vendors! Everyone was SO kind and generous with their time and their services. We were floored at just how incredible this experience was shaping up to be!
We had so much fun picking out our dresses, flowers, invitations, food, and especially the CAKE! :) We also almost were blown off a mountain top during our engagement photos, but, hey, anything for the perfect shot, right? :)
As we were boarding our plane to go back to Cleveland, Cheryl told us that the next few months were going to fly by quickly. She was right! Before we knew it, we were back out in Colorado with our friends and family preparing for the big day!
The big day….er….the big SNOWY day, is a more appropriate way to describe our wedding day! Even though it was the end of May, we awoke to a very large amount of snow on the morning of our wedding. Thankfully, we’re from Cleveland, and, as Elsa says, “the cold never bothered me anyway.” Even though it was a wee bit chilly, the snow made for absolutely gorgeous wedding photos. One friend even described it as “nature’s confetti,” and I think that’s an absolutely perfect way to look at it.
The Evergreen Lake House was set up in a stunning show of raindrop lights and gorgeous table settings. Our wonderful wedding planner, Ann, even added a special surprise to our napkin holders by adding lyrics from Hamilton, our favorite musical. That was such a sweet thing for her to do, and I found myself teary-eyed from the gesture. The music, the food, the cake, the DJ, the flowers, and the officiant were all perfect. Everything was even more magical than either of us could have imagined.
We visited with friends who had flown in from Ohio, Kentucky, and several other states, shared toasts, and danced the night away. Our children were able to participate in the wedding ceremony and also enjoy the photo booth and the bar of candy (which was Finnegan’s favorite part of the entire wedding!).
When we drove away from the venue after the wedding was over, we looked at each other, alone for the first time as a married couple, and just said “Wow! That was the most incredible experience we could ever have imagined.”
The Wedding Pink exceeded our wildest dreams, and we are eternally grateful for all who donated their time and services to making the day magical. Of course none of this would be possible without Cheryl and her kindness toward fellow breast cancer survivors. Ann is the most amazing wedding planner, and I don’t know how we could have done all of this without her guidance. Jessie and I have so much gratitude for Cheryl, Ann, and all of the other wonderful people who helped make this day beautiful.
“Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now!”
Laurie
Laurie And Jessie Wedding Toasts
Please take a moment and watch the heartfelt toasts from this year's Wedding Pink.
Denver's Channel 7 The Now
Sneak Peek at Laurie and Jessie's Wedding
We are thrilled to have wrapped up our 7th annual Wedding Pink. Despite an unexpected and unusual May snow storm it was a beautiful wedding. Here is a sneak peek of Laurie and Jessie's special day.
A gigantic thank you to Ali & Garrett Photographers for their beautiful photographs.
Laurie and Jessie are Married!
Laurie and Jessie had a beautiful wedding ceremony yesterday at the Evergreen Lake House despite an unusual winter snow storm!
Denver's Channel 7 was there to cover it. Stay tuned for the big story today and wedding photos from Ali & Garrett Photographers.
Click to watch the video on thedenverchannel.com.
Dress Shopping at The Bridal Collection
As most of you know Laurie and Jessie were recently in town to meet with vendors and plan their upcoming wedding. One of the stops they made was to pick out dresses at The Bridal Collection. We wanted to extend a huge thank you to them as they donated brand new dresses to both of the ladies. We all had a fun experience watching them try on and pick out their special dresses. Don't worry, we aren't spoiling the surprise. The dresses that they picked are not shown below.
Denver Channel 7 News Story!
A huge thank you to Channel 7 for the lovely story that aired last Friday.
Wedding Pink winners 2017 from Dan Hosea on Vimeo.
Sneak Peek - Laurie + Jessie Engagement Photos
We can't wait to share these amazing photos by Ali of Ali & Garrett Photography.
Here is the sneak peek!!
Stay tuned for the full gallery of engagement photos.
Meet & Greet, Wednesday Feb 8
We are excited to be partnering with Resolute Brewing for a meet and greet with this year's Wedding Pink couple, Laurie and Jessie.
We sincerely hope you will be able to stop in to say hi and have a drink. A portion of all drink sales benefit The Wedding Pink.
Everyone is welcome. Hope to see you there!
