Charlotte & Patrick | September 8, 2011  |  Boulder, Colorado

From the bride:
At large, traditional weddings the bride and groom inevitably spend a great deal focusing on and entertaining others. We decided that for our ceremony we wanted to be fully aware of exactly what we were committing to do and we aimed to create a contemplative space that first and foremost focused on our relationship.  So, we did not invite wedding guests. Our wedding day included the two of us, our officiant, and our photographer.

Photography by Adam & Imthiaz Photography

Together, we wrote our ceremony several months in advance. We took elements of a marriage ceremony written by Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh and we also went to go see him speak in Denver shortly before our wedding day. Hearing Thich Nhat Hanh speak was powerful, clearly linking the words we’d written to our intent.In our ceremony, we wrote in a period of brief meditation to further support our being fully present in the moment. Boulder dharma teacher David Chernikoff guided us through our preparation process, from supporting our authoring/editing the ceremony, to the ceremony’s meditation and sharing our vows.  Immediately following our ceremony, we hopped in our Jeep and drove to Crested Butte, a sleepy mountain town nestled in the heart of in the San Juan mountains. We had a fantastic honeymoon, hiking with our dog Mojo, biking, reading, napping, eating out, strolling through the historic town, going to see live music, and shopping at the farmer’s market for fresh local fare.

Believing, however, that marriage is a consecration of each individual to the other and of both people to the wider community we wanted to ask for familial and community support of our marriage commitments. We also wished to offer our gratitude to parents, family, friends, and teachers.  So, we had a big wedding party after we got home from our Crested Butte honeymoon.

A couple of days after the ceremony our photographer, Adam Houseman, published a website, patrickandcharlotte.com, posting our wedding pictures and an invitation to our celebratory party. The website also contained a blog for people to write messages. It was our version of a “guest book”!

Our party was ~ 12 days after our wedding. We rented out the rooftop patio of Bácaro Venetian Taverna, a Boulder Italian restaurant on Pearl Street. It was a beautiful setting — a clear crisp autumn night under strung colored paper lanterns. Large family-style tables surrounded the perimeter and hightops were scattered throughout, under the suspended heating lamps. Our goal was to create a casual  atmosphere, so there was no “set menu.” We worked with the restaurant’s event coordinator, Teghan Binnings, to print menus without prices and our friends and family ordered whatever appealed to them.

In retrospect, we’re so happy with everything. The day after our Bácaro party, we were both hoarse and depleted! For us, it reinforced that our wedding day and our party had entirely different purposes. One was to celebrate the sacred, private nature of marriage and the latter, our party, was to celebrate the public nature of marriage. Keeping them as separate events was the right decision for us.