Gretchen + Chris | Rivini Wedding from Cayton Photography

Gretchen + Chris’ autumn wedding was all about family, family, family! Eleven adorable flower girls, five ushers and a Catholic ceremony that paid tribute to the coming together of these two large families. How fitting that the theme for today’s featured wedding was wheat, symbolizing love, charity and harvest. Don’t miss Gretchen’s pretty and traditional strapless A-line Rivini gown complete with four tiers of French Alecon lace, top to bottom silk bridal buttons and a delicate pleated French tulle hem. An added bonus for the next lucky owner of this gown – this dress comes with a beautiful handmade Alecon lace top!

Gretchen + Chris | November 3, 2012 | Colorado Springs, CO | Dress Listing: Rivini, 13

The Ceremony
We had a Catholic mass at St. Paul’s Church in Co Springs. The theme for the entire wedding was wheat symbolizing love and charity, and because of it’s autumnal feel. All of the pews were decorated with sheathes of wheat, and all of the bouquets incorporated it as well. The most important element of the ceremony was family. Chris and I both come from large families, and we met through family. It was important to us that, as we began our own family together, we paid a lot of respect to our respective families. Every participant in the wedding was family. We had eleven flower girls – all nieces and cousins. Five ushers – all cousins. All three readers were family members. We had 4 nephews bring up the communion host. The priest who married us baptized my husband 35 years before our wedding. It was a full mass (i.e. not a short ceremony), but we really enjoyed every minute of it. A bagpiper escorted us out at the end.

The Reception
We had a formal, evening ‘wheat’ themed wedding. The reception was in the main ballroom at The Broadmoor Hotel. We had a cocktail hour in the main lobby, and then the guests filtered into the ballroom. We both really love music. Our band was truly phenomenal, and all of the tables were named after our favorite bands– which was fun for us to create, and fun for our guests to check out. Children were allowed at the reception, and there were two large kids’ tables with more than 22 kids. They had a great time on the dance floor once the music got started. The linens that we used were sage green, which matched the interior of the room and also provided a nice warm autumn feel. The centerpieces were mainly sunflowers and wheat. It was a nice combination of old-world fancy (Broadmoor) with a Western/autumn feel.

Gretchen’s Dress Search
I tried on about ten dresses. I loved the traditional and classic look of this dress, the regal and breathtaking lacework, the versatility of the day look (sleeves for church), followed by an evening look. Plus, it was a dream to dance in!