Posted byPut on your goggles and your neo-Victorian gear, because this is STEAMPUNK WEEK! Today's wedding isn't technically steam-y, but it does have lots of clock-y goodness, so we couldn't resist including it!
The Offbeat Bride: Rachel, Advertising
Her offbeat partner: Dave, Advertising
Date and location of wedding: Clocktower, Denver, CO — June 1, 2013
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: Outdoor weddings are an obvious choice when living in Colorado, and although we are both avid hikers/bikers/campers, we also love the urban playground of Denver. When we found out the historic clock tower in the heart of downtown Denver could be rented for weddings, we immediately checked it out, and it was perfect.
The venue is interesting: the top five floors were available to us, and they're connected only by staircase. The massive clocks are visible from the inside, and during the day, light shines through them illuminating the numbers and hands. And the 20th floor had a 360 degree balcony with views of the entire city. We got married right in front of the giant clocks, and then used all five floors for reception partying.
We didn't have wedding colors per se so instead I had my bridesmaids all pick out their own sequin dresses. Instead of a big, seated dinner we got a ton of hors d'oeuvres and small plates for the reception. And then our “getaway car” was a baby blue 1965 Ford Econoline that Dave owns. Instead of Just Married, he wrote Fuck Yeah! on the back window!
Oh, and for our save-the-date, we crowd-sourced the wedding day for fun.
Tell us about the ceremony:
I'm Jewish and Dave is half-Jewish, and it was extremely important to my parents that we have a Jewish ceremony. And though the ceremony was traditional, the rabbi knew us well and it felt incredibly personal and warm. Having all of our friends and family smooshed into one small room also gave it a feeling of cozy closeness. It felt so good to have everyone laughing and crying happy tears with us.
Additionally, my dad built a custom chuppah for us which melded perfectly with the industrial interior of the clock tower. And I made the ketubah, the Jewish wedding contract, which we signed right before the ceremony.
Our biggest challenge:
Each floor of the clock tower had capacity limitations, so keeping the guest list tight was a must. But it was a huge challenge. Between both sides of the family, family friends, and our personal friends, it was difficult to keep it small. The venue also has a lot of stairs, which we were worried would be a challenge for less mobile guests.
Even after getting the guest list to a manageable place, we realized we wouldn't have room for seating for everyone. Deciding who would get one of the few chairs and how to communicate to the “standers” that they wouldn't be sitting was the topic of many heated wedding planning discussions.
We ended up placing “reserved” signs on the few chairs, and calling or emailing the seated guests ahead of time so they'd know to take a seat. We also alerted the rest of the “standers,” so they could plan accordingly and gave everyone a heads up about the many stairs.
My favorite moment:
I was worried the first look photos would be really cheesy or feel forced. Instead, it was one of the most emotional moments of the entire day. With only the two of us plus the photographer, it felt incredibly intimate, and we were both so excited and happy that we ended up having a blast. We were so glad to have had that time together before the craziness of the wedding started.
Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently?
Dave had been married before and his two teenage kids were an important part of the wedding party. His son was his best man, and his daughter was one of my bridesmaids. It was great to have their blessing and have them be involved in the ceremony.
What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Early into our engagement, we made a pact to make wedding planning decisions fairly quickly without dwelling too much. When we first looked into the clock tower (it was the first venue we explored), we knew right away it would be perfect, so we put a deposit on it without wasting time looking at other options. Same went for the caterer, photographer, and florist. We easily could have spun our wheels trying multiple options for each, but when we found what we liked we just went for it. That doesn't mean I didn't stress about the details, but it allowed us to make some of the big decisions early on which was a huge weight off our shoulders as we got into the nitty gritty of planning.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Dress: Bea's Bridal Nook
- Wedding planner: Feather and Twig
- Photographer: Gathering Light Photography
- Cupcakes: The Shoppe
- Caterer: Three Tomatoes
- DJ: JM Hyatt
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
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What a great wedding! And that first photo is amazing.
Thank you!
This clock tower is such a clever idea. It’s not only a cool way to use historic clocks, but the clocks can represent their future time together that they are starting with their wedding!
Gorgeous venue and visuals! Congrats to you guys for having such a fun and genuine wedding and congrats to your photographer for doing a great job of capturing that!
I’ve looked into the Clocktower a little. They’re a little pricey though 🙁
They were pretty comparable to some other local venues, and the great thing was that we could have the ceremony and reception in one location which was key!
Gorgeous! I love the colors through the clock. I feel so bad for that one girl having to go up those stairs on crutches though!
Yes, I agree they are comparable to other places and your wedding looks breathtaking. I think we’re going with the Mezzanine at the Hotel Boulderado, which doesn’t have a site fee as long as you meet the minimum for catering.
One question though, was stairs the only way to access the Clocktower? That would be a deciding factor for me, as many of my guests wouldn’t be able to climb the stairs.
There’s an elevator up to the 17th floor, but from there it’s stairs up the rest of the way (to the 21st floor). The ceremony was on the 18th floor. It was definitely tricky for a couple people (especially my poor bridesmaid on crutches).
My wedding is in 9 days and I think I need to change my venue to a clock tower.
I have seen the clock tower and think I want to have my wedding there (more then want, actually) but how many people did you invite and how many showed up? we are thinking about 100 total but 75 for the ceremony.