Winter Wedding in the 1873 Carriage House

As couples ask and answer “will you marry me?” during this magical season, we are ready for all of the lovely weddings that will follow.

The Great Room in our newly restored 1873 Carriage House is softly lit with crystal chandeliers that shimmer in many colors. Couples might want an indoor wedding site for cooler months or in case of a surprise rain. We lovingly call the Great Room our “wet weather insurance policy.” It joins the Waterfall Garden and the Woodland Garden to complete our choices for wedding sites.

When a couple books a wedding here, they may choose one of our ceremony sites right away, but the choice of location always remains open until the morning of the wedding. The bride may awake, walk the gardens and peek into the Great Room, then choose the place that her heart tells her is right.

We smile when couples request a day with snow, but Colorado weather may surprise you with sunshine in mid-winter. Whatever the weather may be, we are ready!!

One of a dozen chandeliers to light your wedding!

A fabulous new place to celebrate weddings has been completed at Blue Skies Inn after two years of careful renovation and painstaking construction. It is the Great Room, located in the Historic 1873 Carriage House. Featuring exquisite finishes, it is a lovely space for use during inclement weather or when seasons make a garden wedding challenging.

Walls are hand painted with many soft shades of palest rosy peach, overlaid with brushstrokes of pearlescent paint that shimmers in the light. Behind the altar area, there is a large painting of a Celtic knot done in watercolor shades. The interlocked butterflies symbolize Transformation, the very meaning of a wedding day.

And, oh!!, the magical light! – a dozen twinkling chandeliers are whimsically strung with lead crystal baubles in varying hues. There is a color to suit any wedding theme and delight any viewer. Set the chandeliers at full brightness or dim them down to romantic candlelight.

While the double Carriage House walls were open for construction, we added many feet of hidden wiring for multiple speakers. They will set the mood by enveloping a wedding in music.

Special decorative wrought iron components came from Texas for the stairway which was custom built and assembled locally. Very wide cherry planks from a tree grown in Pennsylvania were selected for the handsome stair treads.

In winter, warmth softly rises from the in-floor heat, keeping bride’s toes warm and cozy. Over 2,000 pieces of carefully cut tile is intricately set in a decorative border to frame the Great Room. In summer, air conditioning provides a comfortable space in which to wed. Imagine what the horses who stabled here in 1873 might have thought of that!
The very tall sliding doors used for the passage of carriages were preserved. They now roll open to reveal a stunningly large window with Rocky Mountain views that star Pikes Peak. Other doors open to a courtyard garden for cake receptions in pleasant weather.

There is another delightful name for the new Great Room. We also call it the Blue Skies Chapel, a name inspired by the presence of two stained glass windows in the west side of the ancient structure. Due to the casual way in which the windows were inserted long ago into existing carriage house walls (evidenced by structural framing that had been cut by an ax), we guess that the windows might have come from an adjacent house after it burned in 1886. The selective exterior framing of just the deep red cross shape within the stained glass windows might have been an attempt to introduce a chapel theme. Although only red glass shows outside, hiding the amber and green glass panes, we have revealed all of the glass to the inside now. It’s fun to watch the sun as it dances through the brightly colored windows and traces its way across the floor.
Early during our time on this property, one of our wedding officiants began calling the structure “the chapel” due to the presence of those stained glass windows, an very unusual feature for a carriage house. Somehow, the ultimate use of the pretty building was in his mind even then.
Please come visit so that Sally and Mike can tour you through our lovingly restored Historic structure.
www.pikespeakwedding.com
www.blueskiesinn.com

Hiya Pikes Peak Wedding Bloggeteers!

Y’know, providing couples with the stress-free wedding is more of an art than a science, but there are certain guidelines (for brides especially) that just make sense. In that spirit, we offer up the following blog <They don’t actually use the word “spam,” but we’d just as soon not be indexed by the web crawlers under the word they DO use!>

http://2000dollarwedding.com/2008/07/from-conception-to-reception.html

Yes, we know that these folks are avid DIYers, and advise against purchasing even our (we think) reasonably-priced wedding package, but all the same, we identify with their sense of rebellion against the push-push-push of the whole wedding industry. We too want you to have a stress-free wedding. We want you to be present-minded and enjoy your wedding day. We especially like the following advice point no. 2, from the 2000dollarwedding.com site:

“(2) Moderate Your Wedding Spam Viewing <edited slightly>

Don’t spend too much time reading wedding magazines and blogs. Yes, they give you ideas. Yes, they are fun. But mainly they just make you doubt things you’ve already decided on.”

Amen and LOL! “Wedding Spam!” Ain’t it th’ truth!

We like to think we offer a pretty and elegant garden wedding package for pretty close to that $2000 mark (not, of course, counting the wedding dress). We too get frustrated when some loon at a Bride-Shoppe in the mall sells the bride (or her Mom) on turban-wearing ring bearers with ostrich-feather fans, matching light-sabres decorated with pink and blue tulle for the bride and groom, unity-candelabras with mini-skyrocket sparklers that ignite at the words “I do,” and god knows what else! It’s all just one more thing for the bride to worry about.

(Actually, the light sabres idea sounds cool, but you get the point.)

I’ll leave you with point no. 1 of the Wedding Advice offered by the 2000dollarwedding.com bloggers:

“(1) Just Breathe

Planning a wedding is stressful. Your expectations are high and the stakes feel high even higher. But remember: No matter what happens with the details (the weather, the vendors, the food) you will be married in the end. And anything that goes wrong will make a great story.”

True enough, even for a Pikes Peak Wedding. Plus, you should keep in mind the things that will go right because you’re calm and in the moment. You don’t need to think about such moments. You don’t need to plan them. You need to be there.

It’s our job to capture the moment.  

Best,

Mike

Blue Skies Inn

Welcome to A Pikes Peak Wedding WebLog!

We are currently trying to figure out just how this blogging thing works, so we’ll be making random entries until we get organized. Please see the “About” page for info on who we are and what we do.

The theme of this post is “Serendipity.”  I thought we’d start out with some favorite photos. 

Sally matched the bride to the season in this photo. And she caught the bride and groom at just the right moment... The ceremony is over, she's relaxed, and he's clearly in love. You can't stage moments like this - you have to catch it as it happens.

Here's another perfect moment captured on the fly.