WED with Erika

11/10/2024

Tomorrow is the last day to nominate your favorite businesses in Colorado Springs for the The Gazette Best of the Springs competition!!

I’d be honored to get your nomination so I can make the voting round in January!

Vote at this link under “wedding planner”

https://thebestofthesprings.com/nominations/ #/gallery?group=498181

And then enjoy these incredible photos from Epoch Moment capturing a memorable wedding I planned with Mr. & Mrs. T in 2024!

10/16/2024

Stunning location.
Incredible people.
Amazing floral.
Talented photo team to capture it all.

Really… what more can you ask for?

Ready to plan your 2025 wedding?
Me too!

Wanna get married in a garden?
I know a place.
Wanna get married in the mountains, on a beach, in a mansion, or anywhere you can dream up?

I’m ready for it!
Reach out and let’s chat.

10/10/2024

Dove right into wedding season this year and havent made the time to share about the awesome honor of being awarded silver in “The Best of The Springs” with The Gazette!!

🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈🥈

Such an honor to stand in the top three wedding planners in our beautiful city! And my home away from home Hillside Gardens and Events also being awarded is so special to me as I celebrate 191 weddings planned/coordinated in the serenity of the gardens this weekend!!

We were awarded this recognition earlier this year and it’s ALREADY time to nominate your favorites AGAIN!!

🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️ 🗳️
I would be honored if you would consider me and Hillside in your nominations at this link:

https://thebestofthesprings.com/nominations/

Click on services and professionals.
Scroll down to the catergory wedding planner.

In order for every nomination to count the same, please enter “Erika Weeks - WED with Erika” as your write-in nominee.

🙏🏽 Thank you for supporting my mama-owned business as we enter our SEVENTH year in the wedding world!!

Your time and support makes a difference to our family!!!!

10/05/2024

Just booked my first wedding in 2026!!

Guess I’m doing this for real…. 💕 💕 💕



(Also… Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Duran who were WED last night!!!)

09/27/2024

I’m always so excited for them.
But I also kind of miss them.
After 9 months of planning together, Mr. & Mrs. L are officially !!

They had PERFECT weather on 9.20.24
A dynamic and dedicated vendor team with ♥️
And I’d say, a PERFECT night full of 🪩, food, laughter, and of course DANCING!! 💃🏽

I miss seeing them pinned at the top of my text messages, and getting on them about their homework, and monitoring their contracts and spreadsheets. But man that was a PARTY! And I’m so glad to have spent the last 9 months with them - thankful for social media so we can keep in touch as they continue on their journey!!

Congrats Mr & Mrs L!!

Props to the whole team who worked flawlessly together to create a memorable day for them:
Venue:
Officiant: /
Catering:
Dessert:
Photo/Video: (post not their photos…theirs are coming soon & will be better than mine)
DJ:
Floral:
Rentals:
H&M:
Dress:
Alterations:

09/24/2024

Happy anniversary to Mr. & Mrs. P!!

I’d love to be better at shouting out the longevity of so many of my couples but I’m not… (my excuse is their anniversaries are all during my busy wedding season!)

Happy anniversary to everyone celebrating an anniversary this month.

I have some couples who celebrated their FIFTH anniversary this year!!!! It’s surreal!

Venue: Hillside Gardens and Events
Dress: Mother of Groom 🤩
Suit: Men's Wearhouse

09/15/2024

Five days ago (and all week) I celebrated my 13th wedding anniversary!

Ever wonder how your wedding planner's wedding went? Who was there? How did it look? What did it feel like? Did they dance? How was it captured? Or simply where she did it?

Well I am grateful to have video (and incredible photos of course) of all the special moments in Weeks' and my day.
(Have I told you how important I think wedding video is? You may not think you want it now, but when you have kids or are years down the road, it may be a treasure...)

Venue: UCCS
Dress: Something New (before it was the big, beautiful store it is now! It was more like a tiny hallway but it was perfect then too)

Photo: Megan Hardré
Video: Sparks Brothers Media
Floral/Cake/Design: CG Blume Denver
Catering: UCCS
DJ: Dan Osinski with Laser Sound LLC
Rehearsal Dinner: O'Malley's Steak Pub
Lodging: Airbnb Marriott Hotels & Avenue Hotel

Thank you Sparks Brothers Media!!!

09/10/2024

When the florist is pulling flowers and throwing them in a trash bag and you catch her just in time to snag a few… you might as well put them in your office so you have something beautiful to look at while writing timelines at 4am.

13 weddings in 33 days.
We got this 💪🏽
I love that my work allows me to work from home and get things done while my babies sleep just upstairs.

Florals taking me back to Mr. & Mrs. A’s incredible wedding!!

Laptop screen photo credit

08/31/2024

Want to party nonstop at your wedding?
Want everyone to stay all night?
Want people to be talking about the party long after the wedding?

You cannot go wrong with of .worx!!
Bride & Groom along with their ENTIRE guest list…they were on the dance floor ALL night!

These memories of it all captured by

Even I didn’t want the party to stop! We could have partied all night long!!!

08/14/2024

If you know someone in the wedding industry and they have children… give them a hug, check in on them, send them a pick me up…

Back to school = the start of the CRAZY insane wedding season and we are all here for it.
But damn it’s a lot sometimes wanting to give all the TLC to couples AND our families.

Grateful for clients who know and understand that family is first always (on their end and mine) and together we’ve got this!

I did some self care today starting my morning with a four mile walk, followed by an hour in the garden, lunch with my hubby, and a two hour nap.

Kids are coming home now thanks to the amazing hubs for being daddy chauffeur.
I’ll work after bedtime stories. (Current read: Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech and it’s hard to put down)

Vendor friends… We’ve got this!! 💪🏽
And remember there’s a slow down coming and we make our own schedules. There’s nothing like working for yourself!!

The photos are just for fun from some of my recent weddings!! I have three weddings this weekend (they’re #19/20/21 of the season) and that just barely puts me over the half way point! Still have 19 weddings to go between August 23-Oct 13!!






📸:
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08/11/2024

This is what I do for a living.
Celebrate life, love, and all there is to be joyful about in the world.

Oh and trek 22,733 steps in 12 hours to do whatever it takes to make sure it’s perfect for two beautiful people.

Because everyone deserves to have the world revolve around them even if for just one day.

I love what I do.
And I hope they feel it.

07/23/2024

Isn’t she lovely.
We spent 6 months together bringing their special day to life.
For her to have this peaceful moment to reflect during a day that many define as “stressful” - makes it all worth it!

When you work with a planner for all aspects of the day you are sure to have a dynamic team who works together well.

Every special moment thoughtfully supported by these professionals:

Venue: Hillside Gardens and Events
Catering: Andiamo Catering
Photo: Epoch Moment
DJ: HEPS DJ & Photo Booth
Floral: Cosette's
Cake: The Sugarplum Cake Shoppe
H&M: Captivate Beauty
Dress: Something New
Alterations: Embroidery Excellence by Elisabeth

07/22/2024

It’s been a hard week but a good week too. So I take pause. Reflect. Focus on gratitude.
I’m so grateful for my life, my family, my opportunity today. And not even one bit sad to be up before the sun - especially when my office is in my cozy home with my babies sleeping soundly nearby.

Yes I’m working at 2am (my hubby works early morning so I got up with him). Yes I got plenty of sleep last night after early bedtime stories.

I’m grateful for the work life balance we’ve created.
I’m also treading water in the thick of wedding season!
(Don’t worry it’s normal - if you have a friend in the wedding industry, check in on them 😉)

14 incredible weddings into the 2024 wedding season and I’m filled with gratitude. This morning I’m doing a little meditation before I dive into writing timelines

Incredibly thankful for my sweet friend Piper & her mother who gifted me with this beautiful candle yesterday after I supported them through Piper’s wedding. Check out Courage Cottage - a portion of all purchases goes to support Pancreatic Cancer Research.

Their kindness fueled me and reminded me the work I do makes an impact. I’m not perfect, I fall behind on deadlines in the height of the season, I don’t answer every email/text immediately, I am internally frustrated when barriers to the timeline come up, I make mistakes and do all I can to fix them… despite it all I strive to support an experience in the planning process that does not cause unnecessary stress. I aim to create and support a day in which a couple can savor every moment and build lasting memories. My goal is to make the most of this one single day marking the beginning of their life together.

Most days I’m 100% and nothing short of perfect.

Some days I push myself too hard, overthink things, or feel like an imposter wondering how I’ve made it here.

But I hope they feel it…
My passion. My heart. My excitement for them.

Grateful for the hundreds of people who have trusted me to be a part of their most special day.

Grateful for grace and understanding.

Grateful friends who support, rescue, and forgive each other in this crazy industry.

Grateful for my family who supports and loves me.

07/07/2024

Cosette's did an incredible job with this amazong wedding. I love working with Cosette when I plan weddings with couples as she always helps me to help our couples bring their vision together!

Floral from last night’s wedding donated by my kiddos and Grady Weeks to MacKenzie Place - Colorado Springs again today!

So sweet when couples choose to donate their floral and save it from the trash to others can have a little joy!

The colors in this wedding were incredible!

07/03/2024

So many flowers from this beautiful wedding.
With couple going out of town the next morning… they didn’t need to keep the flowers.

So we donated them to MacKenzie Place - Colorado Springs!

Didnt take the best selfie with my hands full but the residents were already excited to snag arrangements and single stems as we were leaving.

06/28/2024

How was this less than a month ago?!

Earlier this month my husband and I took my amazing teammates and some of my favorite vendors out for some much needed R&R before wedding season got crazy (and boy has it gotten crazy!)

We completely led them on for weeks and then surprised them with a morning at an incredible experience at a sound bath led by the amazing Gigi at Singing Bowls of the Rockies!

I’m so grateful for the countless incredible people I’ve met along this journey of figuring out how to start and build my business.

This special morning was a moment of gratitude to just a few of them. I am making an effort to stop and show gratitude to others and not just for what they do for me and others but for who they are to the world. We all matter and sometimes it’s good to be reminded.

I wrote them a letter. Too private to share the whole thing but here’s a little excerpt… and I send this to everyone who’s ever been on the team for a wedding with me. Everyone who offered love and support through this last year. Everyone who’s mentored, listened to me vent, or encouraged me. In this photo or not, YOU are special to me and I’m so grateful our paths have crossed.

…Thank you for coming today.
Thanks for playing along.
But most of all, thank you for trusting me. Trusting me enough to know that I would not subject you to anything uncomfortable. Trusting that I will take care of you.

I hope you feel that today and any day that we work together. That I will take care of you. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to even have opportunity in wedding world, let alone be successful in it - and I genuinely believe I could not have done it… without the trust of so many amazing professionals like you all.

So here I am. I’ve made it in the industry. People actually want to hire me and they trust me more and more to walk aside them and plan their weddings! They trust me telling them to hire you!! It’s crazy to me most days.
I still have a little bit of imposter syndrome wondering how in the world do people pay me to PLAN their weddings?! I dunno if any of you ever feel that way but I’m entering my 6th wedding season and it’s STILL surreal for me.

I’ve learned a lot about gratitude and appreciating the people you value in your life over the last year. Now I just want to express gratitude and appreciation for you. Not just you as a wedding vendor or my teammate but you… who you are to me, to our couples, and without getting too mushy… who you are to the world.

You are each incredible people. You matter. You have so much to offer to your friends, your family, your profession and skill, and your couples.

I value working with you because each of you truly care at the end of the day. You show up, care, and are dedicated to making the day perfect for two people who are just trying to figure it all out as they are starting their life together.

(There was more but thats all I wanna share here)

I’m blessed to be living this life.
It’s tough. I complain. I care too much and always have to work on boundaries. But their memories will last forever. And I am honored to make it happen for them with amazing people.
Thank you for playing along and spending this special morning with us:
Lindsay Ann Smith
Chrissy Howard
Jen Hull
Reina Pudder
Epoch Moment
Hillside Gardens and Events
PRTY WORX LLC
Summit Catering
Emily Jo Photo Co.
Singing Bowls of the Rockies

06/16/2024

Them: “I don’t need a wedding planner…”

Me:

(Thankful for the nearly 200 couples who have worked with me over the years and saw the value in every step)

10/30/2023

Making room in your budget for floral really pays off. I know some have mixed feelings about fresh floral but I encourage considering it. The right pops of floral really make a huge difference and I always love to see how they accent a photo.

The beauty it adds to the day is incredible. Work with a florist who is willing to help you find ways to make it work in your budget and make the most of every stem!

Come to the Table Co. was trusted with this beautiful wedding I planned in just under two months. Angi captured the couple’s vision perfectly and took the hassle out of decorating for them so they could be fully present on their day.

📸: the amazing Jarrah Marie Photography