A Classic, Elegant Wedding at Blackstone Country Club in Aurora, Colorado

Samantha Motsinger (24 and an administrative assistant at a nonprofit called Friends First) and Doug Wekenman (26 and a young adults pastor at Red Rocks Church) met on a mission trip. “The year after I graduated from college, I was working for a college ministry,” Doug says. “I co-led the big (92 person) winter break mission trip to Jamaica, which Samantha just so happened to be on. Since the team was so big, everybody was split into smaller groups that met each night right before bed time, and in one of the best happenings of my life, Sam was randomly placed in mine. It was my favorite part of the day because of Sam. At the risk of sounding cheesy, she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen. And so against proper protocol, I took advantage of being the trip-leader and hit on her. It was a Wednesday night, a few days after we got back to Colorado. I was in the car with my friends and told both of them that I was thinking about calling her and asking her out. They told me I wasn't allowed to get out of the car until I did. They built up my courage and I pulled out my phone and called her. We talked, then I said goodbye, hung up the phone, breathed out and smiled.” The couple started dating, but Doug had already scheduled a trip around the world to do humanitarian work. They decided to see what happened and dated long distance for 18 months. They dated for three years total before Doug proposed. He took her on an impromptu Christmas date. They went back to where they had a romantic second date (Doug’s friend’s father’s workplace, a corner office with all windows. Doug had made dinner, which he brought in a backpack along with sparkling cider, since Samantha wasn’t 21 yet, and Harry Potter scene it because they’re both huge fans). When they walked back into the office, there were Christmas lights, roses and champagne. “My heart started pounding in my chest,” Samantha says. “I instantly started crying, and I remember vaguely saying, ‘Oh my gosh, stop it.’ I, of course, (through sobbing) said yes.” Samantha and Doug fell in love with the Blackstone Country Club in Aurora, Colorado, before even going to see it. They loved that a lot of the details were already included in its packages including a staff that took care of everything to make sure they got hitched without a hitch. “It felt like a small-sized castle, and driving up to it was always breathtaking,” Samantha says. “It has a very rustic feel, and the architecture of stone and iron gave it that castle feel. I absolutely felt like a princess on my wedding day.”The couple wanted their day to be s little bit classic, a little bit modern, a little bit rustic and a whole lot of fun. They used Samantha’s favorite color, purple, throughout the details and added some shades of white and gray so the purple really popped. Samantha made all the wedding signs herself, and loved the DIY aspect. “It took a long time, and since I'm a perfectionist I had to redo a few of them, but the wedding felt so much more ours because we put so much time and effort into those details,” she says. “It made me feel accomplished once I finished them all.”They ended the night with a festive sparkler exit, complete with glow sticks, and  gave guests little bags of coffee beans. “Doug and I both love coffee, so we thought it reflected us well. The beans were inside these cute handmade linen bags from India, and we put little tags on them that said ‘love is brewing’ and then our initials and the wedding date on the back,” Samantha says. “I figured it we love coffee, pretty much everyone else does as well.”