I am an absolute sucker for any opportunity that crosses our path. I thrive on challenges that seem impossible and I wholeheartedly believe that anything you set your mind to, you can achieve. The theme for ABC seems to be… “Always expect the unexpected” and the lesson I love to teach is how “there is always a solution to every problem”. Our team specializes in Day of Coordination and this means we take a higher risk. We have to be ready for absolutely anything. I was put to the test when I found out I had the opportunity to work with the new Mr. & Mrs. Derek & Abbie Wolfe.

Jenna Lee of Jenna Lee Pictures called me one afternoon in February just DYING of excitement. She was raving about how she had a client that needed a Day of Coordinator and she just knew our team would be the perfect fit. When she started to elaborate, my jaw hit the floor. This client she was referring to was an NFL player for the Denver Broncos and his fiance Abbie Burrows was a fitness model and all around a major inspiration to thousands of people. The venue was the Four Seasons in Vail, Colorado which is my home state and Vail is one of the places I learned how to ski each Winter with my family. It doesn’t get any more “Winter Wonderland” than this.

Here’s the catch… The wedding is in TWO weeks. I decided to run around in a million circles of excitement before agreeing to have the consultation. I had to think this through, my first response was, “HOW IS THIS REAL LIFE”?! Seriously. Can I do this? Absolutely. No hesitation. Luckily, I have an amazing business partner (Natalie) to help me think more practically about situations like this. When I asked her for her thoughts on accepting the wedding, she laughed and said: “I think you’ve already made your decision”. Best business partner EVER.

Feeling like a million bucks, I decided to suppress the excitement and get real about how I could be of help for the two of them. They had a majority of the details started and they needed my help in wrapping it all up. This is exactly what I specialize in. Almost immediately, they agreed to hire our team and within hours of that phone call from Jenna, I was officially coordinating a celebrity destination wedding in Vail, Colorado, 3,264 miles away.

I’m thankful to my parents for raising me to be the eternal optimist because, without that mindset, none of this would have been possible. Natalie and I boarded the plane from Hawaii to Colorado with full confidence that we were about to bring their wedding vision to life. Once we landed, we hurried to my parents’ house and gathered as many winter clothes as we could find so we didn’t freeze in the 14 degrees Fahrenheit weather. With a completely stocked car, we headed to Vail for an adventure of a lifetime.

From start to finish, we successfully coordinated the final tasks, the rehearsal and wedding day with such ease. We were more excited than nervous, we knew we could do this it was just a matter of getting it done. The wedding day ran smoothly and perfectly on time (YAY!). We have our extensive experience in Day of Coordination to thank for that.  Abbie & Derek were thrilled with how perfectly everything came together. Abbie sent me a text the next morning that I will never forget:

It really doesn’t get much better than this. Thank you, Derek & Abbie, for giving me the honor of being the coordinator for your winter wonderland wedding. I will never forget this experience for so many reasons but mostly because it showed me how much our team is capable of. Cheers to life’s opportunities and the incredible people you meet along the way.