We gave away a wedding!!!

If you are an avid reader of this blog (and even if you're not, this is only my 8th post so scroll down a little bit and catch up), you'll remember hearing about the incredibly cool Hitched in the Highlands event I was a part of: several Denver vendors donated wedding services and goods, and a fantastic bakery (Happy Cakes) organized a scavenger hunt for 10 couples competing to win the wedding ... which was worth over $20,000! Well, the race was on Sunday, and we not only had a fabulous time, but we have winners: the fabulous and well-deserving Tami and Greg!

The ladies at Happy Cakes did a great job of keeping the race course and challenges a secret until the very last second, so I still don't even know everything that went on during the race, but I DO know that these 20 intrepid challengers had to begin their Sunday morning at 9am by eating a jumbo (and I seriously mean L-A-R-G-E) Happy Cakes cupcake (http://www.happycakesdenver.com/menu.html) with no hands ... and then running 5 miles! I'm quite sure I couldn't ambulate myself 5 miles if I was wearing roller skates and holding onto the back of a truck.

Photos courtesy of www.davidlynnphoto.com

They also had to do field day-style challenges like wheelbarrow and piggy back races in a park covered in goose droppings (which I'm pretty sure was not actually part of the challenge), play Name that Tune, make and toss a bouquet, and do a blindfolded obstacle course while holding an avocado on a spoon among other challenges. These ladies and gents worked seriously hard for the money (or rather, the donated stuff). After almost three hours of racing, Tami and Greg completed all 9 challenges and made it back to race headquarters at Happy Cakes first ...

... and ran off with a $20,000 wedding!!

As the wedding coordinator, my job is both easier and harder for this wedding because most of the services have already been donated ... and, oh yeah, because the wedding is in less than 8 weeks. I met with Tami and Greg last night to go over their incredible prize and start planning, and Greg (you know it's true, sir) is a little freaked out about the timeline! I tried to reassure him that I've done weddings in less time than this and that we'll actually save a lot of time because they don't have to select many of their vendors, and hopefully he and Tami will feel like they're in good hands as we start meeting (soon!) with the generous companies and business owners who donated the pieces of the wedding (Anna Bé, Wordshop, Biscuits & Berries, and Mile High Station, we'll see you this week!).

So what else? A bit about Tami and Greg, of course! They met the way most professional people meet in the 21st century: at the circus. Greg is the strongman and Tami is the lion tamer, and they are excited to get married soon and start having kids to make a tumbling troupe. Okay ... that's not really true, but they DID submit a picture of themselves with their application dressed as the strong man and the lion tamer, so that's close enough, right? In real life Tami is in construction management and Greg does some smart guy computer thing that involves designing databases and which I can't hope to understand. They have a beloved weimaraner, Keiser, whom you will likely see featured in the wedding and whom Greg adoringly calls "the guy." As you might guess just from these few tidbits, these are people with serious personality. They are obviously very much in love without being sappy about it, and they are so sincerely grateful for this opportunity from Hitched in the Highlands. We had a great and productive meeting last night, although the poor kids were so exhausted and sore from the race the morning before that they were practically falling asleep at the table.

Stay tuned for updates here (and hopefully from local news stations, who covered the race: http://cbs4denver.com/entertainment/wedding.scavanger.hunt.2.1526948.html) as we race Tami and Greg to the altar! Congrats, you two!