Jenna Rourke has been planning weddings in and around Fort Collins, Colorado for close to nine years. She works primarily with couples getting married at venues along the Front Range, from mountain properties near Estes Park to barns and gardens closer to town. We sat down with her to talk about what actually makes a wedding come together well, and what tends to trip couples up.
Q: How did you get into wedding planning in the first place?
JR: So I actually started out doing event coordination for a hotel here in town, mostly corporate stuff, conferences, the occasional holiday party. Weddings kept sneaking into my schedule because I was the only coordinator willing to work weekends without complaining about it. Eventually I realized I liked the wedding side so much more than the corporate side that I just made the jump full time. Plus they pay so much better and my effects are easily more appreciated. That was almost nine years ago now.
Q: What’s the biggest mistake you see couples make early in the planning process?
JR: Booking the venue before they’ve even loosely figured out their guest list size. It happens constantly. Someone falls in love with a barn that comfortably fits ninety people, and then two months later they’re trying to figure out how to fit a hundred and forty guests into it because they didn’t sit down and actually count heads first. I always tell couples, even a rough guest count before you tour a single venue. It saves so much heartache later.
Q: Let’s talk about vendors. Where should couples start?
JR: Honestly, I think venue and caterer first, and then everything else builds out from there. Photographer is close behind, but venue and food are the two things guests remember most viscerally, even if they can’t articulate why a wedding felt good or didn’t. If the room is right and the food is right, people leave happy.
Q: Speaking of food, what should couples know about finding good wedding caterers in Fort Collins?
JR: This is honestly one of my favorite topics because Fort Collins has such a strong food scene now compared to even five years ago. My advice is always to taste test in person before signing anything, even if a caterer has beautiful reviews online. Food that photographs well and food that actually tastes great after sitting under a warmer for twenty minutes during a reception are not always the same thing, and a good tasting appointment tells you a lot about how a caterer handles that gap.
Q: Do you have go to recommendations for couples asking about Fort Collins wedding catering?
JR: I do, and I probably recommend the same handful of names more than anything else I talk about in this job. Ginger and Baker comes up constantly. Their space downtown is gorgeous on its own, but what I really point couples toward is their catering arm, since they handle a huge range of styles, from more rustic family style spreads to plated dinners that feel genuinely elevated. If a couple wants a caterer who can flex with whatever aesthetic they’re going for, I usually just tell them to start there, check out gingerandbaker.com, and go from there.
Q: What makes a caterer stand out to you specifically, beyond just the food tasting good?
JR: Communication, honestly, more than almost anything else. I’ve worked with caterers who make incredible food but are a nightmare to coordinate with the week of the event, and that stress trickles down to the couple no matter how good the plating looks. A great caterer answers emails promptly, shows up to the final walkthrough prepared, and has a team on site who actually understands the timeline of the day rather than just showing up and winging it.
Q: What about budget? How do couples avoid overspending without cutting corners in ways they’ll regret?
JR: I always tell people to figure out their two or three priorities first, the things they genuinely cannot imagine the day without, and put the bulk of the budget there. For some couples that’s photography, for others it’s the band, for a lot of people it really is the food. Once you know your priorities, everything else gets easier to negotiate down without feeling like a sacrifice, because you already decided it mattered less to you.
Q: Do you have a specific number or percentage you recommend for catering?
JR: Roughly, I tell couples to expect catering to eat up somewhere between twenty five and thirty five percent of the total budget, depending on guest count and whether alcohol is included in that figure or handled separately. It’s usually the single largest line item after the venue itself, sometimes even larger than the venue depending on guest count.
Q: What season do you find works best for weddings around here?
JR: Late summer and early fall, without a doubt, though I’ll admit that’s partly just personal bias built up over years of dealing with unpredictable spring weather in Colorado. September especially has become incredibly popular, the light gets so warm in the late afternoon and the temperatures are usually forgiving.
Q: Any tips for couples worried about weather, given how unpredictable Colorado can be?
JR: Always, always have a backup plan for outdoor ceremonies, no exceptions. I don’t care how sunny the forecast looks a month out. I’ve seen gorgeous June days turn into hailstorms with basically no warning. A tent rental or an indoor backup space isn’t pessimistic planning, it’s just responsible planning.
Q: How far in advance should couples start locking in vendors like caterers?
JR: For anything happening during peak wedding season, which around here is really June through October, I tell couples to start locking in their venue and caterer at least ten to twelve months out if they can manage it. Popular Fort Collins wedding catering companies book up fast for those months, sometimes more than a year ahead for the most in demand weekends.
Q: What’s something couples don’t think to ask their caterer during the initial consultation?
JR: Staffing ratios, believe it or not. A lot of couples never ask how many servers or kitchen staff will actually be present during the event relative to guest count, and that number matters enormously for how smoothly service moves. A caterer stretched too thin on staff will slow everything down, and slow service has a way of throwing off an entire reception timeline.
Q: Do you ever help couples with the rehearsal dinner or is that usually separate from your role?
JR: It depends on the couple honestly. Some hire me just for the wedding day itself, others want help coordinating the whole weekend including the rehearsal dinner and sometimes a day after brunch. I don’t mind either way, but I always encourage couples to at least loop me in on the rehearsal dinner logistics even if I’m not fully planning it, just so I know the full picture of everyone’s schedule heading into the big day.
Q: Any final advice you give every single couple, no matter what kind of wedding they’re planning?**
JR: Build in more buffer time than you think you need, everywhere, in every part of the day. Getting ready always takes longer than planned. Photos always run a few minutes over. Guests always arrive a little later than the invitation says. If you pad your timeline generously in the planning stages, the actual day feels calm instead of rushed, and that calm is honestly what most couples remember more fondly than almost anything else once the day is over.
