Wolf is another entrepreneur in the ecosystem that has surrounded the actual buying and selling of marijuana since Coloradans voted for recreational use in 2012. His company, Cultivating Spirits, puts on gourmet multi-course meals in which various cannabis strains are paired with wines, appetizers, entrees and desserts. A cannabis-themed wedding convention seemed a logical venture for the pair.

"To have an event that looks very normalized for people outside the cannabis industry, that's very important for the growth of the cannabis industry," says Wolf. With sandy hair flowing past the shoulders of his dark blazer on expo day, he looks like the Allman Brother who went to business school. "We need people from other states and countries to look at Colorado and say, 'Wow, they are doing it the right way.'"

Colorado and Washington voters passed recreational marijuana legalization on the same day back in 2012, but Colorado put the law into effect six months before Washington. The state has enjoyed cutting-edge status in the popular imagination since. It's now the petri dish of American legalization, but not all has gone perfectly. Talk to enough of the more cynical Coloradans, and a picture emerges: You can sell the stuff, but you can't put the money anywhere; you can buy the stuff, but you can't smoke it anywhere.

Federal law still deems marijuana a serious offense, making it essentially a cash business in the state. That's absurd, considering that 2015 Colorado marijuana sales have a good chance of hitting $1 billion when final numbers come in next month. From a consumer's perspective, you can only smoke (or even take marijuana edibles) on private property with the owner's permission. But just what constitutes private property and permission isn't always so easily defined.

Those hiccups pale compared to recent gains, according to all I speak with in Denver. But Wolf's point is essential: Steady normalization will be key to the industry's growth and mainstream acceptance. It's a wise and noble outlook from the expo cofounder.

Meanwhile, I enter the Cannabis Wedding Expo with a philosophy of my own: When your editors say you can get high for work, you should definitely get high for work.