It just clicked in my brain that yesterday, January 7th, was the one month anniversary of my wedding. Amanda and I tied the knot on 12/7/19. It's kind of crazy how fast time goes by.
It also clicked in my head that I never shared much of the day with all of you. If you listened to me on air you may have heard bits and pieces. So, I wanted to share some of the details with anyone who's interested. Maybe it will give you some ideas for your upcoming wedding. Or maybe it will give you some suggestions for friends. Or maybe you'll just like reading it. No matter why you're here, I hope you enjoy.
That's the moment we had our first dance. I love this angle of the moment. But let me take you back to the beginning.
We decided to have our wedding at The Heron Room in Hampden. It's a beautiful little space in an old industrial mill along the Jones Falls. Thankfully for us (since we were trying to save money) it had a lot of personality so we didn't have to do a ton of decorating.
Amanda's dress stole the show. So many people commented on it. Our photographer even said she wanted to buy it off her after.
Amanda's hair was done by Stacie Snyder. You can reach her at @staciesnyderbeauty, or at staciesnyder.com.
The Heron Room has a bridal suite in the building so Amanda and her bridesmaids had space to get ready. She didn't have specific bridesmaid dresses picked out. What she did was told the girls what colors their dresses could be. I loved this aspect because everyone had a little something different. And no one could really complain about the dress since they got to pick them out.
Also at the venue was an area for the groom and 'groomsmen' to get ready. I used quotes around groomsmen because I had a woman in my group. She's my best friend after all. I had to have her on my side. I did try to get her to wear a pantsuit to fit in more with the other guys, but she declined. All the guys wore the same thing. I let Amanda pick the colors and we rolled from there.
Amanda and I chose not to wait until the ceremony to see each other. We had a 'first look' moment outside before going in for the ceremony. We thought that way we could get all of our pictures taken care of before the cocktail hour, and then we could get back in faster to enjoy time with our family and friends.
I had this idea from something I saw on Instagram, so I purchased a few colored smoke bombs. I thought it might be fun to see if they added something extra to the photos. I really like the way they came out. The company was Shutterbombs. Super easy to work with and they weren't very expensive either. I'd highly recommend them.
I also surprised Amanda with a jean jacket that said "Wife of the Party" on the back. On the underside of the collar it has the date of our wedding. She loves jean jackets and was super happy with this surprise. I got them from a girl on instagram @christinascustomdenim. She also was great, communicated great with me to make sure I had what I wanted, and was easy to work with.
When it came to the actual party, we broke tradition again. Instead of having a traditional sit down dinner, we chose to have what I was calling a long happy hour. We worked with Gundalow Gourmet to make a bunch of shareable items and food stations for people to eat throughout the night. Once the ceremony was over the party started. I believe we ran out of alcohol at one point. But don't worry, someone went and got more.
As for our desserts, we worked with a local baker at Bramble Baking. She was awesome. We got a variety of cookies and mini pies. We also got a small cake so we could keep the traditional cake cutting ceremony. Amanda went on Etsy and found a cake topper that had the Utz girl and Mr. Boh on it. She was able to customize it to have our name and wedding date on it.
For entertainment we went with a DJ company based in Harrisburg, PA. Mixed-Up Productions is their name. I got so many compliments on the DJ. If you ever try to book them, ask for Mike Miller. Even the caterer was saying she had a hard time not coming out on the dance floor to be a part of the event.
Our photographer was incredible. She works with me at the radio station. I had seen her work from the concerts that we put together, so I knew she was great. But her photos of our big night were unreal. I never thought they would come out so perfect. Her name is Cassidy Toulan and I think the best way you could reach her, if you were interested, would be through instagram. @cassidaisy.
There are a lot more photos, but the rest I think I'm keeping for myself. It's not that I don't love you. It's just that I have to keep some behind the proverbial curtain.
If you have any other questions about the wedding, I'd love to answer them for you. I really enjoy talking about the day because it came out so wonderful. Feel free to reach out. Email me or hit me up on socials. @stpierreonair.