“Stephen pulled out a photo book (something we always make after trips or big events) of our life together, the last page asked, “Will you marry me?” While he’s obviously saying something sappy and sweet, I’m looking between the gorgeous ring, my handsome soon to be fiancé and our dog eating sand. I put the ring on myself, overcome with excitement. It was simple and sweet and intimate, but most of all it was perfect for us.”
Photographer: Michal-Kathryn Photography | Venue: Westminster Hall & Chapel | Cake & Cupcakes: Sinful Sweets | Entertainment & Lighting: Encore Events | Suits: IncognitoMenswear | Dress: Lace Bridal by Karen Wu | Hair & Make up: Jenna & Keesha at MKW Salon and Day Spa | Floral: Alison at Arjuna Florist and Gift Shoppe
“Stephen and I first met back in 8th grade math class, and after a lot of on-and-off agains throughout the years, we decided to give “us” another try later in college. Fourth time’s a charm, right? I moved out to Rochester our senior year of college to work as a RN and be closer to Stephen. One house, one dog and one cat later, in July of 2016 Stephen asked me to take Bo, our dog, for a walk on the beach so we could try to get him to like water. I thought nothing of it, even when Stephen was telling me I should probably put on nicer clothes than sweats and a dirty t-shirt. Begrudgingly, I changed into jean shorts and a tank (not much better considering what was about to happen), and we drove a few minutes down the road to Durand Park where we walked Bo on the beach and sat down. Stephen pulled out a photo book (something we always make after trips or big events) of our life together, the last page asked, “Will you marry me?” While he’s obviously saying something sappy and sweet, I’m looking between the gorgeous ring, my handsome soon to be fiancé and our dog eating sand. I put the ring on myself, overcome with excitement. It was simple and sweet and intimate, but most of all it was perfect for us. We drove back to our house, Bo covered in sand, where our parents were waiting with champagne. Stephen had called them earlier in the day and asked them to meet us at our home. It was all perfect.
“For our engagement session, we took pictures on the beach where Stephen proposed. We had a banner with our wedding date which was a fun prop. We also had our dog with us since he aided in Stephen’s proposal. Lastly, Stephen, the dog and I wore Eagles apparel as this is Stephen’s favorite NFL team. For our save the dates, we had a graphic-designer friend who created our ‘signature’ which was used on our save the dates, invitations, favor boxes, photo booth print-outs as well as a projection at our reception. It was a nice way to tie all those little things together. For our favors, we did a candy buffet; each candy was one of the wedding party members’ favorite candy, labeled accordingly.
“Our favorite moment from our wedding was our first look and getting to see each other for the first time on our wedding day. We also loved the quiet moment after the ceremony when we were able to take in the moment just after we became husband and wife. We also loved doing pictures just the two of us after the ceremony. Having a sweetheart table where we could eat together, just the two of us, and talk to each other about the day thus far was a really special moment during the reception.
“I feel like non-traditional is becoming the ‘traditional’ these days. Some untraditional details of our wedding were having an uneven wedding party, an ice cream truck as part of dessert, a photo booth picture as a ‘signature’ in our guestbook and our first look. We loved looking at the comments in our guest book after the wedding. There were a lot of comments encouraging us to have babies! Our fur-babies keep us plenty busy for now!
“We made our wedding our own by communicating with each other throughout the entire wedding planning. We discussed our ideas with each other, purchased personalized champagne flutes, personalized cake cutter/server and forks and just made sure that everything at our wedding was liked by both the bride and groom. For our cupcake display, we wanted to do something different so we ended up using large galvanized letters to display cupcakes in the letters of MR & MRS which turned out great!
“We are now a happily married couple who love to use the words ‘wifey’ and ‘hubby’. Even though there were a few hiccups at the wedding, we could not be happier or more grateful for how our special day turned out. Fortunately for us, we had an amazing photographer who put us both at ease the day of and made endless pictures seem effortless.”
Photographer: Michal-Kathryn Photography | Venue: Westminster Hall & Chapel | Cake & Cupcakes: Sinful Sweets | Entertainment & Lighting: Encore Events | Suits: IncognitoMenswear.com | Dress: Lace Bridal by Karen Wu | Hair & Make up: Jenna & Keesha at MKW Salon and Day Spa | Floral: Alison at Arjuna Florist and Gift Shoppe
Want to submit your own real love story to us for a chance to be featured on the blog? Go for it! Make sure you’re following up with us on social media to stay inspired by our talented vendors, creative ideas and giveaways!