 |
| Photos: Shining Light Photography |
Lindsay Spiegel and Drew Evans married last summer in a evening wedding on the rooftop of the Frazier Museum. Lindsay says that it was the best day of her life and “I am so thankful that it all went down exactly how I always dreamed it would.” She also suggests that all the worrying about the details is unnecessary. Read more about what she especially loved about her wedding. #EvansEverAfter2016
Advice to Others: Don’t sweat the small stuff. At the end of it all, your wedding is the best day of your life and you will be married, which is what matters the most! I was always stressing out about little details and looking back, it’s so unnecessary!
Best Planning Tip: Use a wedding coordinator! Mine took over about a month out, which was so nice because I no longer had to worry about anything. She made the entire wedding day go smoothly, and I didn’t have to think about a thing — it was great!
Best Money Saving Tip: Cut people from your guest list if you can. I know it is much easier said than done, but ultimately it is the best way to get your cost down since everything is charged by the number of people at the event.
Location of Ceremony: Rooftop of the Frazier History Museum
Why it worked: The rooftop already has lots of flowers and greenery planted to decorate the space. And it overlooks the Ohio river, so it is naturally just a pretty, intimate place for a ceremony. We only had to add two flower arrangements on bourbon barrels and some flowers on the chairs, which was so nice and helped to keep our floral costs down. I know sometimes venues need a lot of sprucing up, and it was great at the rooftop of the Frazier because it was basically already done! We also chose to have our ceremony at 6:30pm since it was in June in hopes of it not being so hot. There was a nice breeze on the rooftop, and it ended up being perfect!
Location of Reception: 4th floor Loft at the Frazier History Museum
Why it worked: The loft on the 4th floor of the Frazier History Museum was perfect in making my vision come to life. There is a lot of exposed painted white brick, which I loved and is what drew me to the space. My color scheme was ivory, blush, and gold, and we had a rustic touch. The venue just went hand in hand with my theme and was a blank slate, which made it easy for me to turn it into the reception venue that I had always wanted.
Photographer: Shining Light Photography
Special Choices: We chose to have our photographer start in the early afternoon. This gave her time to still get shots of us getting ready, but we didn’t have to pay for extra hours that weren’t really needed early in the morning. One of the favorite things that my photographer did was to pull us away from our reception and take us back up to the rooftop where we got married. It was golden hour and the pictures turned out PERFECT! So thankful that she did this and now we have the pictures so we will never forget it.
Dress: Stella York dress from Rebecca’s Bridal Boutique
Why it worked: I knew I wanted a lace dress, but didn’t have a clue what else I was looking for in a dress. I tried on a lot of dresses, all different styles and materials, and just knew that this was my dress. I felt that the form-fitting strapless dress worked best for my body type and I just loved it. They say you will just know when the dress is the one, and it’s so true — you just know!
Bridesmaids Dresses: Sequin Mesh Blouson Dress by Adrianna Papell from Nordstrom
Why it worked: I wanted dresses that my bridesmaids could wear again and that didn’t look like your typical bridesmaids dresses. I also knew I wanted something that was short, but still looked classy. I had seen these in pictures before in the longer versions and knew right away that this is what I wanted when I found them online in the shorter version. The cut/style of the dress looked good on all of my bridesmaids, who were all very different in height/size — highly recommend these dresses! They also didn’t really need much altering, which was a cost saver for my bridesmaids.
I would have changed: Since my wedding, Adrianna Papell has released new colors in this dress. There is now one that is a champagne/gold and if I had that option, I would have gone with that.
Groom/Groomsmen: Instead of tuxes, we chose to go with suits from Macy’s. They were Bar III brand in a midnight blue color.
Why it worked: It ended up being cheaper to have the groomsmen buy their suits from Macys, rather than rent tuxes. I knew I wanted the guys to wear a navy suit and the fit on these were great for all body types! And now all of the guys have a nice suit to wear again, which is a win! All of the groomsmen wore pale pink ties and the groom wore a gold one. I liked how there was a variation so that the groom stood out on his special day!
Video: Summit Stone Creations
Summit Stone Creations is so easy to work with, reasonably priced, and have great quality work. We are so happy that they were with us all day long to document our big day and couldn’t have asked for more from them.
Food: Masterson’s Catering
We had Masterson’s walk around with hors d'oeuvres during the cocktail hour and then we chose to do a sit down dinner instead of a buffet for dinner. We served chicken florentine, asparagus, and red potatoes with a summer salad and got so many compliments from people on how great it was!
Drinks: Masterson’s Catering
Special Choices: Beer, Wine, House Liquor
Why it Worked: My dad really wanted to make sure that all of our guests would be happy with the drink choices, and I think he accomplished that with the open bar. We chose to pay per person, rather than consumption, and I am glad we did so. You may have some who drink a little and some who drink a lot and in the end, the cost evens itself out.
Cake: 3-tiered cake from Sweet Surrender Dessert Cafe
Special choices: I wanted it to be simple and elegant. I had to send a couple of pictures on Pinterest and Sweet Surrender was able to create exactly what I asked for. Not to mention, it was a delicious cake!
Why it worked: We needed a gluten-cake because I have a gluten allergy. Sweet Surrender was easy to work with and not all bakeries in Louisville offer gluten free.
Flowers/Decor: J. Elizabeth Designs
I told her all of my visions, and she put it all together better than I could have imagined. She did a wonderful job of making sure all of my wants were met without exceeding the budget we gave her. Jill is so creative and was able to make the most perfect centerpieces with beautiful flowers. Also, J. Elizabeth Designs was perfect for us because we rented a lot of decor/extras through them, such as a menu board, the name card holder, candle holders, etc.
Music (reception): Kudmani
Why it worked: I really struggled when it came to picking a band for our reception. I wanted a band that would have all of our guests up and dancing all night. I came across Kudmani on the Knot, and they had great reviews, so I decided to reach out. They played an array of songs that everyone knew and had everyone on the dance floor — just as I had wanted.
Planner: Grace Gilde with Grace Elizabeth Events
Why it worked: Grace was one of the best decisions I made when picking vendors for our special day. Grace was available 24/7 to answer my questions, give me advice, or even meet up with me if I was having a panic moment. Grace took over 100 percent a month out from our wedding and at that point, I no longer had to deal with any of the vendors. This made the month leading up to the wedding less stressful and is something that I highly recommend for other brides.
Invitations: Lauren Chism Fine Papers
I came across Lauren Chism Fine Papers on a blog one day and decided to reach out to her. Lauren was easy to work with and helped with all aspects of the invitations — fonts, wording, colors, layout, etc and had a quick turnaround time, which was nice.
Length of Planning Time: 15 months — I highly recommend this time length! I didn’t have to stress and all of the vendors that I wanted were available (something that doesn’t ever happen when you are planning a quick wedding).
Wonderful advice for planning!
ReplyDelete