The special details
Karl had few requests for our wedding day, but his ideas were some of my favorites from the day. We did all our photos prior to the wedding and had a little unexpected extra time before the ceremony. So, we hopped on a shuttle bus and drove to Waffle House. It’s hard to describe the reaction of the WH staff when 15 of us walked through their doors in black tie attire at 4 PM on NYE. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the peak hours of a Waffle House - they are about 12 - 4 AM and people are typically in a less sober state of mind. So it’s not that they weren’t expecting a crew like ours - I think we were just about 8 hours earlier than they planned.
The restaurant was completely empty so Karl and I sat at the bar, ordered hash browns smothered, covered and chunked and devoured them. I was that silly bride who hadn’t eaten all day- DON’T BE LIKE ME! I made up for it and have pictures to prove it:) Our bridal party plopped down in booths and went to waffle heaven. We are beyond thankful that our phenomenal photographer, Meredith Bacon, followed us to Waffle House and captured our fancy pre-wedding meal perfectly.
A couple other fun additions that were added by my creative, awesome husband was a balloon drop at midnight and a Spotify playlist that guests could subscribe to on our wedding week.I think one of the most unique things about our wedding was the ceremony. As I mentioned earlier, we had a cabaret for about 45 minutes before our ceremony began with 12 singers who are some of our closest friends. I just love the environment that this created upon our guests arrival into the venue. Love, entertainment, excitement, talent, laughter and joy.
We were beyond honored to have my brother marry us. The personal touches he added to our ceremony really brought this “traditional” part of our wedding day to life. We all laughed and cried, listened and prayed together. I thought these moments would be a blur, but instead they are some of the most crisp memories in my mind. Karl and I wrote our own vows. We also had 20 of our friends and family stand together and recite blessings that were inspired by the seven blessings in Judaism. I saw this done at a dear friend’s wedding and fell in love with the sense of community and support that i felt it brought to their wedding ceremony. Karl and I were able to turn around to face our beloved guests and look them in the eye during this 5 minute portion of the ceremony. For me, this was the greatest moment of our wedding day. I still feel a giant wave of joy flow over me when I think on this instance. I have found my partner in life and am declaring to devote my life to him and all of these people are supporting us in the journey. Typically, your back is turned towards these important people for almost the entirety of your ceremony. I can’t fully express how thankful I am that we were able to look out on our loved ones for an extended period of time to hear, see, feel and absorb their love and support for us.
Why you chose your venue
We wanted to be in one spot for the entire evening. The idea of walking into our wedding and getting cozy for the night was alluring. Upon entering The Defoor Centre for the first time we both felt settled, comfortable and ready to dance! The Forum, the main space, was unlike anything we had seen: grand ceilings, art gallery walls, dark cement floors and a large stage. I think this dynamic room partnered well with the dynamic vision for our wedding.
Did anything go awry on your wedding day? How did you handle?
The party was even better than we expected, so getting people off the dance floor and onto shuttle busses to go back to the hotel was a bit tricky. The first shuttle bus came and went with pretty much no one on it. So when it came back again (it was only making 3 trips), Karl had to grab the mic and basically shut the dance floor down. This meant no sparklers for our exit, and Karl had to spend the end of our reception getting people onto busses, including us. Luckily the new year’s party was still in full swing when we got back to the hotel so we didn’t miss much.
We had a lot of detail on the tables - each attendee got a handwritten card from us at their dinner place. This took our planner and her team a little longer than anticipated to set up, so by the time we sat for dinner we were a little behind schedule. We were both really antsy to get the dancing started and maximize dancefloor time before midnight, so when it came time to cut the cake, we told our DJ to skip it and just crank the music. I think he actually said, “Ok, now it’s time for Lindsay and Karl to cut the cake…” and then Karl went over to him and told him to skip it and he said, “Actually, I’ve just been informed that we’re skipping the cake and going right to dancing!” Neither of us wanted to smash cake in each other’s faces anyway.
There were a bunch of little things, but we knew going in there would be, so we just tried to stay flexible and positive. Our wedding planner did a great job of adjusting on the fly too. You have to be. In the end, we wanted this to be a special day for us AND a great party for our guests.
Your favorite moment from the night/Why
Our wedding ceremony was one of the most romantic, genuine, miraculous experiences I’ve ever had. It is such an unbelievable moment to walk into a room and see all of the people you love and then process the fact that they all are there to support you and your future spouse. - Lindsay
Most touching moment was seeing Lindsay walk down the aisle and for us to stand together, finally, on the stage ready for the ceremony. - Karl
Funniest moment - I told our DJ that “Shout” was on the ‘no play list’ for the wedding. I don’t know, something about that song - you hear it at every wedding and I just wanted our music selection to be familiar but non-traditional. In any event, he plays Shout like the third song into the reception. And I look around the room, and people are going crazy for it. I have some friends from Buffalo and that’s like their unofficial theme song, and they’re jumping up and down with their arms around each other, and it was just really awesome. So I walk over to Isaac and pretend to yell at him, “THIS WAS ON THE NO PLAY LIST, YOU’RE FIRED! THIS IS THE LAST WEDDING YOU’LL EVER WORK!” And we both started cracking up, because actually it will probably be the last wedding he ever works. He DJ’d my sister’s wedding five years ago, and now ours, and now he’s a professional in Barcelona with no plans of ever coming home. - Karl
Your advice to other brides/grooms
Get things done early in the process. I thought it was absurd looking at venues 3 days after we got engaged, but having our venue and date picked right away made everything else so easy. Do it early and then you can get creative with all the other details later. - Karl
I find myself telling engaged couples, “Planning a wedding is a big deal. If this was your job you would dedicate hundreds of hours to this one event and you would have a team to assist you in the process.” So, cut yourself some slack. You're going to get stressed out and it’s going to feel like a lot. That is okay! Just enjoy it all! It flies by. - Lindsay
Vendors:
Venue: The Defoor Centre
Coordinator: your Nuptial DOC
Photographer: Meredith Bacon
DJ: DJ Isaac Jordan
Make-up: Becca Whittinghill
Hair: Linda Margarita
Paper Goods: Touies Design
Hand Lettering/Calligraphy: Monica Afanador
Flowers: Lindsay Rae Design
Bride’s Dress: Rosa Clara
Bride’s Headpiece & Earrings: Hushed Commotion
Bride’s Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Groom + Groomsmen’s Tux: The Black Tux
Bowties: Tie Fetish
Bride + Bridesmaids robes: Lavender and Lemons